The cream of Staffordshire’s top stock judging members took on teams from around the West Midlands Area of YFC’s (WMA) on Sunday 23rd July at the WMA Stockman/Young Stockjudge of the Year competitions, hosted by The Lawton Family at Weston Jones, just outside Newport. Competitors judged four rings of stock (4 Dairy Cows, 4 Butchers Cattle, 4 Commercial Breeding Ewes, 4 Butchers Lambs) and then gave Reasons on all four rings of stock. They also completed an Animal Health and Husbandry Questionnaire. After a great competition with over 60 YFC members taking part, Staffordshire members took the following placings:
Young Stockman of the Year – 1st, Daniel Weaver of Stone YFC, 2nd, Elizabeth James of Leek YFC and in 3rd, Will Leese of Eccleshall YFC.
Stockman of the Year – 2nd, Peter James of Leek YFC
In the team awards, the Staffordshire team made up of Jake Manning (Lichfield YFC), Katie James (Leek YFC), Sally Leese (Eccleshall YFC) and Peter James (Leek YFC) took the 2nd place for the overall team.
Daniel, Elizabeth and Peter will now go forward to compete at the National Federation of Young Farmers Clubs Farm Skills Day and hope to bring home some silverware again to Staffordshire, following in the footsteps of Rob Mollatt of Uttoxeter JNFU last year who won the competition overall.
Stockjudging is one of the many competitions that are on offer to anyone who would like to become a member of the country’s largest rural youth organisation. There is a myth that it is “just for farmers” which is completely untrue, members come from a variety of backgrounds and many don’t even own a pair of wellies! Each of the ten clubs across the county hold a unique and varied programme of weekly events and the social life available to anyone aged 10 – 26 years of age is amazing.
