Congratulations to Year 11 student AJ Jeffery who recently competed in Youth Judging and Young Paraders events at the Australian Alpaca Association National Show in Bendigo.

Youth Judging: It was AJ’s first time at Nationals after winning the Junior Judging event at the 2024 Royal Adelaide Show. She was required to assess both Huacaya and Suri fleece and a group of animals and give an oral presentation to explain her reasoning. She did an amazing job finishing 3^rd overall!

Youth Paraders: Youth Paraders has two components – Stockmanship and Showmanship. In Stockmanship, participants are required to lead an animal through a series of onstables to showcase their handling skills in a variety of ways; whereas in Showmanship, participants are required to present their animals as they would in the Show Ring and answer a series of questions to show their understanding of Alpacas and their animal in general. AJ was brilliant, winning both classes for her age group (Juniors).

Well done AJ on your wonderful representation of Urrbrae and South Australia. Many thanks to Susan Haese from Yaringa Alpacas and the AAA-SA Region for their support of A J to attend the Bendigo Show. She has a bright future in the industry.