Australian judge finds Woodbury County Fair to his liking
26-year-old cattleman to help judge showmanship contest today
By Tim Gallagher, Journal staff writer | Posted: Sunday, August 03, 2008
Matthew Cherry, 26, of Australia, waters cattle Thursday at the 80th Woodbury County Fair in Moville, Iowa. Cherry will judge a showmanship competition at noon today. (Photo by Tim Gallagher)
MOVILLE, Iowa -- How big is the overall senior showmanship competition at the Woodbury County Fair?
The event uses five judges, two who are coming from outside the region to lend their expertise to the coveted event. One flew in from Washington, D.C.; one from Australia.
OK, the judge from Washington is 1995 winner Luke Holst, a Woodbury County native who works for Rep. Steve King in Congress.
But, Australia? Yes. Meet Matthew Cherry, 26, a resident of Gunnedah, Australia. He's spending the week learning about Iowa's county fairs in this Woodbury County community of 1,481.
He's also learning about U.S. cattle, the subject that brought him here.
"There's no organization like 4-H for young kids in Australia," said Cherry. "It's good, because it gives kids something to do in agriculture. I would have loved something like this when I was young."
Cherry landed in Des Moines two weeks ago and attended the National Junior Angus Show there. He said a show like that in his native land might attract 100 competitors. In Des Moines, it drew more than 600.
"The quality of cattle was good there, but you could pick the champions pretty easily," said Cherry.
No wonder. This man is a champion himself when it comes to adjudicating Angus cattle. Cherry has been working with this breed since graduating from high school eight years ago. He's also worked in embryo transfer and has helped manage an 8,000-acre ranch with 700 breeding cows. Cherry has also done auctioning on the side, and boasts of once selling an ax for $450. The bidding began at $20.
Cherry's trek to the U.S. began not long ago when he attended a cattle assessment school in Australia. The culminating activity of his instruction was a judging competition. Cherry finished fourth out of 85 competitors and got the attention of officials with the Angus Society State Committee which then selected him to represent New South Wales, Australia, at the National Judging Competition in Tamworth, New South Wales last March.
Eleven judges competed in the prestigious event which required participants to judge beef cattle, heifers, cows and steers.
How did Cherry do?
"Well," he laughed, "I won."
He was given a sash noting his champion status. He was able to attend the Royal Show in Sidney, Australia. Best of all? He earned the Angus Youth Society Scholarship, which gave him a 10-month pass to the U.S. and a chance to study animal science for one semester at the University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana.
Cherry won't attend school at Illinois until the second semester of the upcoming academic year. He'll spend time until that point traveling throughout the Midwest and Great Plains working and learning about the cattle trade here. Following his stay with the Utesch family at the Triple U Ranch of Correctionville, Iowa, Cherry heads for a 10-day stay at Trans Ova Genetics in Sioux Center, Iowa. He'll also work for firms in Nebraska and, possibly, Montana this fall.
"It's exciting as I've always wanted to come to the U.S. to compare our products," he said.
If Cherry had one critical comment, it involves feeding habits of U.S. growers. He said he believes U.S. farmers feed their cattle too much.
Elaine Utesch, his host, noted Cherry's expertise is with the Santa Gertrudis breed, a leaner breed imported from Australia by many U.S. restaurants.
His connection to the Craig and Elaine Utesch family came when the head of the Angus Society contacted the director of the U.S. Simmental Association. Family members at Triple U Ranch raise purebred Black Simmental in addition to operating a feedlot and raising grain six miles north of Correctionville.
Cherry knew he was on a real Iowa farm Monday morning when he was asked to help track down a cow and calf that had escaped into a corn field. The chase, which took parts of three mornings, ended with a successful recall of the two animals.
One day later, he worked with the family setting up in the beef barn at the Woodbury County Fair, a summer highlight for the Utesch family for decades. Craig was a 4-H member in the 1960s. He and Elaine have been 4-H leaders and superintendents at the fair for years. Their children, Matthew, 31, Jessica, 29, and Nathan, 13, have all shown beef and other projects at the fair.
Nathan, now in his third year in 4-H, showed cattle and submitted food, photography and home improvement projects.
Cherry spent the week watering and grooming cows for various shows. He also offered tips to Nathan and his cousins about showing.
"I told them you want to be neat and tidy," he said. "Don't have any ribbons hanging out of your back pocket."
He also suggested that one boy get a haircut before his competition.
At noon today in the show ring, Cherry will join four judges in determining the overall Senior Livestock Showmanship Champion, an award Jessica Utesch calls "the most coveted" at the Woodbury County Fair. The title winner takes home a traveling trophy that stands three feet tall.
Jessica Utesch, the Woodbury County Fair Queen in 1996, said she finished second in this contest in 1997. Brother Matt won the title in 1993. Often, past winners, like Holst, return to help judge.
The contest is complicated. Senior showmanship champions and reserve champions in beef, swine, sheep, dairy and horse present their animal for judges before rotating to an animal in each of the other four categories. Ten senior 4-H participants, all high school sophomores, juniors and seniors, take part.
A winner in the swine division, for example, must demonstrate his or her knowledge about horses and dairy cows in this contest. Elaine Utesch said those competing spend the final days of the fair studying and sharing their knowledge about their field of expertise with fellow competitors.
Cherry said he's anxious to be in the ring as the contest unfolds.
"We think he's the first judge from Australia we've had for it," said Jessica Utesch.
As he digested information about his work as a judge, Cherry had but one question: "Do I have to wear a tie?" he said.
