Seventeen-year-old George Harborne from Greenleaf Angus, Crookwell, has been named the grand champion parader of the NSW state beef cattle paraders final held at the Sydney Royal Easter Show.
Representing Group 7 Southern Highlands, Mr Harborne qualified for the state final at his local Crookwell Show under judge Sam Hunter.
This is the fourth time the young Angus breeder has taken part in the competition, and now he will go on to compete at the RAS/ASC national beef cattle paraders final to be held at the Royal Adelaide Show in September.
An enthusiastic Angus breeder, Mr Harborne was previously has been awarded grand champion parader at the Southern All Breeds Handlers Camp, Harden, champion parader at the Gunning Show, and champion parader at Taralga Show.
I enjoy working with animals, breaking them in before the shows and helping my dad to decide what animals we should take, he said.
Showing cattle has given me great opportunities to make great new friends and to be able to learn off others in the cattle showing industry.
In the coming year, Mr Harborne looks forward to selecting and preparing the cattle for the 2019 Sydney Royal Angus Feature Breed and the Angus Youth Roundup at Armidale in January.
I feel the local shows before Sydney Royal are crucial to support as it is the grass roots of showing and celebrating the produce of the local area, he said.
These small country show committees such as Crookwell, Gunning, Taralga and Goulburn work tirelessly throughout the year to bring local people together and show off local produce.
He will also take part in the National All Breeds Junior Heifer Show held at Dubbo in July and the Southern All Breeds Handlers Camp at Harden during September.
These events are a great opportunity to catch up with friends, compete, network with other people that have similar interests, learn skills and knowledge in the beef industry, and best of all have fun, he said.
Mr Harbourne is looking forward to the national finals in Adelaide, and the opportunity it provides him to meet new people, network and parade with a new animal he hasnt lead before to gain more experience
I have been competing in parading competitions for eight years now. It all started with taking my poddy cow Dreamy to the local shows, he said.
Since, I have enjoyed every part of the journey that has lead me to the national final in Adelaide.
Mr Harborne cleared a number of tough competitors in the RAS/ASC beef cattle paraders final to take home the champion RAS/ASC parader ribbon, in front of Tarcutta local, Hamish Maclure, from Yanco Agricultural High School, who received the reserve champion sash.
Following his RAS/ASC win, Mr Harborne battled it out with the champion school parader and champion open parader in a hot contest of which he came out of top.
Judge Scott Ferguson, Nobby, Queensland, said he was extremely happy with the top paraders who made their way to the championship.
Champion school parader went to Tom Clare from The Kings School, North Parramatta. The 15-year-old comes from Dural and has been parading and working with the schools cattle team for the past five years.
Mr Clare paraded The Kings Schools heavyweight school steer, to overcome Darcy Howard from Chevalier College, Burradoo, who was awarded reserve champion school parader.
The open paraders competition was won by 24-year-old Brodie Kelly from Penrith, who had never competed in the state final before and was proud to win the ribbon in his final year of competition.
Mitchell Dundas received the sash for the reserve champion open parader.
Yanco Agricultural High School students proved competitive throughout the day with Mr Maclure not being the sole winner from the school. Also winning their respective heats in the RAS/ASC final were Sarah Manwaring, Condobolin, representing Group 9 South Western, and Lachlan West representing Group 8 Riverina.
Other class winners were Jaimie McLoughlin representing Group 13 Central Northern, Leisl Cooper representing Group 14 Northwest, James Bush representing Group 5 South Coast and Tablelands, Sophie Halliday representing Group 7 Southern Highlands, Georgia Laurie representing Group 11 Western and Olivia Riley from Group 1 Far North Coast.
Winners of the junior paraders competition, open to competitors aged eight and under 13-years of age, were Nellie Jensen, and Jasper Anderson.