The Macintyre High year 11 student and the coal black heifer JRS Laura, that Hamish called “very quiet and very showy”, were sashed for first place in their heat for the Royal Agricultural Society/ Agricultural Societies Council Paraders’ Comp-etition for youth 13 years to under 19 years of age. 

Hamish showed the 18-month-old heifer for JRS Angus. 

The heats are roughly broken up into parader age categories. His win advanced him to the finals, and though he was pipped at the post by a girl with from Dubbo, he and 18-month-old Laura took home the reserve champion sash.

Hamish qualified as a parader for the age category in Sydney at Armidale’s regional show with his own Limousin stock. He travelled to Sydney with Select Fitting Service. In Sydney, Hamish helped look after over 50 cattle travelling with the crew, enjoyed his time at the event, and picked up some tips through the week.

“It’s a really long, interesting show. You meet lots of new people, which is what I like to do,” he said. “There’s a lot of professional clippers out there, and how they glue fake hair to tail heads, and clip up legs, and make them look really good. I’ll try (it) on my own cattle,” he laughed.

Hamish was helping to pack up the animals on Tuesday afternoon for the trip home, and said he was pleased with his win.

“I was very stoked with it. I was just going to say thanks to the people that helped me get into cattle,” he said.