2011 Future Beef Hoof and Hook Competition

This year’s Hoof and Hook event was yet again, a huge success. There was an outstanding display of talent amongst the 72 participants, ranging in age from 10-25 and travelling from as far as Papakura in the North Island and Invercargill in the South Island converging at Manfeild Stadium, Feilding. The young cattle enthusiasts were encouraged to come along, with or without a steer of their own and learn all about preparing, handling and leading animals into the show ring for showing and to participate in the modules organised for the event.

Participants were assessed on their herdsperson skills during the event. Handler judging is always one of the highlights of the weekend and this year’s judge, Gemma Hain, was impressed with the high standard of handling among the participants. Richard Martin was the Hoof Judge this year and had some extremely difficult decisions to make. He was supplied with data obtained from Austins Ultra Sound who scan the steers as they enter the competition. At the completion of the two day event the steers are sent to slaughter at Land Meats in Wanganui where the carcasses are assessed to obtain the Hook results. The Hoof & Hook prize winners are obtained from the combined results.

In addition to the competitive angle of this event, educational modules were also run for the young participants to enable them to gain insight into various aspects of the Beef Industry. The modules this year were Animal Health (run by Totally Vets Ltd), Feed Budgeting (run by Rebecca Rowe), Value Cuts Identification, Stock Judging, Structural Assessment and ‘Ready Steady Cook’. The participants appeared to enjoy these modules and feedback was gained to enable the organisers to improve some aspects for future events.

A number of studs came forward this year and provided steers for participants to use for which the organisers were very grateful. “Inspiring and encouraging our future industry leaders is what this event is all about so to be able to help out in this way is just fantastic” said one of these breeders.

A very successful Beef Bash was held at the conclusion of the event when the prizegiving was held and entertainment in the way of a “bucking bull” and “loo racing” was enjoyed by young and old alike.

The organisers would like to thank all of the people who volunteered their time to make this event the success that it was.

A very special thank you also to our sponsors. The major sponsors were Beef + Lamb NZ, Allflex, AngusNZ Youth, ADB Williams Charitable Trust and NZ Hereford Association. There were a further eighteen sponsors who contributed to the event – without all of these sponsors we would not have an event and their generosity is very much appreciated.