Dairy cattle judges

Holstein – David Booth of Feizor Holsteins. David farms 700 acres in Austwick, North Yorkshire alongside his parents David and Elizabeth, brother Robin and son William. The farm is home to 1000 breeding sheep and 120 Holsteins that are milked twice daily through a 14/14 herringbone parlour. The herd averages 12,300kg at 3.92%BF and 3.01%P, with cell counts of 59.

The family's highly acclaimed herd was awarded Master Breeder status in 2017 and won the prestigious Premier Herd Award in 2012. Having previously held the position of Lancashire Holstein Club chairman, David is now current president.

A fourth generation farmer, David has judged at a large number of shows throughout the UK and previous appointments include the All Breeds All Britain Calf Show in 2014, Balmoral Show in 2017 and the Royal Welsh Show in 2018.

Ayrshire – John Sufferin of Ravenhill Ayrshires. John farms in Co Antrim, Northern Ireland, milking 115 pedigree Ayrshire cows with annual milking yield averages of 8000kg at 4.01%BF and 3.4%P. The herd currently boasts 41 Excellent and 43 VG-classifed cows.

Just as impressive is the fact that Ravenhill has won Balmoral Show on no fewer than 30 occasions. Such stockmanship and breeding has in turn resulted in John selecting the top winners at Royal Cornwall, Royal Welsh, Royal Highland, Dairy Event, Cheshire, Great Yorkshire, Welsh Dairy Show, South-West Dairy Show as well as the National Shows in Finland and Sweden.

Brown Swiss – Stuart Williams, Camrose, Pembrokeshire. Stuart and his parents would normally run a milking herd of 180 pedigree Holsteins, Ayrshires and Brown Swiss along with youngstock, under the Willhome prefix.

Unfortunately, their herd has reduced in numbers to 80 milking in recent years due to losing a large number through bTB. As a family they also farm 50 breeding pedigree Welsh sows and have just opened their gates to Willhome Farm Barn.

All three breeds from Willhome have enjoyed great success showing at local, regional and national shows to include a supreme at the Royal Welsh Show in 2012 and in 2016 they won the Fitzhugh Dairy Pairs at the same event with two home-bred cows. Stuart has travelled across Europe, Australia and America, judging, fitting and showing dairy cattle.

Guernsey – Dawn Coryn, Cornwall. Dawn boasts a multi-breed background in breeding cattle, preparing, showing and training young people. Directly, the Guernsey breed has seen Dawn judge at National All Breed All Britain plus at local and county level. Her Lucky Cow prefix has bred a National All Breed All Britain Calf Show and a Dairy Show Champion.

Jersey – Ben Etteridge, Moonshine Jerseys – Ben runs a small herd of Jerseys which are kept locally with PG Walkers in Suffolk, managed by Ben himself. The majority are kept at Charles and Andrew Readers, Barnowl Jerseys. Ben started showing calves at the age of nine and since then he has exhibted Moonshine cows and calves at many events to include UK Dairy Day. He also helps a number of people throughout the UK including Elite Jerseys on Jersey Island. Ben’s judging career has seen him select the top winners at several herd competitions, county, and agricultural shows. UK Dairy Day will be a massive highlight to add to this. Most people will know Ben for his stewarding roles at the livestock event, ABAB Calf show and UK Dairy Day.

Dairy Shorthorn – Owain Harries. Owain comes from a pedigree dairy background, and together with his family they manage Gelli Dairy Shorthorns and Eola Holstein herds in Carmarthenshire, South Wales. Owain also works as an international sales manager for The Semex Alliance, where he is responsible for working with Semex’s distributors and customers across the world to develop their businesses through genetics.  

Owain’s passion for genetics spans the full breadth of the industry, from showing cattle to breeding for index, however with a common belief that cows must be functional and able to thrive in their environment in order to reach their genetic potential. These founding beliefs have led to Owain acting as master judge at the Great Yorkshire, The Royal Cornwall, Balmoral and the National Calf Show twice to date. At a younger age, Owain successfully competed at YFC, HYB and Shorthorn stock judging competitions where he won the NFYFC National Dairy Stock Judging competition and HYB National Reasoned Stock Judging competitions.