Beef Cattle & Meat Sheep – Junior Judging Guide

Junior judging is a skill which can be developed with practice. It incorporates the skills of visual assessment of livestock and public speaking. It is essentially about comparing one animal’s merits to the merits of other animals in a class. Livestock producers, breeders, feeders and buyers all judge and evaluate livestock for their potential as either breeding or market animals.

When evaluating livestock, it is always important to try to relate the ‘form’ of the animal to its ‘function’. For example, different livestock functions or purpose include wool production, meat production, milk production, egg production or breeding progeny.

This booklet will solely focus on meat sheep and beef cattle judging and provide tips for note taking and structuring a reasons talk. It should be used as a guide to assist students in preparing to judge meat sheep and beef cattle at shows.

It has been developed to guide students to prepare to judge meat sheep and beef cattle in junior judging competitions at shows. It also gives tips on oral presentation formulation and delivery.