The UGA Meat Judging Team garnered a team championship and several individual awards at the National Western Stock Show in Denver, Colorado, in early January.
Led by coach Anna Scott, the UGA team was named the Reserve Grand Champion Division A team and took top honors in the Lamb Judging, Beef Judging, and Questions categories at the show, the first competition of the season for the team.
The UGA Meat Judging Team gives students hands-on experience evaluating carcasses and cuts of beef, pork and lamb for yield, quality and establishing value.
“I am excited to help bring competitive judging teams back to UGA and to see what the upcoming season holds for our team,” said Scott, a second-year master’s degree student in animal science. As an undergraduate at Texas Tech University in 2019, the Douglas, Georgia, native was a member of the national and international championship judging teams. She was recruited to UGA to help rebuild the judging program, which had not fielded a team since 2012.
Individual team members also took home honors including:
Anna Unger, senior animal science major
- Third High Individual Overall
- High Individual Questions
- Second High Individual Lambs
- Second High Individual Pork
- Third High Individual Placings
- Fifth High Individual Beef Judging
Levi Martin, senior animal science major
- Seventh High Individual Overall
- Second High Individual Beef Judging
Clint Lee, senior animal science major
- Ninth High Individual Overall
- High Individual Placings
- Fifth High Individual Pork
- Fifth High Individual Lambs
Preston Nave, junior agricultural education major
- Third High Individual Lambs
- Fifth High Individual Questions
Cason Galloway, senior animal science major
- High Individual Alternate Division
Marin Lonnee, junior environmental resource science major
- Second High Individual Alternate Division
Francis Fluharty, head of the Department of Animal and Dairy Science, said that this was the first time the department has sent a team to the event in more than a decade.
“I’m a huge supporter of judging teams, having been on both an intercollegiate meat judging and general livestock judging team as an undergraduate. These teams give students tremendous contacts in the industry, allow students to see the livestock and meats industries on a national level, and allow them the opportunity to develop lifelong friendships,” Fluharty said. “The leadership skills that team members develop are central to their successes later in life. These experiences teach time management, rapid decision-making and economic analysis and enhance communication skills. The dedication to excellence these students have demonstrated deserves recognition.”
The team will travel to five more competitions throughout the course of the season, which runs from January through November, including the High Plains Intercollegiate Meat Judging Contest, the national championship event for college judging teams.
For information on joining the meat judging team, contact Anna Scott at Jameson.Scott@uga.edu. More information on student clubs in the Department of Animal and Dairy Science is available on the department's website.
