Cream of the crop in young dairy enthusiasts set for national finals
Announcement posted by Writers Who 14 Jul 2021
Australia and New Zealand’s seven sharpest young dairy cattle judges and the most skilled dairy cattle paraders have been announced today by Agricultural Shows of Australia (ASA) as eligible to compete in the national finalists of the prestigious annual competition to be judged next month.
National finalists dairy cattle judges:
- 18 year old Tanille Hughes of Harvey will represent Western Australia.
- 18 year old Loka Manu of Kandanga will represent Queensland.
- 24 year old Brittany Legge of West Nowra will represent New South Wales.
- 21 year old Bridgit Liebelt of Meadows will represent South Australia.
- 22 year old Zoe Hayes of Girgarre will represent Victoria.
- 23 year old Kyle Barker of Flowerdale will represent Tasmania. Kyle is also the national finalist for the dairy cattle paraders competition.
- Courtney Davies was the successful competitor in New Zealand. She was also the successful competitor for beef cattle judging.
National finalists dairy cattle paraders:
- 19 year old Jai Thomas of Perth (who won the national title for dairy cattle judging in 2018) will represent Western Australia.
- 21 year old Thomas Wade of Mudjimba will represent Queensland.
- 16 year old Katelyn Atkins of Tamworth will represent New South Wales.
- 19 year old Georgia Whitworth of Tuakua in New Zealand (who won the national title for beef cattle judging in 2019) was the successful competitor for New Zealand.
- 22 year old Courtney Afford of Woods Point will represent South Australia.
- 18 year old Georgia Sieben of Torrumbarry will represent Victoria.
- 23 year old Kyle Barker of Flowerdale will represent Tasmania. Kyle is also the national finalist for the dairy cattle judges competition.
Dr Rob Wilson is the chairman of ASA, the peak body overseeing 572 agricultural shows in Australia which attract six million visitors annually and contribute nearly $1billion to the national economy, and says the competition is designed to recognise the best new talent in livestock judging and presenting nationwide.
“It’s an extremely prestigious event and positions at the nationals are keenly contested,” Dr. Wilson explains.
“These young people are the future of agricultural show competitions which are crucial to the continual improvement of Australia’s food and fibre. The national competition is a coveted opportunity to grow personally and professionally by practising skills against the cream of the crop.”
The national competition is held in a different location each year to promote livestock judging, parading and the industry as widely as possible throughout Australia. This year it will be hosted by Queensland Ag Shows at the 143rd Royal Queensland Show (the “Ekka”), Brisbane from 7-9 August 2021.
Queensland Ag Shows president Kerri Robertson explained that in a dairy cattle judging competition it is important for the assessor to relate the form of the animal to its function.
“These young judges will be looking for structure, soundness and strong milk production attributes in the dairy cows they are judging,” Mr Robertson explained.
“Entrants use their skills to adjudicate the placings of the stock and then must articulate their approach.”
The dairy cattle paraders competition is designed to determine who most effectively presents and parades an animal before a competition judge.
“Competitors have one hour to prepare their animal for presentation at judging. They have to wash, clip, groom and then finally parade the animal before the judge.”
Overall there are nine categories for judging and parading each year under the ASA national competition program: beef cattle, dairy cattle, alpaca, poultry, Merino sheep, meat sheep breed and Merino fleece judging, as well as parading competitions in beef and dairy cattle.
Previous national winners of the national dairy cattle judging competition date back to 2008. Thomas Pearce won in 2008, Patrick Buckley won in 2009 and Adam Forbes won in 2010; all representing New South Wales. Olivia Millhouse won in 2011 representing Tasmania, Troy Mostert won in 2012 and Lachlan Fry won in 2013 both representing Western Australia, Robert Walmsley won in 2014 representing South Australia, Ashliegh Mayo won in 2015 representing New South Wales, Sarah Peters won in 2016 representing Queensland, Craig Robertson won in 2017 representing New Zealand, Jai Thomas won in 2018 representing Western Australia, and Andrew Gray won in 2019 representing South Australia.
Previous winners of the national dairy cattle paraders competition are Shanae Perkins who won in 2008 representing Tasmania, Katy Cullen in 2009 representing New South Wales, Casey Treloar in 2010 representing South Australia, Gianna Kelly in 2011representing Queensland, Erin Taylor in 2012 representing Victoria, Dwayne Taylor in 2013 representing New Zealand, Kayla Bradley in 2014 representing Victoria, Kelly Manning in 2015 representing Western Australia, Katie Anderson in 2016 and Renee Anderson in 2017 representing Victoria, Clinton Keir in 2018 and Rebekah Love in 2019 representing Queensland.
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For more information about the competition head to agshowsaustralia.org.au/youth-in-agriculture/national-young-judges
ASA will issue a press release to announce the results as soon as they are announced. Media are welcome to attend the national finals.