Over 450 animals were catalogued for the National Angus female finals held at the National Weatern stock show in Denver this week. While not all in attendance, it still took judge Steve Reimer seven hours to choose his champions. Twenty six classes were narrowed down to nine division winners which fought it out for the championship spot.

After much deliberation Mr Reimer eventually tapped out T/R NFF Princess E307 as his overall female champion. This 1700lb (771kg) heifer was born in May 2017 and is sired by Dameron First Class while the dam is EXAR Princess 8063.

Standing in reserve position was GCC Cover Girl 923E. This embryo-born heifer was born November 2017 and is again sired by the aforementioned Dameron First Class.

In the male classes the previous day, a smaller entry was topped by Express Angus Ranches with WB Pendleton 708. The Express ranch also took the reserve championship in the males with CC&C Intuition 7104

Judging in the States is done a lot differently than in Ireland, with the main focus on the side profile of the animal rather than the back end. In the females a massive focus is placed on femininity along with big middles and super feet traction. On top of this, judges don’t ever lay a hand on the animal either, meaning animal presentation plays a massive role in the success of one's animal. So much so that many of the animals presented would be in coolers for months leading up to big shows such as this one in Denver. A cooler, simply put, is a specialized room where animals are put in cold conditions. This tricks the hair into thinking it’s winter so it will grow at massive rates. This coupled with the expertise of the cattle fitters (groomers), can be a lot different when seen in the wash bay later that day.

An elite animal over here can sell for hundreds of thousands so maybe the extra time and cost is worth it. However I doubt the commercial bull buyers at home would be happy the first rainy day after bringing their bull home.