By Caitlyn Nix
The Texas Tech Meat Judging Team won its 12th national championship at the International Intercollegiate Meat Judging Contest on Nov. 15 in Dakota City, Nebraska.
The Raiders scored ahead of the University of Wyoming (second) and Texas A&M (third).
Two Tech students also took top honors in the individual performance competition in Dakota City. The first place went to Erin Beyer, a junior from Brookshire, Texas. Clay Bendele, a junior from Hondo, Texas, scored second.
Tech’s meat judging team competed in seven contests this year and won six, said Zena Doty, another team member and a senior from La Plata, New Mexico.
Elizabeth Sewell/ The Hub@TTU
The wins are not simply good luck. Preparing for meat judging is incredibly time-consuming, said Bendele. Team members attend 4 a.m. practices on Saturdays to learn how to judge beef, pork and lamb carcasses and cuts. All decisions have to be defended in writing.
“To be the best, we at Texas Tech believe it is necessary to practice longer and harder than any of our competitors,” Bendele said.
Bendele judged meats as a member of Future Farmers of America in high school and wanted to continue his hobby at Tech. His meat-judging coach in high school had judged and coached national champion meat teams at Tech in the 1990s.
Bendele had a desire to follow in these footsteps, and Tech was the place to do this.
“Texas Tech has a very friendly atmosphere, and the meat and animal food science department is no exception,” he said.
Meat-judging programs are the most effective tool for the development of meat science technologies and serve to develop young leaders in the meat and livestock industries, according to the American Meat Science Association.
About JOUR 3312
