A path to the future

The $750 scholarship is open to anybody between the ages of 15 to 30 who lives within a 200-kilometre radius of Lake Cargelligo.

With businesses behind the show society, the scholarship is about getting more youth involved in the sheep industry.

According to ewe competition organiser Linda Thomas, the event was formed as a part of the West Wyalong competition, but it was such a large day, Lake Cargelligo decided to branch off.

Mrs Thomas said the winner must have a passion for the industry, prove they were the worthy candidate and be in attendance of the maiden merino ewe competition in January.

“It’s an incredible day for learning about different issues brought up with every flock visited, it’s a good day for talking about these issues with like-minded people and getting to know other people in the industry,” Mrs Thomas said.

Sheep classer Michael Elmes, Narrandera, said for people to successfully compete in these competitions they had to get all of their processes right.

“People who enter their sheep in these competitions see how they fit in the world, but it’s not necessarily about the person who comes first,” Mr Elmes said.

“I’ve had a client who came dead last and was determined to never be in that position again, and six to seven years later he turned his operation around and won the Peppin-Shaw competition.

“They were the ones who got the most out of entering.”

Mr Elmes said winners of the competition often had better management techniques, their lambing percentages were good and they got all the processes right to end up with a good product, whereas people who did not do as well were able to review what they were doing with their operation and modify it.

“You need to get all the processes right by changing the selection criteria with the rams you buy, the classing of ewes, the optimum joining weights need to be right – these all make up the difference between the good and the not so good operations,” he said.

“Clients of mine won eight major ewe competitions, four clients with four different bloodlines, because they got all the processes right.”

As a newcomer to the ewe competition, organiser for the Gunning competition, Simon Lanham says discussion and general consensus proved there were enough people interested to start a competition in their district.

“There’s been a need in the area for discussion and for outside sources to comment on each operation,” Mr Lanham said.

“It’s a bit of social camaradarie, like-minded people to get together and see the problems other people come across as well and see how they manage them, like seed contamination.”

Entering the competition himself, Mr Lanham saw the event as a discussion forum for farmers first and a contest second.

“A lot of clients who are are participating are increasing their bottom line profits – they’re seeing an improvement since they’ve started focusing on it more like a business.”

Berridale Agricultural Bureau president, Lawrence Clifford, Rocky Plain, said Berridale is coming up to its 85th year in May and aims to reach the century mark.

“It’s good for people who enter their sheep in to the competition and those who travel around to each of the properties to learn and listen to the judges comments,” Mr Clifford said.

“We had up to 80 people participate last year, we had a bus take everybody around.”

As the oldest ewe competition in Australia, Mr Clifford said people should partake in event to learn from the judges and other people’s enterprises.

“The judges we’ve had are the best in Australia and are usually from studs or are sheep classers,” he said.

“People learn more about the sheep and see what other people are doing.”