Five counties in Oklahoma and Arkansas will sponsor a commercial cattle grading contest for 4-H and FFA youngsters on Thursday, June 11th. The event will be held at the Stilwell Livestock Auction in Stilwell, Oklahoma.

The contest is open to youngsters from Adair, Cherokee, Delaware and Sequoyah counties in Oklahoma and Washington County, Arkansas.

Kent Barnes, area livestock specialist for the Oklahoma Cooperative Extension Service (OCES) explained that the contest will “help youngsters learn how to describe different classes of beef cattle. What that means is they’ll be able to pick up a market report and understand exactly what’s meant by phrases such as ‘medium-framed, number one muscle steer’ or ‘boner cow.’”

Barnes credited Jim Loftin, president of the Cherokee County Cattlemen’s Association, as being the driving force bringing this event together. Loftin said that there used to be a similar event in Stilwell years ago and he thought it would be a good idea to re-start it. He presented the idea to his association, then to one in Adair County.

“Then we met with the 4-H and FFA folks from the counties adjacent to Adair County, those served by the Stilwell Livestock Auction, and pulled together the prime players which became our organizational group,” Loftin explained. “After that, we contacted Gary Bledsoe, market development coordinator with the Oklahoma Department of Agriculture, Food & Forestry. He agreed to teach the school and then serve as the official for the contest.”

“Everyone has chipped in,” Loftin said, “with each party focusing on the part they do best. The cattleman’s associations are sponsoring the awards, the Livestock Auction is contributing the facility and labor and some of the cattle, local financing organizations have agreed to feed the youngsters, and we’ve just had a lot of cooperation and contributions to help create this opportunity for these youngsters. I have just been tickled to death with the relative ease with which we’ve been able to put this together.”

Bledsoe will start the day by offering a school about the USDA grading system, explaining it and providing some examples. Then there will be the contest for the youngsters, where prizes will be awarded.

“Our goal is to help our communities, organizations and youngsters to be better able to interpret and understand the USDA market reports that they read in the paper or hear on the radio,” Loftin added. “Some folks might hear the price of a 450-pound steer and figure that’s the price for any 450-pounder. But there’s a significant difference in the price offered for good animals than also-ran’s.”

Loftin asserted that this type of information and education has a tremendous impact. “To improve an industry you need to inject new ideas to change it, and younger folks are generally more receptive,” he said. “From my own past experience, when I would come home from classes at OSU, my Dad was always asking me about what I’d learned, looking for ideas that would help our program. I think if our young folks have new ideas to try, their parents and grandparents will be receptive to trying them, and that’s how change takes place. If we can help young folks be more knowledgeable of the USDA grades and classifications, then I think everyone benefits.”

The contest will begin with registration at 9 a.m., and prizes will be awarded in several categories. No pre-registration is required and there is no registration fee.