The evenness of the competition in the Charolais ring at the Royal Queensland Show was shown in the spread of ribbons given out in the judging arena.
A good crowd was out early on Friday to watch judge David Smith cast his expert eye over the 49 entries on show.
Mr Smith, who hadn't missed an Ekka from 1978 until finishing up with Palgrove in 2016, was in the judging seat for the first time, and said he was loving the shape, easy doing and easy fleshing of the entries presented to him.
"I was really pleased to see such a good spread of ribbons - I think that shows the evenness of the cattle here today," he said.
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