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Ohio State’s Saddle and Sirloin Club is set to serve an amount of pork loin equivalent to the weight of about 405 biology textbooks, or roughly two cows, at an upcoming agricultural production event.
That event — the Farm Science Review — is a three-day affair when about 140,000 visitors converge at the Molly Caren Agricultural Center near London, Ohio, to learn about agricultural production, according to the event’s website. The event is hosted by the OSU College of Food, Agricultural and Environmental Sciences and runs Tuesday through Thursday.
As part of the festivities, the Saddle and Sirloin Club has prepared more than 3,000 pounds of pork loin for a food stand at the event, said Brady Campbell, a fourth-year in animal sciences and secretary of the club.
The main dish set to be at the stand this week, the pork loin sandwich, will cost $6, Campbell said. Beef, chips and drinks will also be served.
The meat is paid for by the club and comes from the Indiana Packers Corporation, based in Delphi, Ind., Campbell said.
Besides selling carnivorous foods, the food stand is meant to educate people about the culture of agriculture, said Stacie Seger, a fourth-year in agricultural communication and committee chair of Saddle and Sirloin Club.
She said the club’s work is part of a larger effort to treat livestock as well as possible across the industry.
“The agricultural industry is constantly working to be the best stewards of the land and treat our animals with the best possible care that we can,” Seger said. “We understand that it’s important to make sure that all of our practices are humane and providing our animals with a safe environment, good food, clean water and everything they need to thrive.”
These educational goals will be posted on signs around the club’s stand, Campbell said.
Events like the Farm Science Review allow the group to show people how members groom and treat animals, as well as answer questions about the work, said Logan Harvel, a first-year in animal sciences and a new club member.
“It’s not just about slaughtering animals … We do treat them with respect,” he said. “We want to educate people.”
Harvel said he has seen protests against docking locally. Docking is the process of cutting the hanging tail of lambs to help prevent disease.
Last year, the club sold more than 2,600 pounds of meat at the event, he said.
Courtney Gehres, a fourth-year in history, said she comes from Van Wert, Ohio, a rural county, and said the economic impact of the meat-producing and agricultural industries is important.
“Ohio is a very agricultural state so we need to respect that and think about that,” Gehres said.
