Livestock

Beef cattle paraders at Melbourne Royal Show

By Geoff Adams

Sep 30, 2024

Finley High School students at a previous Melbourne Royal Show.

Australia’s most promising young beef cattle paraders have been announced by Agricultural Shows Australia as eligible to compete in the national finals of a prestigious annual competition.

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The National Beef Cattle Young Paraders Championship brings together the best young paraders, aged 15 to 25, from each state to compete at the national finals. Qualification is through success in competitive regional and state competitions. This year, the event will be held at the Melbourne Royal Show on Wednesday, October 2.

Competitors will have one hour to prepare their animal for presentation in the ring.

Overall, there are nine categories for judging and parading each year under the Agricultural Shows Australia national competition program: 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.

Agricultural Shows Australia chairman Rob Wilson said these young people were the future of agricultural show competitions, which were crucial to the continual improvement of Australia’s food and fibre industries.

“The national competition is a coveted opportunity to grow personally and professionally by practising skills against the best of the best,” he said.

The National Beef Cattle Young Paraders Championship will be held at 1pm on Wednesday, October 2.

By Geoff Adams

Shepparton News assistant editor and Country News journalist