Judges

Judge: Mr. John Gardiner

Mr. John Gardiner owns and runs Avonlea Holsteins on 390 acres in Fiveways, Victoria, with this wife Cherie, and their two children Luke 4, and Amy 2. The Avonlea herd was established in 1948 by Mr. Gardiner’s father, Harley Gardiner, and has achieved master breeder status on two occasions. In March of 2009, 230 of the Avonlea herd were sold to cattle owners in Tasmania, Victoria, New South Wales, and South Australia. Mr. Gardiner is currently milking around 60 head of Holstein cows. Avonlea Holsteins has achieved the highest awards at International Dairy Week, having bred and exhibited the Holstein Champion Cow in 1993 and again in 2009. Mr. Gardiner has been awarded most successful exhibitor and premier breeder at International Dairy Week on a number of occasions. Mr. Gardiner’s major judging appointments include the Holsteins at the Brisbane Royal in 1986 & 1991, Christ Church New Zealand in 1988, Perth Royal in 1990, Melbourne Royal in 1993 & 2009, Adelaide Royal in 1995 & 2005, Sydney Royal in 1998 & 2000, and New South Wales State Show in 2008. He has also judged the Brown Swiss at the Sydney Royal in 1997 and at International Dairy Week in 2000, and the Jerseys at the Brisbane Royal in 2004.

Judge: Mr. Bob Lester

Mr. Bob Lester in partnership with his brother Bill, conducts the St Andrews Illawarra stud at Warwick in Southern Queensland. The property consists of seven hundred acres and whilst dairying is the principal business the farm also produces lucerne on the creek flats as well as growing grain crops of corn, wheat and barley. The herd consists of 150 cows plus heifer replacements. While they are no longer involved in showing their cattle they achieved considerable success at Brisbane and Toowoomba Royal shows as well as local country shows. Notable amongst these was a couple of champion cow awards at Brisbane, one of which became supreme champion cow. The stud was also prominent in production competitions at these shows. Mr. Lester has had considerable experience as a judge which includes Sydney and Adelaide Royal shows twice each and Toowoomba Royal as well leading shows such as Kiama and Shepparton. He has judged at numerous country shows from Malanda in the north to Mt Pleasant in the south. Both brothers have been active in Illawarra Society administration. Bill is a past Federal president and life member and Bob is the current Queensland branch president and a delegate to Federal council. Mr. Lester is involved in community organisations and is an active member of the Warwick Lions club. A keen sportsman in his day both he and wife Judy are members of the Warwick Golf club. With two adult married daughters Mr. Lester and Judy love having their four city based grandsons on the farm to visit.

Judge: Mr. Selwyn Donald

Mr. Selwyn Donald is one of the most experienced judges in New Zealand having judged at numerous high profile shows in New Zealand and Australia, one of his high lights has been to judge the Great Yorkshire show in the UK, he also represented New Zealand at an International judges seminar run by Ayrshire Canada, most recently Selwyn has judged the Holstein Friesians at the New Zealand Royal and also judged the New Zealand Semex on farm challenge which involved travelling 2000 km throughout the whole of New Zealand. Mr. Donald is a 4th generation farmer farming 350 cows on 107 hectares where they have Ayrshire, Friesian and Jerseys registered under the Arran prefix, in the past 12 months having built a new 40 bale rotary dairy and central pivot irrigation system this has enabled the farm and cows to keep moving forward so the breeding philosophy is to milk high yielding and top quality stock. Showing is a passion that the family enjoy and they attend about 5 shows a year, they just recently gained supreme champion on the same day in the three different breeds which is thought to be a first in the history of showing in New Zealand. Mr. Donald works part time for Elders New Zealand livestock company and he enjoys selling, trading and auctioneering stud stock. Mr. Donald is the chairman of the New Zealand Dairy Event which is the largest dairy show in New Zealand.

