This week, 9 Murdoch University students and their coach visited Harvey Beef processing plant in preparation for the 2024 Intercollegiate meat judging competition.

On Thursday the 6th of June, 9 students studying Agriculture Science at Murdoch visited Harvey Beef to prepare for the upcoming 2024 Intercollegiate Meat Judging Competition (ICMJ) to be held in Wagga Wagga, NSW. The team, led by PhD candidate and long term coach, Sonya Moyes, has been training since early April to prepare for the competition including judging of beef, lamb and pork classes. The team was selected from a number of applications earlier in the year, and have been selected to participate not only in the competition, but also for an interstate study tour and careers expo. This years team includes the following students (back row left to right, front row left to right), Will Lethlean, Sebastian Dowd, Kristen Batten, Wang Xinze, Taite O'Neill, Kristy Shadbolt, Wing Yee Kong, Brooklyn Seth and Janeta Imran. 

The competition and study tour is an excellent opportunity for the students to network and expand on their knowledge of the red meat industry. The potential to progress further is possible for those students who place highly in the competition, with the opportunity to visit Brisbane and even the US on the books. Harvey Beef, owned by the Forrest Family, have been long time sponsors of the Murdoch University ICMJ teams, and welcomed the students to visit the Harvey abattoir as well as practice their judging and skills on available beef carcasses. This provides a great hands on experience for the students prior to the competition, so they can fine tune their judging skills to assist in their overall achievements at the competition.

The ICMJ and Wagga Wagga study tour is just one of many experiences Murdoch University offers Agriculture Science students as part of their degree, as this study tour is in fact a unit that will contribute credit points to the students degree.

For more information about ICMJ, please visit https://icmj.com.au/.