Stuart, Nebraska – The Sandhills Cattle Association's annual Educational, Performance & Carcass Contest has reached its 40th year! With this impressive milestone, we are announcing an exciting new element to the contest! Producers can now donate a calf to the Association's new 'Steers for Students' program and support the Association and their local schools at the same time! 

The 'Steers for Students' program is a new educational piece geared for the youth of the Sandhills. The donated calves will be penned with the retained ownership calves for the during of the Educational, Performance, and Carcass Contest. Their donors will still receive the calf's data during and after the contest. However, at time of harvest, the 'Steers for Students' program calves will be sent to Husker Meats LLC of Ainsworth, Nebraska instead of being shipped to the larger plants like the retained ownership calves. Jim Pinney of Husker Meats and a group of industry professionals will offer local students and producers a chance to learn about carcass evaluation while experiencing how a packing plant operates. Schools that send the students will be provided the opportunity to receive the donated beef for their school lunch programs at little to no cost. 

Spots are limited for this donation opportunity to the first ten steers registered and limited to one per producer. The calves must be spring-born steers who are weaned and weighing 500-700 pounds in good health to qualify for the program. 

If you wish to donate to the 'Steers for Students' program but don't have a calf, the Association accepts cash donations to cover feed and processing to ensure the beef will be free to the participating schools. You can even choose which school you'd like to 'sponsor' in this program! 

To sum up the ‘Steers for Students’ program in terms of what everyone gains from it:

• The owner gets the data and gets premium cuts from their calves.

• The Sandhills Cattle Association gets locally sourced meat to serve at future events.

• The schools get an educational opportunity for their students and free, locally sourced beef to serve their students.

• It's a Win-Win for everyone! 

If you are interested in donation to this program with calves or cash, please contact the SCA Office at 402-376-2310 or email sca@sandhillscattle.com.

This year, Cottonwood Feeders of Stuart, Nebraska will again be hosting all cattle in the contest. Calves will be delivered to the feedyard on Wednesday, November 10, 2021, at approximately 1:00 pm central. Those planning to transport their own calves, please plan to have them at the feedyard around this time.

On our website https://www.sandhillscattle.com/epc, those interested in participating can find the official contest rules, some frequently asked questions, a draft itinerary of pickup times and locations, as well as a registration form. Please fill out the registration form and return it to the office by Wednesday, November 3. This will help our office make final transportation plans and ensure proper entry of all calves into our database.

The rules remain much the same as in years past for most of the contest. Contestants retain ownership of the calves; expenses are deducted at the end of the competition, and the Association will keep a small percentage of the gross payment. Along with the financial details, a full contest summary will be provided to all contestants.

We will send out official ear tags as soon as we receive the registration form. Calves must be tagged with the official tag in BOTH ears before loading on the truck or entering the feedyard. The calves MUST also be brand inspected, and this paperwork must accompany them to the feedyard. No calf will load on the truck or unload at the feedyard without an official SCA ear tag AND proper brand inspection paperwork. A brand inspector will be available at the Valentine pickup location at 10 am central time on November 10. However, there will not be a brand inspector available at Cottonwood Feeders, so please plan accordingly.

If you have any questions, please feel free to call the Sandhills Cattle Office manager, Elysabeth Kierl, at (402) 376-2310. 

Register by following this link: https://form.jotform.com/212806479928166