LOUISVILLE, KY (AP) - Start baking those biscuits and stirring that red-eye gravy. Two donors have pledged a record $1.6 million for Kentucky’s grand champion country ham.

That works out to about $100,000 a pound for 16 pounds of Kentucky’s favorite cured meat.

The auction is the highlight of the Kentucky Farm Bureau’s annual Kentucky Country Ham Breakfast at the state fair in Louisville.

This year’s winning ham was produced by Broadbent B&B Foods of Kuttawa in western Kentucky.

Bernard Trager, chairman of Republic Bank and Trust, and Dr. Mark Lynn & Associates, owner of Dr. Bizer’s Vision World, contributed $800,000 each Thursday for the ham.

The money - and the meat - will go to local charities.

The previous record of $1.3 million was set last year.

(Copyright 2010 by The Associated Press.  All Rights Reserved.)