Coronavirus has seen the cancellation of this year's Stock & Land Beef Week Heifer Challenge.
Royal Agriculture Society of Victoria chief executive Brad Jenkins said last year the bushfires were a concern, but this year it was coronavirus.
"It was not possible to confidently plan to conduct the Heifer Challenge in 2021," Mr Jenkins said.
"At that stage we were in stage four lockdown, so it wasn't looking promising."
Mr Jenkins said the ongoing changes to travel restrictions in New South Wales and Victoria meant cancelling it earlier on had worked out for the best.
"We wouldn't have been able to hold it anyway," he said.
He said he was hopeful confidence would continue to improve, with the roll-out of the coronavirus vaccine this year.
"By early 2022, we should hopefully be back running activities and agricultural programs, like this one, which is important to the industry," he said.
He said there had always been an incredible response from studs that participated.
"The opportunity to get expert judges to provide one-on-one feedback is invaluable," he said.
He said exhibitors enjoyed benchmarking their cattle.
"We are going to them on their home ground, rather than them having to bring their cattle to shows," he said.
The challenge will be back in 2022.