It is not just any show this weekend, but the Topflite National Show, two years in the planning by the Oamaru Poultry, Pigeon and Canary Society, with about 15 volunteers involved, 150 exhibitors and more than 1600 birds of all kinds creating a cacophony in the Drill Hall.
Yesterday, the pair were separately judging bantam classes.
Today, the pressure goes on when they individually judge six class champions from the poultry, bantam and duck sections to name a show champion.
In addition, two show champions come from the pigeon and dove sections.
In a first for any New Zealand show, each of the champions will be taken from the hall this morning to another hall for the judging.
Mr Kemp and Mr Bergin will publicly explain to other judges and exhibitors what it was that made their choice the best.
Show organisers see that as a learning opportunity for other judges and breeders.
Both Australians have a wealth of experience, starting as breeders, then showing and eventually becoming judges.
Mr Bergin (71) started breeding canaries when he was a teenager then, in his late 20s, moved to bantams, mostly the leghorn variety.
He has been judging for 35 years - ''a long time, it seems like a lifetime.''
This is the first national show he has judged in New Zealand, but has judged at two regional shows.
One of the keys to being a good judge was ''an innate ability to judge livestock''.
Mr Kemp (73) listed other attributes as well, including integrity, but said that, overall, a thorough knowledge was needed to apply the standards for each breed to actual judging.
It is his first time judging in New Zealand and had found very good quality, despite initial uncertainty.
''You don't know when you go international how they will compare with home.''
Mr Kemp has been breeding and showing bantams for about 30 years, becoming a judge not long after he started.
The show is open to the public today from 9am to 5pm and 9am to 1pm tomorrow.
Organisers started setting up the show on Monday.
Some cages had to be borrowed from other areas to cope with far more entries than for a normal Oamaru show.
Birds started to arrive from 1pm on Thursday, competing for more than 140 New Zealand championship titles.
