Harder steer entry tops fair beef carcass contest

At the WSU Meat Science Laboratory are the Palouse Empire Fair Beef Carcass contest winners. From the left, Payson Griner of Palouse, third place; Alynn Harder of Hooper, grand champion, and Delaney Imler of Colfax, reserve grand champion.

The Palouse Empire Fair Beef Carcass contest presentation was at the WSU Meat Science Laboratory Oct. 26. Sixty-one carcasses of steers which went through the fair's market stock sale were evaluated.

The grand champion carcass winner was Alynn Harder of Hooper, with a steer that had a prime quality grade and was yield grade 2 (62.04 percent retail cuts).

Delaney Imler of Colfax had the reserve champion carcass winner with a yield grade 1 steer that had a choice quality grade (64.75 percent retail cuts), and Payson Griner of Palouse had the third place carcass with a yield grade 1 choice steer (64.17 percent retail cuts).

The top three contestants received trophy jackets provided by Whitman County Cattlemen and monetary awards which were provided by Bar R Cattle, McIntosh Angus Ranch, AgriBeef Company, Tyson Foods and Simplot.

Grand champion received $750, reserve champion received $500 and third place received $250.

In addition, Harder received the Joe Palumbo Memorial Traveling Trophy for winning the grand championship. There were 21 carcasses that were tied for second and third which all received honorable mentions and $20. The tie was broken by the carcasses with the highest percent retail cuts winning second and third.

Thirty-one additional steers met or beat the base grid price and received blue ribbons and $10.

The College of Agriculture Human and Natural Resource Sciences provided refreshments for the event.

The Palouse Empire Fair, Washington Beef, Dan Snyder of the WSU Meats Lab, Dr. Matt Doumit of the University of Idaho and Dr. Jan Busboom of WSU facilitated the competition and graded the carcasses.