2018-11-21 |
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Young Farmers Impress Judges at National Stockjudging Final
“Tremendous” and “knowledgeable” is how judges described the YFC finalists at this year’s national finals of the Beef and Pigs Live and Carcase competition at the English Winter Fair.
Twenty teams from across England and Wales judged and gave reasons at the Staffordshire County Showground in the first of NFYFC’s national finals of its 2018-19 competitions programme.
NFYFC’s national stockjudging finals
Competing on their home turf proved to be advantageous for Staffordshire FYFC as the team was declared the overall winner of the competition, winning the much-coveted John Spear Trophy, as well as the Senior overall team winner. And for team member Harriet Wilson from Eccleshall YFC, the win was even sweeter as this is her final competing year in YFC. For a second consecutive year Harriet won the individual Beef Live and Carcase Senior award too – this year in joint place with Steven Crimp from Devon.
“I am over the moon. I have enjoyed being involved in this competition so much and made so many friends through it,” said Harriet who also credits the competition with influencing her career in meat retail as she is now ALDI’s Corporate Responsibility Manager with responsibility for farming, fish, deforestation and fair trade. “It has always been my favourite competition if I hadn’t got into stockjudging, I wouldn’t have joined young farmers and as a result ended up working in the meat industry. Stockjudging really set me on my path for what I wanted to do.”
While Harriet grew up on a family farm, her job doesn’t see her interacting with cattle on a daily basis – unlike James Hodgkinson from Derbyshire FYFC the intermediate winner at beef live and carcase and a farmer on a dairy, beef and sheep farm.
The 21 year old is currently Club Chairman of Hope Valley YFC and instigated stockjudging training for the juniors in the club this year to help them develop.
“A lot of juniors had never seen dairy cows before as we’re mainly a beef and sheep area so I invited them to my place to look at the cattle and sheep and then invited over some judges to show what they are looking for,” said James who is proud to be a winner. “You never know how it will go on the day as you never know what the judges want. I was shocked that I’d won as I thought I’d made a mess of it.”
The Smithfield trophy for the overall team winners at Beef Live and Carcase was presented to Chris Potter and Reece Howells from Shropshire FYFC. Chris’ dad won the trophy for the County back in 1973, and 45 years later it is back on the family beef and sheep farm.
“My dad got his glasses out to try and find his name on the trophy,” said 24-year-old Chris who has been competing since he joined YFC 12 years ago and is currently Vice County Chair. “I wasn’t very confident how I did on the day but I must have been ok! Reece is a junior (15) and is coming up through the ranks.”
Shropshire has its own Stockjudging Officer who organises the training and practices with different trainers and butchers.
“Stockjudging is the competition I have done the most in YFC,” said Chris. “The best skills I have learnt are knowing what’s fat and what’s not – especially useful being a beef and sheep farmer. I have also gained more confidence. It’s second nature to me now giving reasons to judges.”
The Smithfield trophy is one of four trophies that were given to NFYFC back in the 1950s when the stockjudging competitions were first held at the Royal Smithfield Show in London.
For brothers Tom (24) and Andrew Bennett (21) it was a successful day of judging pigs as the duo won the Smithfield trophy for Herefordshire for judging pork live and carcase.
Tom who has won a national stockjudging competition twice before said: "I’m really proud to win it as a team. It’s one thing to win it as an individual but to win it as a team of brothers feels really good," said Tom who rents a farm and has some livestock. "I’ve been stockjudging since I started at YFC when I was 13 – so that’s 11 years. Andrew has been doing it for four years and it's nice to have him getting involved as well."
The annual competition encourages YFC members to judge two groups of live cattle and two groups of beef carcases. They must place a group of four cattle and carcases in order of merit and give reasons. They are also asked to judge two classes of live pigs and two classes of carcases.
Butcher Jonathan Maycock from Robin Maycock Butchers in Derbyshire was a judge on the day and was impressed with the standard.
“The standard of reason giving and judging was tremendous. The level of competence and confidence in their reason giving was excellent and their knowledge and expertise made me wonder if they were all butchers,” said Jonathan.
“Stockjudging is an important skill for connecting farmers to the end product and allows them to hear feedback from the industry on what quality we want. My requirements are different to a large retailer as I’m an independent butcher. The cattle they were judging was top end, which is the type that we buy. Competitors pick up tips from the judges, such as the need for fat on an animal for dry hanging. The education YFC members receive at the English Winter is very important.”
