Brekyn Zier of rural Lincoln won the Ellsworth County 4-H Fair carcass contest for the third year in a row.

The contest is sponsored by Ellsworth Packing, Jake and Kim Schneider of Ellsworth. A large crowd attended the open house Aug. 23.

Brekyn’s entry this year was an angus steer sired by a Green Garden Angus bull. His marbling score of 720 placed him in the Prime for quality grade. He had a hot carcass weight of 902 lbs., adj fat thickness of .72, a rib eye of 15.9 and a yield grade of 3.3. His carcass value was $2,777.57. The carcasses were graded and placed by Lindsey Decker of Kansas State.

There were 31 carcasses entered this year. A youth must show the animal at the fair and can only enter one in the contest. It is a follow up to show how the animals have performed on the rails. This steer, “Snolo,” received a blue in live class.

Brekyn is the daughter of Kevin and Monica (Kratzer) Zier. Snolo came from Kratzer Angus, bred by her uncle Darin.

“I had set a goal of having Grand Champion Carcass again this year,” Brekyn said. “This winning shows that the emphasis on marbling traits our family selects for is paying off. But proper feeding and handling pay an important part also.

“You seldom can take a run of the mill steer of unknown genetics and feed it to get to the prime level.”

The county has held a carcass contest for at least 20 years.