The Miss Dairy Cow 2026 contest took place over two days (January 2-3) at the grounds of Moc Chau Dairy Cattle Breeding Joint Stock Company, Thao Nguyen Ward, Son La Province. The main activity was a competition among 40 dairy cows being cared for and raised by farmers belonging to Moc Chau Dairy Cattle Breeding Joint Stock Company to select the "Miss Dairy Cow 2026".

The selection criteria are based on overall physical appearance, body measurements, head, shoulders, chest, four legs, udder, and especially milk production, which must meet both quantity and quality standards. Besides the main competition – where the most outstanding cows are judged based on appearance, health, and milk production – the event also offers a festive atmosphere for visitors.

For the first time, the competition was organized in official collaboration between Moc Chau Dairy Cattle Breeding Joint Stock Company and the local government, bringing a professional approach while preserving the original spirit. Moc Chau Creamery acted as both the organizer and directly participated in technical expertise, standard development, and judging, ensuring the competition was rich in identity and highly professional.

The Dairy Cow Beauty Contest offers a unique and exciting experience for tourists (Photo: Moc Chau Creamery).

Although she has only participated in the competition for two seasons, Nguyen Le Bao Ngoc is always as excited as if it were Tet (Vietnamese New Year), because her father – Nguyen Duy Trung, a livestock technician at Moc Chau Creamery – is also a judge in the qualifying round and has traveled to various farms to select the 40 best cows from tens of thousands of cows on the plateau.

For months now, every weekend, the little girl has been following her father up the hill, going from one farm to another to visit the "Beauty Queen" cows. "While Dad is trimming the cows' fur or cutting their hooves, I go and pile feed for them. It's so much fun working with Dad," Ngoc said.

Little Ngoc accompanies her father to take care of each of the "Beauty Queen" cows (Photo: Moc Chau Creamery).

At the festival, the recreated "Old Moc Chau Farm" space, photo exhibitions, stalls selling milk and local agricultural products, an OCOP product showcase area, and community activities such as the art program "The Singing of Livestock Farmers," the video creation contest "Grassland - The Story I Tell," and the "Ringing the Golden Bell - Moc Chau, a Magical Land" game for high school students in the ward... attracted visitors to experience them.

Attending the opening ceremony on the afternoon of January 2nd, Ms. Ha Thu Trang (Cau Giay, Hanoi) shared: “This is the first time I’ve attended the Miss Dairy Cow Contest in Moc Chau plateau. Even though it was only the first day of the festival, I was surprised by the scale and really enjoyed the side activities such as the 'Ringing the Golden Bell' competition, the art programs, and especially the Miss Dairy Cow contest on the main day.”

Moc Chau Creamery attracts young people with its "dairy culture" (Photo: Moc Chau Creamery).

Established in 2004, the competition has been held 17 times, becoming a distinctive cultural and professional activity of the steppe. After a period of interruption due to the pandemic, the competition returned in 2023 and this year, it was held in the early days of the year on a more organized scale, with a larger scope and closer connection to experiential tourism.

In the vibrant atmosphere of the festival, young people found a very different way to connect: sitting and listening to farmers tell stories about raising cattle, following them as they tended their herds from early morning, or feeling the pride of the cattle owners. There, "Miss" was not just a title, but the result of many years of care, selective breeding, and strict adherence to technical and scientific standards in animal husbandry.

Moc Chau Creamery inspires young people to understand, appreciate, and support the values ​​of Vietnamese agriculture (Photo: Moc Chau Creamery).

“Moc Chau Creamery has contributed to making agricultural heritage authentic, decent, and rich in identity right at the competition, allowing young people to feel the hardship in each milking session, the joy of farmers when the cows meet the standards, and the spirit of preserving the profession through many generations.”

"When they leave the grasslands, many young people carry with them not only interesting stories, but also an appreciation for Vietnamese agriculture, where value is created with hands and hearts. They contribute to telling the story of Moc Chau's heritage in a new, more intimate and sincere way; not noisy, but profound," a company representative said.

Truong Thinh