REDLAND Bay teenager Kasey Knight has won the Queensland Ag Shows’ Young Judges State Finals for meat sheep breeds.
The Cleveland District State High School student was the youngest judge competing against about 20 others, with the oldest being 25, at the state contest at the Toowoomba Show.
Kasey, 15, said she was extremely nervous competing against people with more years of sheep judging experience but had an advantage.
“I felt confident in how I ranked the sheep and it helped to know one of the breed of sheep we had to judge, which was Suffolk, were the same ones we have at school,” she said.
Despite her handy knowledge, Kasey said the competition was fierce and it took about 15 minutes to judge two classes of four sheep in the full day’s competition.
“We had to look them over and assess meat quality and identify any faults,” she said.
“After that we had to place them in order of which ones were best and then we were given points on our ranking.
“If we scored high enough we were chosen to undergo an oral presentation where we had to speak and justify our choices.
Kasey said she was really surprised to have won the title but was proud of her achievement.
Teacher Pip Price said Kasey was the first student she knew of that had achieved at a state level.
“She is a top level A student and she is a stand out student in the sheep show team so I knew she would do well,” she said.
“Sometimes Kasey and her other students run classes for the younger students showing how to handle animals.”
Kasey said she wanted to compete after being part of the sheep show team as an extra curricular activity for the past four years.
“I have an interest in it because we have a chicken farm of our own at home so I grew up around animals and I want to be a vet,” she said.
“(Being on the team) is a pathway to a more rural side of veterinary studies that I hope to specialise in.”
Kasey said she had learnt about sheep anatomy and handling sheep such as walking, leading and showing them in a ring as well as judging.
Next year, she will compete at nationals in Perth.
Jocelyn Garcia
Jocelyn is a journalist at the Redland City Bulletin, covering education issues and school stories. She was a former journalist at Beaudesert Times, reporting about crime, schools and agriculture.
Jocelyn is a journalist at the Redland City Bulletin, covering education issues and school stories. She was a former journalist at Beaudesert Times, reporting about crime, schools and agriculture.