The Woodbury County Fair Overall Showmanship contest starts at noon today in the show ring on the fairgrounds in Moville.
Video
Hear Australian judge Matthew Cherry talk about his path to the Woodbury County Fair at www.siouxcityjournal.com
The event uses five judges, two who are coming from outside the region to lend their expertise to the coveted event. One flew in from Washington, D.C.; one from Australia.
OK, the judge from Washington is 1995 winner Luke Holst, a Woodbury County native who works for Rep. Steve King in Congress.
But, Australia? Yes. Meet Matthew Cherry, 26, a resident of Gunnedah, Australia. He's spending the week learning about Iowa's county fairs in this Woodbury County community of 1,481.
He's also learning about U.S. cattle, the subject that brought him here.
"There's no organization like 4-H for young kids in Australia," said Cherry. "It's good, because it gives kids something to do in agriculture. I would have loved something like this when I was young."
Cherry landed in Des Moines two weeks ago and attended the National Junior Angus Show there. He said a show like that in his native land might attract 100 competitors. In Des Moines, it drew more than 600.
"The quality of cattle was good there, but you could pick the champions pretty easily," said Cherry.
No wonder. This man is a champion himself when it comes to adjudicating Angus cattle. Cherry has been working with this breed since graduating from high school eight years ago. He's also worked in embryo transfer and has helped manage an 8,000-acre ranch with 700 breeding cows. Cherry has also done auctioning on the side, and boasts of once selling an ax for $450. The bidding began at $20.
Cherry's trek to the U.S. began not long ago when he attended a cattle assessment school in Australia. The culminating activity of his instruction was a judging competition. Cherry finished fourth out of 85 competitors and got the attention of officials with the Angus Society State Committee which then selected him to represent New South Wales, Australia, at the National Judging Competition in Tamworth, New South Wales last March.
Eleven judges competed in the prestigious event which required participants to judge beef cattle, heifers, cows and steers.
How did Cherry do?
"Well," he laughed, "I won."
He was given a sash noting his champion status. He was able to attend the Royal Show in Sidney, Australia. Best of all? He earned the Angus Youth Society Scholarship, which gave him a 10-month pass to the U.S. and a chance to study animal science for one semester at the University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana.
Cherry won't attend school at Illinois until the second semester of the upcoming academic year. He'll spend time until that point traveling throughout the Midwest and Great Plains working and learning about the cattle trade here. Following his stay with the Utesch family at the Triple U Ranch of Correctionville, Iowa, Cherry heads for a 10-day stay at Trans Ova Genetics in Sioux Center, Iowa. He'll also work for firms in Nebraska and, possibly, Montana this fall.
"It's exciting as I've always wanted to come to the U.S. to compare our products," he said.
If Cherry had one critical comment, it involves feeding habits of U.S. growers. He said he believes U.S. farmers feed their cattle too much.
Elaine Utesch, his host, noted Cherry's expertise is with the Santa Gertrudis breed, a leaner breed imported from Australia by many U.S. restaurants.
His connection to the Craig and Elaine Utesch family came when the head of the Angus Society contacted the director of the U.S. Simmental Association. Family members at Triple U Ranch raise purebred Black Simmental in addition to operating a feedlot and raising grain six miles north of Correctionville.
Cherry knew he was on a real Iowa farm Monday morning when he was asked to help track down a cow and calf that had escaped into a corn field. The chase, which took parts of three mornings, ended with a successful recall of the two animals.
One day later, he worked with the family setting up in the beef barn at the Woodbury County Fair, a summer highlight for the Utesch family for decades. Craig was a 4-H member in the 1960s. He and Elaine have been 4-H leaders and superintendents at the fair for years. Their children, Matthew, 31, Jessica, 29, and Nathan, 13, have all shown beef and other projects at the fair.
Nathan, now in his third year in 4-H, showed cattle and submitted food, photography and home improvement projects.
Cherry spent the week watering and grooming cows for various shows. He also offered tips to Nathan and his cousins about showing.
"I told them you want to be neat and tidy," he said. "Don't have any ribbons hanging out of your back pocket."
He also suggested that one boy get a haircut before his competition.
At noon today in the show ring, Cherry will join four judges in determining the overall Senior Livestock Showmanship Champion, an award Jessica Utesch calls "the most coveted" at the Woodbury County Fair. The title winner takes home a traveling trophy that stands three feet tall.
Jessica Utesch, the Woodbury County Fair Queen in 1996, said she finished second in this contest in 1997. Brother Matt won the title in 1993. Often, past winners, like Holst, return to help judge.
The contest is complicated. Senior showmanship champions and reserve champions in beef, swine, sheep, dairy and horse present their animal for judges before rotating to an animal in each of the other four categories. Ten senior 4-H participants, all high school sophomores, juniors and seniors, take part.
A winner in the swine division, for example, must demonstrate his or her knowledge about horses and dairy cows in this contest. Elaine Utesch said those competing spend the final days of the fair studying and sharing their knowledge about their field of expertise with fellow competitors.
Cherry said he's anxious to be in the ring as the contest unfolds.
"We think he's the first judge from Australia we've had for it," said Jessica Utesch.
As he digested information about his work as a judge, Cherry had but one question: "Do I have to wear a tie?" he said.
The Woodbury County Fair Overall Showmanship contest starts at noon today in the show ring on the fairgrounds in Moville.
Video
Hear Australian judge Matthew Cherry talk about his path to the Woodbury County Fair at www.siouxcityjournal.com
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Kelly wrote on Aug 3, 2008 6:39 PM: