A RESHUFFLE in the livestock pavilion at the 2015 Royal Geelong Show will shine a brighter spotlight on the sheep and cattle judging, in particular the dairy showcase.
One of Victoria's biggest country shows, this year's extravaganza has attracted a rejuvenated 80 head of dairy entries and 250 beef cattle from 35 exhibitors.
The Royal Melbourne Show's decision to drop milk classes from its dairy judging has been an opportunity for the Geelong Show committee to expand its showcase, according to Geelong Show cattle president Don McDonald.
"We were approached to fill the gap," Mr McDonald said.
He said the show was thriving with a young show committee ramping-up the focus on agricultural promotion.
Mr McDonald said the show continued to attract leading stud masters from southern Australia as "they like the royal status of a Geelong show ribbon" and the central location.
"We certainly seem to get a lot of repeat entries so there is still the focus on comparing breeds and performance of the studs," he said.
"So far our entries are certainly on par with last year, so if it keeps going we may have a few more head than last year and last year was a very good year."
The support for the show is evident with an increase of 3500 horse entries this year, up significantly on last year's 2400.
The Belted Galloway was chosen as the cattle feature breed in celebration of the breed's 40th anniversary in Australia.
In conjunction with this, the inaugural showing of a feature dairy breed will be Guernsey cattle.
Royal Geelong Show executive officer Jacqui Patmore said while the show attracted a healthy number of beef cattle, the opportunity arose to further expand the dairy competition.
"We have done a fairly good shuffle up with the dairy classes and introduced more classes to bring the dairy cattle back in to the show arena," Ms Patmore said.
"We want dairy numbers to be healthier so we thought we would give them a feature breed to promote the industry more."
Supporting this dairy focus is the All Australian Holstein Friesian Qualifying Spring Dairy Show which is expected to attract some of Victoria's best dairy cattle.
The sheep pavilion is also set to have record entries with 40 exhibitors from NSW, South Australia and across Victoria, with 450 sheep from 16 breeds registered to be showcased.
Also celebrating a momentous year was the White Suffolk breed, selected as the feature sheep breed in recognition of the 30th anniversary of the Australian White Suffolk.
The Southdown National Show continues to be a highlight at Geelong, with more than 100 sheep preparing to compete for the prestigious champions' title.
Expanding their showcase, the Southdown society will hold their inaugural ram sale Friday October 16 at the Geelong showgrounds.
Judging of Dairy Cattle will take place on Thursday October 15 from 8:30am with a Fancy Dress class being held from 2:30pm.
Sheep judging will commence on Friday October 16 at approximate 8:30am with beef cattle judging kicking off from 10:30am.