HOLSTEIN Young Breeders have announced this year's worthy winners of the Louise Hartley and Littlestar Awards

The competitions were decided by virtual judging, after the annual All Breeds All Britain Calf Show fell victim to Covid-19.

The 2020 winner of The Louise Hartley Award is Jonny Woodhouse, from Lancashire.

Jonny joined HYB in 2010 and has since represented Lancashire HYB on numerous occasions at UK and European events. At only 21 he has already made a mark on the showing stage having bred two honourable mention winners at the ABAB Calf Show. He works on the family farm, prefix Shoreline, and regularly helps and supports the younger members of Lancashire HYB.

The Louise Hartley Award was launched in 2017 to honour the life of Louise Hartley. In celebration of her life, the Louise Hartley Memorial Fund was set up to give a youngster with an interest in agriculture the chance to further their career. The winner of the award is an HYB member, aged between 18 and 22, who has made an outstanding contribution to the breed, Holstein Young Breeders and their own Breeders’ Club.

The Littlestar Award is presented to a HYB member aged 17 or under who has made an outstanding contribution to the breed, Holstein Young Breeders and their own Club. The 2020 winner of this award is William Neale from Cornwall. William started showing cattle at the age of eight and joined HYB in 2015. He continues to show and breed cattle with the WJH prefix which he started in 2018 and has his own flock of Texel sheep. He also helps his dad with their pedigree Limousin and Aberdeen Angus herd.

Commenting on the awards, head of events for Holstein UK, Hannah Williams, said: “We would like to thank Michael Dennison, the Semex national sales manager, Sarah Hartley and Stuart Roberts from NFU for judging this years awards. We hope that next year we can host the ABAB Calf Show as normal and bring all HYB members together again to learn, network and have fun. This years winners are a real credit to the industry and we are immensely proud of how everyone is adapting to the current ways of operating whilst we deal with the impact of Covid-19."