The Young Breeders School

Y.B.S. 2024 - 22^th Edition

 31/08 to 01/09/2024
 

A worldwide craze crowned with success!

 

Having seen more than 2,000 young people from 24 countries take part in the YBS since it was first held in 1999, this 22nd edition is once again a great success. After a very rapid closure of registrations, no less than 156 young breeders from 17 countries joined the YBS family, with a new record participation rate of 2/3 girls.

From 28/08/2024 to 01/09/2024, the Young Breeders School took place in glorious sunshine, organised in close collaboration with the Battice Agricultural Fair.

Offered in 4 languages, this 5-day training course has become a key international event in terms of sharing a passion for the show and learning techniques for preparing show animals. The fact that 17 countries are taking part, and that a new nation is joining us this year, and not the least, is proof of this: The United States of America.

Although more and more youngsters are already well versed in this discipline, this year there were still a large number of very young participants wanting to learn on the YBS benches, which further strengthens our determination to continue our training school!

The motivation of young Belgian breeders is still very much alive!

The desire to support young breeders, particularly Belgians, who are keen to learn more and to promote their breed, remains the driving force behind this school. We were delighted to welcome 3 teams from the Wal'Holstein Club and 3 teams representing the BBB breed.

In addition to the members of the organisation team (Elevéo team) and the collaboration with Holstein Québec, the youngsters were supervised during the event by a team of experienced preparers and showmen: international references!

 

The school in a few words :

The joy of being able to take part in a show, to parade in a ring and to showcase the fruits of your selection as well as your breeding, depends above all on judicious choices and good preparation of the animals on the farm. That's why, during the 3 days of training leading up to the competitions, the youngsters followed successive workshops on how to build a show stand, feed and shearing techniques for competition animals. The school also offers a classification workshop and an exercise in judging classes of heifers and cows, laying the foundations for good selection.

We were able to count on 10 animals from the Sepult family's Black Cow farm for the Holstein judging workshop, and from the Diffels family's Wilcourt farm for the ranking of a series of cows. In the BBB breed, animals from Didier Petry's Septon breeding farm were brought in for the clipping and judging workshop.

Last but not least, the course also includes a marketing course to help you stand out from the crowd and promote your farm and breed.

Putting the training into practice:

Throughout the weekend and after a lot of hard work, the participants put into practice the techniques and all the advice given by their leaders during the week, under the watchful eye of Canadian judge Eric Hétu, accompanied by Mylène Fournier, ringmaster and leaders, sent by Holstein Québec.

On Saturday, the judge and her ringmaster judged the heifers made available by our Walloon breeders for the event. Cally de la Garde-Dieu (Mitchell) owned by C. Piron (Charneux) won the title of champion, followed by Volcana de Bois Seigneur (Illustrator Pp) owned by J. Pussemier (Ophain-Bois-Seigneur), the reserve.  The trio is completed by Roxy de la Garde-Dieu (Sith CAPJ) also from the Piron family.

For the BBB competition, the task of deciding between the day's competitors fell to B. Demarcin, a participant in the HB B-BB official judging panel.  It was Nicky de Waret l'Eveque (Futé) to B. Lambert who won the title of champion of the day.

Sunday morning was devoted to YBS showmanship.    Kyle Vaandrager (Canada) in the Holstein class and Florian Delatte (Belgium) in the BBB class won the title of best showman for their excellent mastery of their animal and the art of driving.

The 2024 winners :

Holstein breed:

Among the Holstein representatives, 3 countries stood out for their results in the competition:

- Spain, which made a strong comeback after an absence of 8 years, with 3 youngsters in the top 10 and the prize for the best team;

- Poland, with the best under-16s and the trainers' prize, as well as third place in the team rankings;

- Canada, which remains the leader with 4 young people in the top 20, the best judge prize, the best clipper prize and the best presenter prize.

This winner for this edition is Kyle VAANDRAGER (Canada).

Let's also congratulate the first Walloon, Arthur Mélotte, for his great performance during his participation in the YBS 2024.

Race BBB :

- Belgian Blue Breeders with the best clipper, the best judge, the best team and the school winner.

- Belgian Blue Spirit with the best presenter and the best young person under 16.

- Belgian Blue Devils with the 3rd best judge

This year's winner is Gilles PIERLOT.

All of the YBS team would also like to thank the Battice Agricultural Fair and its many volunteers, as well as the 50 host families who provided accommodation for most of the young participants. In this difficult health context, we would also like to thank the breeders who loaned heifers for the event, as well as the parents who came in large numbers to encourage and support our grass breeders.

We would also like to highlight the wonderful time shared by all those involved in this wonderful adventure during the World Gastronomy Tour on Saturday evening.

Thank you to all our sponsors, who have made this wonderful adventure possible.

YBS The place to be!

See you in 2025!

 

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