Horned and polled bulls will be judged together for the first time at the Herefords Australia National Show and Sale at Wodonga next year.
The event, to be held on May 10-11, will feature the reintroduction of the intermediate classes but the sale will remain junior and senior categories only.
Judging will be moved back to a 10am start due to the combined judging format.
Newly elected sale committee chairman Bill Kee, Warringa Herefords, Yarram, Vic, takes over the reins from Paul Rogers, Centennial Herefords, Holbrook, NSW.
Mr Kee said the move to combine horned and polled classes was in line with the judging at Royal Shows.
“We think it is a positive move and gives us the opportunity to have a greater number of bulls in classes, making it a better spectacle,’’ he said.
“It also reintroduces the intermediate classes again.’’
Herefords Australia commercial development officer Andrew Donoghue said raw measurements must be submitted to BREEDPLAN by February 3, 2017.
This includes scrotal circumference before the bull reaches 700 days of age.
Entries close for Wodonga on February 17, 2017.
Mr Donoghue said the AAA rating system would be continued in 2017 on a voluntary basis.
He said hip height and frame score would not be measured or reported on the supplementary sheets next year.
“The Wodonga management committee, along with the Herefords Australia office, will endeavour to introduce the option of submitting entries electronically in 2017 to help streamline the process,’’ he said.
Paper entry forms will be available on request.
The Hereford breed recorded its most successful result ever at the 2016 National Sale with a new top price of $95,000, and the highest gross and average in history.
A total of 141 bulls sold from the 169 offered for an 83 per cent clearance, an average of $9961 and gross of $1,404,500.
The event drew 193 registered buyers from five states competing on the horned and polled bulls offered by 51 vendors.
The top price bull, Minlacowie Jubilant J123, was sold by Minlacowie Poll Herefords, SA, for $95,000 to Devon Court Herefords, Drillham, Qld.