Judge Erica belts up in memory of her dad

"My Dad came to do the Santa judging today, which is something that he's always loved watching, and he taught me, women could do anything," Ms Halliday said, giving her well-worn RM Williams belt a small tug.

The belt is one her father Bruce Steel once wore and which the fifth generation grazier and now-owner of the Ben Nevis Angus stud at Walcha, NSW, wears because it reminds her of why she loves the beef industry, thanks to her dad passing on his love of it.

"He also taught me to love breeds of any type, as long as they're good cattle, to find all breeds are beautiful in their own way," Ms Halliday said.

"My Dad was a lot older than most - he was 50-odd when I was born - and he had all daughters, so he really thought that women could do anything.

"He really championed women and he really championed the beef industry and young people in it."

While Ms Halliday never judged with him in person, she said they never stopped judging together.

"Our whole family was cattle, which ones were the best, finding better ones," she said. "If we were sitting on the side of a ring, nothing else would matter."

They would freely argue about which exhibit was better all the time.

"All those old-fashioned terms you hear from me, like spring of rib, muscle close to the hock, doing ability, fleshing, the importance of a broad muzzle, the importance of the female - that was my Dad talking all of those things," Ms Halliday said. "They're all indicators of quality."

While Mr Steel passed away six years ago in his late 90s, Ms Halliday said he got such a kick out of Beef Australia and the beef industry in general, he would have loved being in the crowd ringside last week.

"I'm glad he's passed that on to me," she said.

She says she's not a type judge, in that she doesn't look for a type but for qualities within a type, and believes that diversity in a breed is a strength, because it allows flexibility.

While having judged at Beef Australia before, she said she'd never presided over "such a grand occasion as the Santa Gertrudis", adding that they were "so mouth-wateringly good" for a judge to run their eyes over.

"There was a big range in type, and I think that's a strength rather than a weakness in the breed, because it allows the breed flexibility to target whatever their country is and whatever the markets are going to throw at them," she said.

"I see a real change in the breed, moving towards softer, thicker cattle, and they were the type of bulls that I went for today."