Stock judging

Stock judging is considered one of the key skills that you learn at yfc. There are many competitions to enter throughout the year so as our training night, we went to the Thomas family farm at Treguddick to look at beef and lamb. Tim Bastard showed us what to look for in a beef animal and that the hind quarters and loin are of greatest importance. We had to order the four animals in which we thought was best, and had a competition between members. Well done to Sam Northey for winning this one. Stuart Cornelius showed us the lambs and told us that they are much the same to judge as the beef. Once again we had a competition and Sam Thomas won this time. For the dairy animal stock judging, we went up to assistant club leader, Roger Parsons farm. Here, Michael Smale joined us to tell us what to look for in dairy cows. These are judged in a completely different way, as we are judging for its ability to produce milk, opposed to meat. Oli Stephens, Heather Stanbury and Nathan Jeffrey were joint winners of the competition to order the animals in the right order and give reasons.
Thanks must go to Tim, Stuart and Michael for the training, and to the Thomas family and Roger for being hosts for the evening.