Photo by Jim Muchlinski Marshall High School’s FFA meats judging team wrote thank you letters Thursday to outstanding supporters of the team’s season. They placed seventh at nationals after winning the state contest. Pictured from left are John Boerboom, Braxton Seifert, Mallory Evans, Aaron Newman and Mary Lanoue.

MARSHALL — Marshall’s FFA meats judging team has earned the right to be considered one of the best in the nation.

They placed seventh last month at the national judging competition at Purdue University in Indiana. It coincided with the national FFA convention in nearby Indianapolis.

Their trip to nationals followed a state championship won last April. The five-member team is composed of students Mary Lanoue, Mallory Evans, John Boerboom, Braxton Seifert and alternate Aaron Newman.

They competed in seven judging processes altogether in the past year, winning a total of five of them. The team had many top 10 individual placements.

To be ready for competition, the team practiced extensively during lunch breaks, after school and on Sunday evenings at the farm of Sharon and Pat Hennen north of Marshall.

“They put in many hours,” said Sharon Hennen, who serves as the team coach. “They learned about all the different cuts of meat by visiting the Hy-Vee meat counter and meat lockers, and by looking at cuts of meat from our freezer. We also studied anatomy because it’s important to have knowledge of the livestock.”

She said there are 119 different cuts of meat altogether. About 40 of them are included in each contest for identification.

The contest also includes comparisons of different individual cuts, in which participants rank them based on trimness and quality.

“It all comes down to what’s most valuable for the butcher,” Hennen said. “The best cuts are the ones that are most likely to sell at a higher price.”

Contests also include the grading of individual cuts and a written exam that draws from all of the education materials included in a published manual.

Team members said the time they spent preparing for state competition helped to pave the way for further practice needed before nationals.

“Getting ready for nationals took a lot of extra effort,” Evans said. “There were many additional things we had to learn. We overcame the challenge.”

Boerboom said the knowledge gained through practice and competitions will prove helpful for many years to come as it gets applied in everyday life.

“It’s a good foundation for anyone who goes into meat processing or animal science,” he said. “Every participant benefits because we’re all consumers. We’ll use the knowledge when we shop for meat products.”

On the way to Indianapolis the team toured a kosher meat processing plant in Postville, Iowa, where they got a firsthand view of a production system.

Marshall FFA Adviser Jon Schreurs said members of the meat judging team are some of the FFA chapter’s best leaders. He added that their judging results happened because of outstanding efforts to prepare.

“They showed awesome dedication,” Schreurs said. “The time and effort they invested was second to none. They’re very good leaders, really good examples of how much students can accomplish in FFA.”