NZ Hereford Youth Development Forum 2022

The First NZ Hereford Youth Development Forum was held in North Canterbury from the 16 – 18 April, the success of this event far exceeded our expectations. The 18 young Hereford enthusiasts who attended were a fantastic group and a real pleasure to get know.

A big thank you must be made to the Burrows, Stokes, Molloy and Jeffries families for hosting the development forum, the event was largely such a success because of the wonderful hospitality provided by these families.

The Forum started with a very informative visit to Xcell Breeding Services, we then held a series of workshops including, Structural Assessment, EBV’s and using Internet Solutions, Public Speaking, NZ Herefords, DNA, Careers, Animal Health, Using Technology on Farm, Photography, Marketing and Social Media. Participants also got the opportunity to visit and tour around Grassmere Herefords and Woodburn Herefords. A huge thanks to all the event facilitator’s for giving your time and expertise, so much was learnt by everyone who attended.

On Saturday after the farm tours a judging competition was held; each participant judged 4 bulls kindly provided by the Burrows and Stokes families. Most of the group had not judged cattle before and Over Judge Will Gibson was impressed with how each of the group went about judging the bulls.

The ‘older’ youth, Sam Tipping, Mark Murphy, Lisa Bonenkamp and Will Gibson were great leaders during the event and really showed a great path for younger youth to follow, it was great to see this.