"COOL, calm and collected" was how the judge for the 2021 National Dairy Paraders' Championship described the winner Courtney Alford as she paraded her animal at the Sydney Royal Show on Saturday.
Courtney, 24, comes from a dairy farm about an hour from Adelaide and was representing South Australia in the final.
The finals were delayed until this year following the cancellation of the Royal Queensland Show (Ekka) last year (where the finals were originally scheduled to be held).
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Courtney is no stranger to the state finals, but this was her first attempt at the national competition.
"The first time I won the SA finals I was too young to compete in the national final," she said.
Her parents run both Holsteins and Ayrshire and she has been showing their cattle since she was five years old.
During the 2018 Adelaide Show she won a dairy cow and that got her started on building up her own herd.
She now has 40 cows which are run as part of her parents milking herd.
Judge Jessica Gavenlock from Tallygaroopna in northern Victoria said the competition in the final was of a very high standard and sorting out the placing was very tight.
"Being able to calm her animal down after we switched the handlers around was what set Courtney apart and pushed her into first position," she said.
"The second place handler was also impressive and was able to set up her animal very quickly while also watching what was going on around her."
The reserve ribbon was awarded to Victorian Georgia Sieben from Torrumbarry, while Queenslander Thomas Wade, Mudjimba, placed third.
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