LET’S face it, not every teenager is up to spending time in an abattoir or judging a carcase hanging on a rack.
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For Millie Hall, who lives on a property between Aberdeen and Scone, it’s what she loves to do.
When the 28th Annual Wingham Beef Week wrapped up at the Wingham Showgrounds last Friday, the 15-year-old found it hard to hide her smile after coming away with a total of eight individual and team ribbons, among them the 2015 Australian Junior Meat Judging Competition Champion Individual.
The week-long program included field days, beef industry lectures, demonstrations, judging competitions, parading, handling skills, live auctions, trips to the abattoir and award presentations.
For students who’ve been working with their cattle for many months, it’s the culmination of a lot of hard work.
“It’s a competition for secondary school kids to go and parade cattle, do beef appreciation and junior judging and our school had 12 students go from St Joseph’s High and we took seven steers and one heifer,” Millie said.
“The school brings the cattle in and then it’s our job over several months to break them in, wash them, blow dry them and get them ready.”
Millie’s Speckle Park Murray Grey cross was bred by Mark and Colleen Constable from Merriwa.
She said “live” judging cattle in the yards is probably the hardest thing to do and then judging the different categories for butchers, supermarkets, hotels and restaurants and the Jap Ox export beef market.
“My teacher, Mr [Charles] Mills, has been taking our class to the butchers in Aberdeen and he showed us the carcases and the primals and explained what we should look for when we’re judging.
“Most of them were grain-fed and you could tell because of the fat colour; yellow means it’s been fed on the pastures and a whiter colour means it’s grain fed,” Millie explained.
Next stop for Millie is the Upper Hunter Beef Bonanza in November where about 600 paraders and junior judges will come together to showcase their cattle and learn more about the beef industry.
If her performance at Wingham Beef Week is anything to go by the competition should be worried.