Last Friday marked the first anniversary of QDO's Cutest Cow of Show competitions at agricultural shows across Queensland and the last day of dairy judging at the 2019 Royal Queensland Show.
Since our young public 'judges' found it hard to go past the cuteness of the young calves, this year sashes were awarded to both the Cutest Cow and the Cutest Calf of Show.
The Cutest Cow of Show went to the beautiful and popular Holstein, Glen Echo Honey exhibited by the Parker family of Kenilworth. The Cutest Calf of Show was awarded to the five-month-old Jersey, Nobbyview Pansy, exhibited by Tim Beattie of Glanmorgan Vale. The prizes were awarded to the worthy winners by Minister for Employment and Small Business and Minister for Training and Skills Development, Shannon Fentiman.
The sashing was the final award given in the dairy exhibition in the arena following the hotly contested Supreme Udder that went to Guernsey breed - Bruhanna Francis the 12th exhibited by the Hayden family from Pilton and the Supreme Champion Dairy Cow which was won by Illawarra breed - Eachamvale Precious 7 exhibited by the English family from Malanda in Far North Queensland. A terrific effort from both exhibitors who had won both Supreme Udder and Supreme Champion earlier this year at Gympie and Malanda Shows respectively.
The final award at the wrap-up event was the prize given to the Champion Milk Production Cow which was taken out by Illawarra - Riverwood Joy exhibited by the Ledger family with 2.64kg of fat plus protein and 37.27kg of milk to win both the fat plus protein class and the weight of milk all produced in 24 hours.
While certainly the winners were grinning at the competition wrap-up, there was much talk of whether many exhibitors would attend next year. The combination of entry fees, staffing, transport and feed - not to mention having most of the experienced hands off-farm for over a week, has many questioning the value of the exhibiting at the Royal Queensland Show.
Crowd volume through the dairy exhibit was also down from last year since dairy cows and goats were placed on the second floor of the Arrow Energy Pavilion. Unfortunately, many show goers didn't realise this due to poor directional signage, so it took significant spruiking from QDO staff to direct show goers up the stairs.
That said, there should be an even rotation between the exhibits for fairness, so let's hope that next year dairy will once again be in the thick of things.