“One thing that really concerns me in the show ring, be it Royal or local, is a lot of the cattle are not what’s in the commercial industry, but are the extremes,” he said.

“The big danger is that a lot of stud breeders will follow that direction in the hunt for a blue ribbon.”

He said this tendency to follow trends in the show ring had a negative impact on its value as a forum to showcase to the commercial industry.

“At the end of the day it comes down to dollars and cents,” he said.

As for the politics he said “some people say you should never be asked to judge your own breed, but why?”

“You’re judging animals, not people; however, some judges look at who’s on the end of the halter.”

For this reason, Canberra Royal Agricultural Society councillor, sheep section, Graham Grinter, was a big fan of the Poll Dorset breed’s method of the previous exhibitors nominating a judge, which was then voted on by the exhibitors through a ballot.

“Many other shows have the breed’s judge picked by the State committee,” he said.

A Border Leicester breeder himself, each year he attends seven to eight shows, including Sydney, Canberra, Melbourne and the Australian Sheep Show at Bendigo, Victoria.

As for a code of standards, he said it was simple – the judges should be industry driven.

He said in sheep judging, the inclusion of fat scans and weight-for-age figures could help this, but also suggested more agents could be judges, because they were buying and selling stock five days of the week.

Along with agents, he said people from outside the breed could also bring a more objective perspective.

“It gets down to basic principles – if we’re after red meat, then its red meat without the breed politics,” he said.

“If we did that we would get more points from the commercial breeders – they would give our shows more ticks for being industry driven.”

David Bondfield, Palgrove Charolais, Dalveen, Queensland, has been on both sides of the ledger – as an exhibitor and as a judge.

He agreed getting people from outside the breed or having the previous year’s exhibitors nominate and select their judge via a ballot could work.

“That way those putting the animal up for exhibition have the most say,” he said.

However, when it came to show judging ethics, he said it became a matter for the individual.

“Sometimes you can accept a position to judge and an animal you have owned comes before you in the ring,” he said.

“If the judge is from another breed that would be unlikely to happen.”

However, he said when a stud breeder judges his or her own breed, these situations could arise and the correct thing to do would be for the judge to make clear to the committee there was a connection.

But like the referee in a sports game, he said it was good sportsmanship as an exhibitor to accept the judge’s decision.

“The big thing about showing is it’s about sportsmanship and in any sport there are subjective decisions, so it’s about respecting the nominated judge’s opinion on the day,” he said.

As for the agents being judges, Mr Woodburn agreed they could play a bigger role in the show ring because they could bring a cross-industry perspective due to their roles with both the breeders and the processors.

He did warn, however, that this wouldn’t gain a great deal in terms of the politics, because there was the potential for the agents to be seen as having “an axe to grind”, particularly if there were clients in the ring.

“I don’t really know what the answer is, but there is no substitute for experience and track record,” Mr Woodburn said.