LEARNING TO JUDGE.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVI, Issue 20385, 14 October 1929, Page 3

LEARNING TO JUDGE.

Tho question might bo asked where some of our oldest and best judges of livestock acquired the skill and knowledge they possess, and the answer would bo that observation and experience wcro tho means by which they became comptenfc to adjudicate in the show ring. No one in tho old days could take a course of instruction in the methods of judging because no such teaching was provided; but it is now; and in a showyard tho other day (writes " Rusticus " in the Farmers' Express, London) I was much interested in a competition in which a number of young farmers were judging animals selected for tho purpose, and in turn were being judged themselves by tho expert appointed for tho purpose. I am not urging that either tho training roccived beforehand or tho competition wero enough to make any of tho young men a good judgo from a showyard standpoint, but it would help in that direction; and, what is highly important, tho training would enable them to know what to look for when they wero making an examination of livostock with a view to purchase. Tho need, in fact, of knowing how to judge is as essential in a sale ring as it is in a show ring, and, therefore, the coaching that is given prior to stock judging competitions is a valuable piece of agricultural education.