Page 84 - Shorthorn Magazine

PAUL HARRISON REPORTS
Australia 2023
I first judged in Australia at International Dairy Week back in January 2018 and it was a great honour to be invited back to judge at the Royal Adelaide show in September. This time to judge the Illawarra classes, Junior Show Competition and Interbreed classes.
Dairy Cattle building Adelaide show
Accompanied again by Ian Collins we left Newcastle Airport for the long haul to Adelaide anticipating another interesting trip.
After a day to recover from the flight we met up with my fellow judges. Stuart Williams and family who had travelled from Wales to judge the Ayrshires. Jersey judge, Zoe Hayes , accompanied by father Tony from Llandovery Illawarras. Holstein judge Cameron Yarnold from NSW and Julia Moore, Guernseys.
Judging began on Monday morning with the Holsteins and Jerseys followed by the Illawarras and Guernseys in the afternoon.
I was looking forward to judging the Illawarra classes and with ten exhibitors bringing over fifty cattle forward I was not disappointed.
The Junior heifer classes set the standard for the day, both in numbers and quality. Juvenile Champion was a super calf from Ian Mueller and family, Glenbrook Harmony 28, by the homebred bull Glenbrook Brigadoon. Reserve Champion was from the same home, Glenbrook Thorn 50 by Blackwood Park Liberton
The Intermediate classes came next, again an excellent turn out and quality.
The two-year-old in milk class was won by Springvale Daisy 74, a Jedi daughter from the Doecke family.
A strong class of two and a half year olds was won by Glenbrook Nancy 63, a tremendous Bushmills Jazz daughter with a very fresh Blackwood Park Liberton daughter, Glenbrook Carnation in second. These two going on to be Champion and Reserve Intermediate heifers, both from the Mueller family.
The three year old class was won by Springvale Honeymoon 115 a daughter of Blackwood Park Beans from the Doecke family.
The senior cows again showed tremendous quality right down the line.
The four year old class won by Glenbrook Beauty Queen, another Blackwood Park Liberton daughter.
The five year old in milk class was where I found my Champion. First place and Overall Champion being a tall, long, angular dairy cow with a superb udder Glenbrook Dainty 14, a daughter of Llandovery W B S Quincy.
My Reserve Champion was Bridge View Moss Rose 4 from Damien and Candice Doecke. This real angular, open ribbed dairy cow by Springvale Prides Anticipation was a worthy winner of the six year old in milk class.
The six year old and over class was won by Glenhaven Mima 3 by Llandovery Presto from Neville and Marie Mueller.
Tuesday saw the judging of the Junior Show Competition. It was a first for me to have an associate judge, Brittany Hentschke who had won the 2022 Junior judges’ competition. We had big classes to judge, the biggest with thirty two forward and smallest nine and we agreed in every class.
Here we saw the huge involvement in the schools with agriculture part of the school curriculum. Breeders send calves into the schools where the pupils rear, prepare and show them at shows in the area. This involvement develops an interest for the pupils and future proofs the Dairy Industry for farmers and consumers. We were impressed by the quality both in the presentation and professionalism shown by the handlers and it was great to see the support on the ringside from other pupils from the schools.
Champion was a super Ayrshire calf from the Junior class Billaview Burdette Jazz ET. Reserve being a long dairy Jersey calf Blue Ridge Choc Watsonia.
Wednesday saw all breed judges back together to judge groups and individuals. We pointed each class and gave reasons for our placings and it was very interesting to see we all had similar views.
Overall champion was a Holstein from Benlargo Holsteins, Benlargo Elijah Ding.
New calf shed at Blackwood Park
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