Thomas Wade from Mudjimba, Queensland is the nation’s third best young dairy cattle parader for 2021.
Mr Wade, 21, competed against Australia’s best at the Sydney Royal Easter Show, which in April hosted finals for 2021 and 2022.
Last year’s championships were unable to be held at Brisbane’s Ekka show due to Covid cancellations.
Courtney Afford, 24, from Woods Point, South Australia and Jaxon Gillam, 22, from Burnie, Tasmania won the young dairy cattle parader championship for 2021 and 2022 respectively.
Runners up for 2021 and 2022 were Georgia Sieben, 18, from Torrumbarry, Victoria and Tegan Afford, 20, from Woods Point, South Australia.
Abbie Hanks, 16, from Cobden, Victoria placed third this year.
“I’ve been going to shows since I was a baby,” said winner Courtney Afford. “In fact, I attended my first Adelaide show at nine-months-old.
“Originally, I helped out my uncle and aunt’s string at Boldview Farms for many years, while also showing our own cows.
“I mainly started getting involved through leading some calves at our local calf day and Adelaide Show, thanks to support from my parents, cousins and grandparents.
“This passion then developed through youth camps and focus days, which allowed my sister and I to develop the skills and knowledge to start running our own string of cows at the show.”
Young paraders are assessed on their presentation, confidence and technique in handling the animal, as well as their knowledge about the animal and use of cattle terminology.
Judging is more objective. While there are characteristics about an animal to look for, the judges pay close attention to how clearly competitors express their decision and how they validate it.
A competitor’s appearance is also important and judges can mark down for poor presentation.
The national judges and paraders competition brings together the best young judges and paraders aged from 15 to 25 in each state to compete at the national finals.
Qualification is via success in regional and state competitions.
Overall there are nine categories for judging and parading each year under the Agricultural Shows Australia (ASA) national competition program.
They are beef cattle, dairy cattle, alpaca, poultry, Merino sheep, meat breed sheep and Merino fleece judging, as well as parading competitions in beef and dairy cattle.
The young beef cattle judging championship for 2021 and 2022 were won by Sarah Sutton from Victoria and Dayna Grey from South Australia, respectively.
Ms Sutton, 23, of Sulky also represented Victoria in the beef cattle parading competition and placed second.
Ms Grey, 23, from Marrabel, also represented South Australia in the beef cattle parading competition. She is a fifth-generation beef cattle farmer.
Runner up for 2021 was 18-year-old Angus Llewellyn of Keith, South Australia and third was 25-year-old Alice Hall of Scottsdale, Tasmania.
Runner up for 2022 was 20-year-old Brittany Abbott from Kolora, Victoria and third was Miguella Grima from New South Wales.
ASA chairman Dr Rob Wilson said the competition was designed to recognise the best new talent in livestock judging nationwide.
“It’s an extremely prestigious event and positions at the nationals are keenly contested,” he said.
“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.”