Judge: Mr. Roger Turner

Mr. Roger Turner has been employed by Alta Genetics Inc. for 14 years. He serves as one of four North American regional Sire Analysts at Alta and is responsible for the management of Alta’s Nucleus Herd. Mr. Turner is also part of the Marketing Department at Alta and is an International Sales Manager for Japan, Australia, Korea, New Zealand, Taiwan, and Thailand. Mr. Turner’s young sire and genetic selection responsibilities include all of Canada as well as Michigan, Indiana, and Washington in the United States. Previous responsibilities at Alta have included live cattle and embryo exports, live cattle sale management, and assisting with semen marketing. Mr. Turner was raised at Railhaven Holsteins, a registered Holstein farm in Ontario, Canada. Mr. Turner was self-employed professional dairy cattle fitter for 12 years before joining Alta Genetics Inc. This work took him across North America and to many foreign countries. He has prepared, shown, and owned numerous All-Canadians, All Americans, and Grand Champions. Mr. Turner’s judging career has included assignments in 8 foreign countries including Australia, Italy, Japan, Korea, Mexico, Switzerland, Scotland, Slovakia, and a total of 13 different states in the USA, as well as coast to coast in Canada. He has served as a member of both the All-American & All Canadian selection committees and has officiated numerous US National Shows. Mr. Turner has judged twice at World Dairy Expo - International Junior Holstein Show and the Grand International Red & White Show. He has also officiated at both the Canadian and US National Guernsey Shows. In November 2008, Mr. Turner judged the Brown Swiss Show at the Royal Winter Fair in Toronto, Canada.

Judge: Mr. Delbert Yoder

Mr. Delbert Yoder, West Salem, Ohio, (together with his wife, Heather), run a seven-acre farm milking around 30 cows of four breeds in America’s heartland. They also run a successful hoof trimming business (trimming 10,000 cows’ feet per year) and they combine it all with showing and marketing elite Holsteins, Ayrshires, Brown Swiss and Jerseys. Mr. Yoder is the longest serving overseas cattle fitter to visit International Dairy Week (IDW), having only missed one show in the last 20 years. His fitting career in Australia has included fitting the two-time IDW champion, Jay-W Jed Night EX90-3E. He has also fitted high profile cows in Brazil, Canada and the US. In 2007, Mr. Yoder won the coveted Klussendorf-MacKenzie Award at World Dairy Expo (WDE), in the US, which is the highest recognition given to a dairy cattle showman in the US. The award is made in memory of Arthur Klussendorf, who was considered to be the outstanding dairy showman of his time and a model for all those who followed him. Over the years, he has owned and shown several national show winners including grand champions at WDE and Louisville’s North American International Livestock Show. Mr. Yoder and Heather have also developed their own branch of the well-known Party family, which was the highest selling Brown Swiss, ever sold at public auction.

Judge: Mr. Brent Walker

Mr. Brent Walker owns and operates Walkerbrae Farms in Guelph, Ontario, Canada, in partnership with his father, brother and their families. They are also partners in an auction business known as Brubacher Sales. The herd of 85 milking cows at Walkerbrae is predominantly holsteins with a few jerseys. Mr. Walker has judged worldwide including in Brazil, Switzerland, Mexico and throughout the United States and Canada. He has officiated both the National Holstein and Jersey shows at the Royal Agricultural Winter Fair. Previous trips to Australia have seen him judge the holsteins at IDW in 1993 and the Jerseys at the Sydney Royal Easter Show in 1996. Mr. Walker is looking forward to returning to IDW in 2010 to judge the Jersey show.

Judge: Mr. Tadashi Takahashi

Mr. Tadashi Takahashi was born and raised in a family own a dairy farm. After he graduated from Hokkaido College of Agriculture he worked at a breeder farm for 1.5 years as a trainee. He then moved to the United States and worked at a dairy herd in Wisconsin for 1.5 years. After he returned to Japan he became a herd manager at a dairy farm in Hokkaido and worked for 13 years. During the time he produced the number of show cows that took the 1st place at the Hokkaido National Show as well as the Hokkaido B&W Show. In 1994 Takahashi joined All Japan Breeders Service, Inc., the Japanese sole import agent of the world leader in bovine genetics, ABS Global, Inc. in the U.S.A. As a sales manager of AJBS, Mr. Takahashi has been assisting dairy producers all over Japan by providing the high quality genetics from North America. He also supports producers as a proficient dairy cattle fitter and actively works on cattle preparation at numerous show-rings in Japan. In 1998, Mr. Takahashi was qualified as an accredited judge by Hokkaido Holstein Agricultural Cooperation. Since then he judged at more than 80 shows nationwide including the major shows in Honshu such as Chubu Japan B&W Show, West Japan B&W Show, and Shikoku Rengo Dairy Cattle Show. In 2008, Mr. Takahashi served as an associate judge at the Hokkaido Holstein National Show, the largest annual show in Japan.