University of Queensland Gatton students know their meat, and the proof is in the pudding, or rather, in winning the overall championship prize, at the 27th Australian Intercollegiate Meat Judging Awards in Wagga Wagga this month.
The UQ team from the School of Agriculture and Food Sciences fended off 13 national and international teams in a tightly-bunched field to take out the championship title.
Students evaluated beef, pork and lamb carcasses and classes of meat cuts based on yield and quality, and had to correctly identify meat cuts.
The competition is part of a wider program to educate university students on meat judging and diverse career opportunities in the beef, pork and lamb industries.
“I'm proud that UQ for the first time came away from the international competition with many awards including the overall champion team,” UQ coach John Noble said.
“This year’s achievements have been a culmination of four years of work.
“I couldn't be prouder of the team for putting in the hard yards and the great group of coaches and committee that pulled it all together.”
The UQ team scored 4306 points out of a possible 5020 to take out the champion team award.
The University of Sydney team was a close second with 4299 points, followed by Murdoch University.
In addition to winning the Roy McDonald Shield for Champion team, sponsored by Meat and Livestock Australia, the UQ team also won the beef judging division and the overall placing awards, sponsored by Teys Australia.
Student Chloe Gould also won the Founders’ Buckle, sponsored by Australian Meat Processors Corporation for the overall individual winner.
In an indication of how tightly fought the competition was, Ms Gould was one point ahead of second-placed student, Leah Parsons, of Garden City Community College, Kansas, USA and two points ahead of UQ’s Josie Codington who finished third.
More than 130 students from 10 Australian universities and four international teams from South Korea, Japan, Indonesia and the USA competed, hosted by Charles Sturt University.
Current president of the Australian ICMJ branch and past Australian team member, Dr Peter McGilchrist from Murdoch University said this year’s program exemplified the growth of the program over the past 27 years, and showed the students’ professionalism the program had produced over this time.
“The calibre of this year’s participants showed the passion that young people have for the meat and livestock industry and the enthusiasm that they have for driving the industry forward into the future,” he said.
“The international contingent allowed students to interact and learn from some of Australia’s major trading partners, building networks for the future.”
Mr Noble thanked the team’s sponsors for supporting young people passionate about the meat and livestock industries.
They are Australian Pork limited, Australian Country Choice, Stanbroke, Integrated Animal Production, John Dee and the Limousin Society . He also thanked Stanbroke, Kilcoy Pastoral Company and Marcelford meats for allowing the UQ team to use their facilities for practical training.
Due to their competition results, several UQ students have been selected in the “top 10” to undertake a five-day further training program in Brisbane later this year. They include Chloe Gould, Josie Coddington and Jessica Blokland.
From the “top 10” week, five students will be chosen to represent Australia in the USA in January.
Belinda McLean was also selected by the UQ coaches to participate in the further training week.
View the results (pdf 270KB).
UQ results:
Eating Quality Evaluation
Individual Runner Up - Holly Pender, University of Queensland
Team - Runner Up University of QLD 301/400 Team members: Chloe Gould, Josie Codington, Jessica Blokland, Belinda McLean
Primal & Retail Cut Identification
Individual Winner - Chloe Gould, University of QLD 155/155
Pork Judging
Team Runner up - University of QLD 685/800 Team members: Chloe Gould, Josie Codington, Jessica Blokland, Belinda McLean
Lamb Judging
Individual winner - Chloe Gould, University of QLD 175/200
Team Runner Up University of QLD 664/800 Team members: Chloe Gould. Josie Codington, Jessica Blokland, Belinda McLean
Beef Judging
Individual winner - Chloe Gould, University of QLD 442/500
Team Winner - University of QLD 1715/2000 Team members: Chloe Gould, Josie Codington, Jessica Blokland, Belinda McLean
Overall placings
Individual - Winner Jessica Blokland University of QLD 544 /550
Team Winner - University of QLD 2138 /2200 Team members: Chloe Gould, Josie Codington, Jessica Blokland, Belinda McLean.
Overall questions and reasons
Team - Runner Up University of QLD 1306 /1800 Team members: Chloe Gould, Josie Codington, Jessica Blokland, Belinda McLean
Individual Overall - founders buckle
Champion Chloe Gould, University of QLD – 1093/1255
Team Overall – Roy McDonald Shield
CHAMPION TEAM - University of Queensland, Chloe Gould Josie Codington Jessica Blokland Belinda McLean 4306 /5020
Coach of the Champion Team Award
John Noble and Locksley Bishop – University of QLD
Media: John Noble, j.noble@uq.edu.au or UQ Science Engagement officer Karli Kollegger, k.kollegger@uq.edu.au, +61 (7) 54601 279
