It was a pen of Droughtmaster heifers bred and shown by the Henwood family that took out the keenly-contested first place prize at the 2024 annual Gingin heifer competition on April 11.
The competition, now in its 41st year, was extremely well supported with 21 pens of well-bred 2023-drop heifers competing for the coveted W & J Greenwell shield.
In pens of four, 22 heifer pens were assessed on-property across 13 Gingin farms for their potential as future breeders.
On top of their future breeding potential, the heifers were awarded points for structural soundness, temperament, femininity, carcase quality and evenness throughout the pens.
John and Annette Henwood finished on top with their pen of four commercial Droughtmaster heifers that were picked out as the competition winners by returning judge Richard Hall, Golden Arm Genetics.
The Henwood family's team achieved 82 out of a possible 100 points which the judges and about 60 onlookers were very impressed by.
It was two pens of Angus heifers entered by the Roe family, Benalong Grazing, Beermullah, and the Edwards family, Plain Grazing, Beermullah, that were closely behind on 81 points each, both taking home the second place trophy.
George and Sally Gifford were awarded third place with their even pen of Angus heifers, scoring 80 points.
The stud section of the sale was won by a pen of Droughtmaster heifers from Munda Reds, Gingin, achieving 79 points, while a pen of Speckle Park heifers from the Trainor family's Gin Gin Speckle Park stud were second on 73 points.
Competition judge, Mr Hall said the quality of the cattle presented was of very high quality and made his job extremely difficult, but rewarding at the same time.
'Everyone in the cattle industry in southern WA are in the same boat at the moment," Mr Hall said.
"An incredibly dry season and low cattle prices have made for tough going.
"To me there were no losers on the day, just a group of thinking producers who love their cattle and I congratulate all involved for a day that lifted spirits and reinforced the thinking nature of the producers in the Gingin region."
Mr Hall said the cattle were presented in what he considered to be perfect condition given the season.
"The type of females presented to me reflected the environment that the area presents," he said.
"Structurally sound, deep bodied and generally very quiet were words that I repeated many times.
"Congratulations to all involved, including the organisers, sponsors, competitors and spectators, you should be very proud of this long running day."
Competition co-ordinator David Roe, Benalong Grazing, said Mr Hall did a great job of keeping the crowd engaged with his knowledge and comments, although no one envied his difficult job of judging.
"This year we had the most farms and entries the event has ever seen, which was really pleasing considering the difficult season and the strong pull back in farm gate returns," Mr Roe said.
"The event was well supported by local sponsors which was great to see.
"The day has become a big community event, with Bendigo Bank providing a great lunch."
Mr Roe thanked W & J Greenwell, Gingin Fuel and Tyres, Elders and GBG Rural providing great winning prizes, and Zoetis providing the steak for the presentation dinner held by David and Sharyn Roe at their property.
Included in the day's itinerary was also a presentation on the benefits of 'Heifer Select', a genomic test for heifers to certify their genetic merit as another tool to visual assessment.
There were five heifers at the Greenwell's farm selected for a range of breeding potential, which the crowd ranked and were then given the heifers 'Heifer Select' data to compare with their visual appraisal.
Other awards up for grabs on the day were 'The people's choice award' sponsored by GBG Rural, won by Benalong Grazing and the Elders prize for the person who placed the pens the same as the judge, which was won by Rob Kestel.
The last award for the 'guess the weight' competition was won by Liz Harper, who took home the Gingin Fuel and Tyres prize.
