Bombala Show sponsor and farmer Charlie Maslin said that while stud cattle were well represented over the years, the commercial area has had difficulty in attracting interest.

“This has been largely due to the logistics and time involved in getting commercial cattle into the show ground on show day. So it was decided to try to take the judge out to the cattle, and a "circuit sale" type event was trialed,” he said.

The judging for the new commercial competition was based on a pen of five heifers or five steers, weaned and less than two-years-old. To make it simpler, the competition was held mid week, before show day, and cattle had just to be penned for a short time at home, and once assessed by the judge could be let out.

“With a good season behind us on the Monaro, all the cattle presented extremely  well, and it soon became apparent it was to be a testing day for the judge,” Mr Maslin said. 

“Some of the contestants also came along for the mornings judging, all commenting on the high standard of the lots presented, and found it interesting seeing the cattle and hearing some of the stories behind them.

“Around 10 teams were entered and Tony Brady of Landmark Bombala very kindly judged the first event. The day started on the Delegate Road, went out along the Cambalong Road, Gunningrah Road, Snowy River Way, Mt Cooper Rd, and finished on the Poddy Hut Rd.

“All contestants entered pens of heifers, with the Angus,  Hereford, and Blond Aquitaine breeds represented. This year it was just a bit late for rising two year old steers due to the season, and just a week or so too early for weaned steers with the calf sales yet to start, so no steer teams were entered.

“Next years competition may be simplified to be just pens of five heifers, which all agreed is the basis to our breeding herds, and the simplest representation of our cattle enterprises.

“Tony judged on a points system, based on six main criteria, and awarded points out of 5 for each category. With the entered teams not being able to be viewed on a side by side basis, this enabled him to judge the cattle independently out of a total of 30 points. After the first few entrants, he said "this is tough job, and the results are going to be close.",” Mr Maslin said.

The results were announced on Bombala Show day, after the stud cattle judging.

First went to Andy and Jane, and John and Kate Murdoch of "Undowah", second to Colleen and Murray Jackson of "Letompe" and third to Charlie and Anne Maslin of "Gunningrah".

Next year it is hoped that more teams can be included, and with the interest shown following the judging around, more people might be able to join in the outing, to see stock and operations they would not otherwise get the chance to view.

The Bombala Show cattle committee would like to thank Tony especially, for doing the difficult job of judging, and also to thank the entrants for having their cattle on show at home and taking the time to present them to such a high standard.

Next year it is hoped to widen the interest in the competition (bearing in mind the distance constraint of being able to get to all contestants), firstly with more entrants, and secondly to broaden the learning experience with more contestants coming along to view the judging.

Stud cattle results 

To christen the new cattle shed at the Bombala show this year the show committe had and excellent field of entrants with four breeds represented. There were teams from Berridale, Nimmitabel, Numeralla and Delegate with the Santa Gertrudis, Speckle Park, Charolais and Hereford breeds shown.

“The stud cattle were judged by Tony Brady, and he did a great job in sorting up the ribbons for the classes of cattle exhibited. It was not such an easy task with so many breeds represented and all presented to the highest of standards,” a spokesperson for the show committee said.

The results were as follows

Junior bulls; under 12 months 1st Curragindi "Western  Sun"

                                                    2nd M & G Speckle Park "Impact"

                                                    3rd Nungar Plains "Mason"

                                12-18 mths  1st Nungar Plains "Monte"

                                                     2nd Josslyn Herefords "Las Vegas"

                                                     3rd Nungar Plains "Mustang"

Junior champion; Nungar Plains "Monte"  

Reserve Champion; Curragindi "Western Sun"

Senior Champion; Josslyn Herefords "Leroy"

Grand Champion bull; Nungar "Monte" 

Reserve champion; Josslyn  Herefords "Leroy"

Junior Female champion; Curragindi "Mosaic"

Senior    18-24 months; Curragindi "Waterford Lavender"

               24 months and over; M and G Speckle Park "Patches"

Champion Female; M and G Speckle Park "Patches"

Reserve Champion female; Curragindi "Waterford Lavender "

Supreme Champion; (Laurie Platts Award) M and G Speckle Park "Patches"

Reserve supreme champion; Nungar Plains "Monte"