Catch the nation’s most competitive livestock industry judging when future leaders go head to head in 2024 ASA events
Australia’s most promising young judges of meat sheep breeds will go head-to-head in the national competition final during the Melbourne Royal Show 2024.
The competition brings together the best young judges from each state aged from 15 to 25 to compete at the prestigious annual competition national finals.
The national championships are held in a different location each year. This year, the event is being hosted by Melbourne Royal Show.
“Young judging provides young people with the opportunity to develop lifelong skills in visually assessing livestock and public speaking through comparing animals against each other, explains Agricultural Shows Australia’s (ASA) executive officer Katie Stanley
“These skills not only develop a better understanding of sheep, but they also enable young people to make a valuable contribution to the industry.
“It’s important to be able to identify and understand why certain traits have significant commercial value. Not only animals featuring these qualities will have higher value at sale, but breeders will want to pass these desirable traits onto the next generation to improve the overall flock.
“Generally, young judges compete at a local show first. Winners then go on to compete at their royal show and from there one competitor will be selected to represent each state or territory at the national championship,” ASA’s Katie Stanley concluded.
Here is a list of the contestants taking pride of place in the 2024 Young Judges of Meat Sheep Breeds competition.
Queensland Hanna Haupt
Hanna Haupt, 21, from Sheldon QLD will be representing Queensland in the Meat Breeds Sheep Young Judges competition. Hanna’s journey into sheep showing began in 2015 when she joined her high school’s livestock show team.
Having grown up in Brisbane, this was Hanna’s first experience with agriculture, and she has been honing her judging skills ever since, leading her to win the Queensland state finals in 2023.
Victoria Lexie Heinrich
Lexie Heinrich, 17, from Echuca Vic will represent Victoria. Lexie works across multiple farms assisting with jobs such as shearing and crutching and also helps on a dairy farm.
Lexie has competed in the Australian Sheep and Wool Show for multiple years and has been to the national finals twice for dairy cattle judging.
Western Australia Zarah Squiers
Zarah Squiers, 18, from Quairading Western Australia, has been involved in junior judging since the age of 9.
She works on her family farm, Shirlee Downs, and has a deep passion for sheep care and the livestock industry.
Zarah has also been implementing an electronic tagging system and continually strives for excellence in the sheep industry.
South Australia Elsie Johnson
Elsie Johnson, 17, from Peake, South Australia, has been actively involved on her family’s farm from a young age.
Elsie helps with their White Suffolk, Poll Dorset, and Pol Merino Sheep studs and has a personal goal of continuing these operations into the future. Elsie has competed in the state finals at Adelaide regularly.
New South Wales Christine Sutton
Christine Sutton, 15, from Cobargo New South Wales, is the youngest competitor. This is her first time participating in the Meat Breeds Sheep Young Judging competition.
Christine is excited to put her skills to the test. Growing up on a family farm, Christine has been surrounded by sheep her whole life and is eager to learn more through this competition.
How ASA competitions work
There are nine categories for judging and parading each year under the Agricultural Shows Australia national competition program: beef cattle, dairy cattle, grain, poultry, Merino sheep, meat breed sheep, Merino fleece judging, and parading competitions in beef and dairy cattle.
Competitors in the Meat Breeds Sheep Young Judges competition will rank sheep from first to fourth based on several characteristics, form, and function.
Dr. Rob Wilson, chairman of Agricultural Shows Australia, says, “These young people are the future of agricultural show competitions which are crucial to the continual improvement of Australia’s food and fibre.”
In this judging category, sheep will be divided into two classes – short wool and long wool breeds, and the animals in each class will be of a similar age, sex and breed.
Visual judging will take place first, where the animals will be paraded and lined up in front of the competitors for eight minutes with competitors ranking the animals in order from first to fourth place. Then, competitors will deliver their oral rationale.
The National Meat Breeds Sheep Young Judges Championship will be held at 11am on 1 Tuesday October 2024 at the Melbourne Royal Show. See more in the show guide here.
The Melbourne Royal Show is an agricultural show held at Melbourne Showgrounds every September. It is organised by Melbourne Royal and has been running since 1848. In 2024 the Melbourne Royal Show runs from 26 September until 6 October.