The competition is supported by AHDB Beef and Lamb, Rutland Electric Fencing and the Staffordshire and Birmingham Agricultural Society.
The official presentation of awards was made by William Bedell from the Smithfield Club, Richard Lawrence, the Chairman of the English Winter Fair committee and Katie Thorley from AHDB.
The carcases were provided by Bradshaw Bros, the beef and pigs were from the exhibitors.
THE WINNERS:
THE JOHN SPEAR TROPHY - Overall team results
1st Staffordshire FYFC
2nd Lancashire FYFC B
3rd Yorkshire FYFC B
THE MARK MADDERS TROPHY – intermediate team results
1st Yorkshire FYFC
2nd Lancashire FYFC
3rd Staffordshire FYFC
THE BOB WILLIAMS TROPHY - Senior team results
1st Staffordshire FYFC
2nd Cumbria FYFC
3rd Yorkshire FYFC
THE SMITHFIELD TROPHY FOR BEEF LIVE AND CARCASE
1st Shropshire FYFC A
2nd Devon FYFC A
3rd Derbyshire FYFC A
INDIVIDUAL POSITIONS - LIVE AND CARCASE - Intermediate
1st Derbyshire FYFC A - James Hodgkinson
2nd= Shropshire FYFC A - Reece Howells
2nd= Yorkshire FYFC C - Ben Robinson
INDIVIDUAL POSITIONS - LIVE ONLY - Intermediate
1st County Durham FYFC - Joe Richardson
2nd Shropshire FYFC A – Reece Howells
3rd Lancashire FYFC C - Thomas Hartley
INDIVIDUAL POSITIONS - CARCASE ONLY - Intermediate
1st Lancashire FYFC B - Julia Wadeson
2nd Derbyshire FYFC A - James Hodkinson
3rd Devon FYFC A - Rebecca Dennis
INDIVIDUAL POSITIONS - LIVE AND CARCASE Senior
1st Devon A - Steven Crimp
1st= Staffordshire A - Harriet Wilson
3rd= Lancashire A - Seth Blakey
3rd= Shropshire A - Christopher Potter
3rd=Yorkshire B - Simon Walton
INDIVIDUAL POSITIONS - LIVE ONLY - Senior
1st Devon A Steven Crimp
2nd Herefordshire FYFC B – Martin Williams
3rd Staffordshire A - Harriet Wilson
INDIVIDUAL POSITIONS - CARCASE ONLY - Senior
1st Cumbria A - Henry Knowles
2nd Staffordshire A - Harriet Wilson
3rd Yorkshire B - Simon Walton
THE SMITHFIELD TROPHY FOR PORK LIVE AND CARCASE
1st Herefordshire A
2nd Lancashire B
3rd Cumbria A
National Intermediate Pig Live and Carcase Judging Competition 2018
INDIVIDUAL POSITIONS - LIVE AND CARCASE - Intermediate
1st Yorkshire A - Evie Harrison-Bradley
2nd Yorkshire C - Elizabeth Elgie
3rd Herefordshire B -Lee Thomas
INDIVIDUAL POSITIONS - LIVE ONLY - Intermediate
1st Yorkshire A - Evie Harrison-Bradley
2nd= Lancashire B – Anna Robinson
2nd= Staffordshire B - Meg Barnes
INDIVIDUAL POSITIONS - CARCASE ONLY - Intermediate
1st Lancashire A - Jack Pickup
2nd Yorkshire C - Elizabeth Elgie
3rd= Yorkshire A - Evie Harrison-Bradley
3rd= Yorkshire D - Kate Cockerill
INDIVIDUAL POSITIONS - LIVE AND CARCASE Senior
1st Herefordshire A - Thomas Bennett
2nd Staffordshire A - Jake Manning
3rd Cumbria A - Hannah Storton
INDIVIDUAL POSITIONS - LIVE ONLY - Senior
1st Herefordshire A - Thomas Bennett
2nd Cumbria A - Hannah Storton
3rd Staffordshire A - Jake Manning
INDIVIDUAL POSITIONS - CARCASE ONLY - Senior
1st= Herefordshire A - Thomas Bennett
1st= Staffordshire A - Jake Manning
3rd Shropshire A - Robyn Hardman
