Teenager Jennifer Moore knows a fine specimen when she sees one.

She has a keen eye for form and shape and can tell good breeding stock at a glance.

But the talent she prefers to focus on has four legs - not two - and horns and an udder.

For Jennifer, 18, of Hollings Farm, Stanbury, near Keighley, is one of the best young judges of dairy cattle in the country.

The geography student has just beaten hundreds of other competitors to win a national stock judging competition organised by the Farmers' Guardian.

She is better off to the tune of £500 and the accolade will go to join the other awards she has been notching up over the last few years.

Jennifer, who studies at Edge Hill University, in Ormskirk, Lancashire, took up the challenge to test her skills against the experts at judging six dairy cattle by putting them in order of merit.

And it was no stab in the dark, for she used her experience gleaned from competing in stock judging competitions with Worth Valley Young Farmers.

"The dairy cattle had already been judged by experts at the Holstein Show in Staffordshire, last month, and the competition was to match the winning order made by the top judges," said Jennifer, who helps dad Andrew and mum Linda milk their 50 dairy cows each morning when she is at home.

"When judging, I look at the general condition of the animal, the depth of its body, how it stands and, of course, the condition of its udders.

"I was really surprised to win. I didn't do it for the money but just to test my skills," said Jennifer, who has won the Worth Valley Young Farmers stock judging prize in the past.

She was also among the team which came fourth in the national young farmers' public speaking competition.

Jennifer helps out at the farm with sisters, Rachael, 20, and Eleanor, 15, and brother Michael, 17.

"I especially like dairy cattle and love to help out when they are being born if I'm at home," said Jennifer who, during the foot and mouth crisis six years ago, reared 26 calves of her own when there was a ban on selling them on.

"I first had a go at stock judging in a young farmers' competition and did quite well and have kept at it. I enjoy it and like learning new skills."

She is now concentrating on getting her geography degree.

"I love farming but I think it's better to have something else to fall back on," she said.

Dad Andrew said: "She has a flair for stock judging and she likes to keep up her skills on the farm.

"But she does right to have another skill because there's no money in farming - it's a way of life."

e-mail: clive.white @bradford.newsquest.co.uk