Representing Western Australia: Tanille Hughes (19)
Tanille is the Western Australian state finalist at the 2021 Agricultural Shows Australia National Young Judges finals held at the Royal Queensland Show. Agricultural Shows of Australia sat down with Tanille to hear how school influenced her successful dairy cattle judging journey.
I graduated from the Western Australia College of Agriculture Harvey in 2019. In year 12 my focus was on both beef and dairy cattle however, I enjoyed all other aspects that the school had to offer. I come from an agriculture district, Harvey, so I have a respect and understanding for the processes and hard work that goes into this industry.
At Harvey Ag they offered cattle club as an afterschool activity. At cattle club we learned how to handle dairy cattle and prepare them from shows. We were taught how to halter brake, lead, wash and clip cattle, as well as judging. From there the school took us to agricultural shows in the surrounding areas where we would compete in handlers, as well as the cows own sections. We also competed in dairy cattle judging competitions at the shows that offered it. The shows we went to were the Harvey Agricultural show, The Perth Royal Show and The Brunswick Agricultural Show.
Next year I’m planning to go to Murdoch University to study animal science and animal health. I see myself working in the agriculture industry with cattle. I’m interested in the genetics and breeding of cattle and the impacts they have on the livestock, so this could lead to a job with Farm West or managing a farm.
I first competed in 2017 at the Harvey Agriculture show where my cow placed first in the All Australian Calf Class. From there I competed at all the shows the school had to offer from 2017 -19. In 2019 while competing at the Harvey Agriculture Show I placed 2nd in the Dairy Cattle judges competition where I qualified for the State title in Dairy Cattle judging. The state title was held at the Perth Royal show that year were I was lucky enough to win the state title and qualify for Nationals. I started competing because I was interested in it and wanted to put what I had learnt from Cattle Club in to practice and being at Harvey Ag, I was able to do this.
My Animal Productions teacher from Harvey, Mr Peter Gelmi, as well as the Cattle Club teacher at the time, Mrs Veronica Morris, got me into the coemptions and shows. I had always shown an interest and a passion for agriculture so I decide that I wanted to make it my focus of study and my future career.
Interestingly, I don’t eat red meat a lot. I love chicken though.
My favourite show would be the Brunswick Agricultural Show, because I felt that there was more of an opportunity for me to show my skills that I have obtained during my time at Harvey Ag. The show was more dairy based and that is the part of agriculture I enjoy.
My two favourite moments from shows include at the Brunswick Agriculture Show, when I was in year 10, I placed first in my handlers class where I was up against 20 people. From there I competed in the grand champion class which I won and became the youngest person from Harvey Ag to win this title. Another great moment was winning the state title at the Royal Show, it was a chance to redeem myself from my previous show where I failed hard.
A funny moment was when I was at the Brunswick show where my cow would not cooperate. She jumped up on me twice as well as dropping on the floor.
My achievements during my studies at Harvey Ag:
- 2017 Brunswick Agricultural Show include first place in dairy cattle handling and overall grand champion for dairy cattle handling. Here I qualified for the state title at the following years Perth Royal show for dairy handling.
- 2018 WA Youth Cattle Handlers Camp, I made top 9 for Cattle dairy judging o Qualified for state title held at the royal show that year for dairy cattle judging Perth Royal Show and competed for state title in both dairy cattle handling and judging. Didn’t place in either but I tried my very best.
2018 Brunswick Agricultural Show I gained second place in dairy cattle handling and qualified for state title for dairy cattle handling held at the Perth Royal Show the following year - 2018 Albany Agricultural Show I won second place in dairy cattle handling, was ranked in the top sevem in dairy cattle judging, gained fourth place in beef cattle judging and qualified for dairy handling, dairy judging and beef judging for the state title held at the Perth Royal show the following year
- 2019 Wagin Woolorama I was awarded eighth place in wool judging and qualified for state title held at the Perth Royal Show that year for wool judging
- 2019 Harvey Agricultural Show I was awarded third place in dairy cattle handling, second place dairy cattle judging and qualified for state title in dairy cattle handling and dairy judging held at the Perth Royal show that year
- 2019 Perth Royal Show I competed for state title in beef cattle judging, wool judging and dairy cattle handling. I achieved first place in state title for dairy cattle judging
- 2019 Brunswick Agricultural Show I was awarded fourth place in dairy cattle handling Albany Agricultural show, second place in dairy cattle parading, first place Merino wool judging and qualified for state title in dairy cattle parading and wool judging held at the Perth Royal Show 2020.
At the Bussleton Agricultural show in 2019 as well as the Albany Agricultural show that same year I was Bussleton privileged enough to be an associate judge in the dairy sections at both shows where I learnt a lot from the judge.
Trackbacks/Pingbacks