Young Breeders Display Talent at Annual HYB Weekend Rally

Hosted by the East Midlands Club, this year’s annual Holstein Young Breeders (HYB) Weekend Rally was a major triumph with young members engaging in learning, development, competitions and of course, lots of fun throughout! 

More than 200 members from across 18 HYB Clubs attended the weekend and more than 70 people competed in fierce competition as part of the National Competitions Day, hosted by the Birkle family at Whinchat Holsteins, Dungehill Farm, Loughborough. Stock judging and linear assessment took place on the Saturday, followed by the Field-2-Foto competition on the Sunday. The South Wales Club came away as overall stock judging team winners, followed by North East and then Lancashire in third place. 

The Field-2-Foto competition, which attracted 27 teams, sees a calf selected at random. The clipper is given an hour to clip the calf and then it is washed by two other team members. When the washing is complete, it is back to the clipping shed where the clipper is given half an hour to top line, blend belly hair and ensure the calf is ring ready. The showmanship then takes place by a dedicated team handler. The final stage of the competition is to produce a photo. This competition is based around team coordination and it is the responsibility of each team member to contribute to the success of the team performance. At all times every team is under the scrutiny of the judges who are eagerly watching and critiquing the team’s level of communication, team work and skill,  with the most effective team claiming ultimate success! The Staffordshire Club triumphed this year, with consistently high placings in all elements of the competition.

For those who did not compete, workshops and fun activities were organised for the Saturday at Whinchat Holsteins, adding educational and entertaining elements to the day. Young breeders enjoyed a ceilidh on the Friday evening and then got suited and booted for the black-tie dinner on the Saturday evening, heading to DM & CL Onion’s Cricket Field Farm on Sunday for the Field-2-Foto competition to support their clubs. 

Andrew Birkle, Holstein UK Chairman, said; “HYB Weekend Rally is always a highlight in the dairy calendar for young aspiring breeders and this year was no exception! From the National Competitions Day, Field-2-Foto, practical workshops and social activities, the weekend is an exciting mix of fun and learning! Many young breeders work extremely hard to prepare and perfect skills for the competitions during the weekend, with a placing being the ultimate victory.”  

Full results from the weekend can be found on the Holstein UK website at www.holstein-uk.org/showresults