NEW Zealand Corriedale producer John Burrows made his way to the NSW State Sheep Show at Dubbo over the weekend to officiate the Corriedale feature breed.
With 56 entries from five studs including Glen Esk at Culcairn, Roseville at Kingsvale, Boolina at Wambool, Eskbank at Lithgow High School, Badgally at St Gregory's College, Campbelltown, and Blayney High School, it was a strong showing of Corriedale sheep despite numbers significantly being back due to a number of studs missing from the usual line up.
Mr Burrows who runs the Eudunda Corriedale stud at Oxford, NZ, alongside his parents Tom and Fiona, joins around 150 ewes annually.
He previously travelled to the NSW State Sheep Show about five years ago as part of the exchange program the Australian and New Zealand Corriedale associations have been running for a number of years now.
"Dad has also judged at Sydney a couple of times, so I have come over with him then too," Mr Burrows said.
Describing the Corriedale showing as "a great line up of sheep, with the top end a really good type", he was impressed with the quality and dual-purpose nature of the sheep.
In particular he believed the Glen Esk grand champion ram had a "very good loin and was good on his feet with a really nice head and colour".
"The (Badgally grand champion) ewe was a massive big ewe, with good wool and hindquarter - a good dual purpose sheep," he said.
Related reading:
Mr Burrows said Australians are not able to import semen from New Zealand, as NZ imports genetics from the United Kingdom.
"There is some older New Zealand genetics over hear, but they can't get any newer stuff," he said.
Lambing in August, Mr Burrows said they got some Australian semen over this year to use in their program this year, but it was too late to use for the 2019-drop so they will be using it early next year.
It was the first time eighteen-year-old Brooke Baker from Camden was invited to be the associate judge at an event but she took on the challenge, speaking on a number of Corriedale classes throughout the day.
Previously a student at Macarthur Anglican School, Cobbity, Ms Baker is now studying a Bachelor of Agricultural Science through Charles Sturt University, Wagga Wagga, with a keen interest in going into teaching.
She said she has been involved with the breed for a long period of time now, through her school as well as working with Tony Manchester from Roseville Corriedales, Kingslane.
"I have stewarded a couple of times, and at Sydney I was stewarding and got asked to associate judge the Corriedale feature show this year," Ms Baker said.
Competing at Sydney Royal show in junior judging for sheep and cattle, she was yet to take the next step into associate judging until now.
The Corriedale breed is one Ms Baker likes as she is familar with it, and it is where her interest first grew within the industry.
"Now with the White Suffolks I have begun to become more involved, as school had them," she said.
"Working alongside John was a very valuable experience that I am grateful for.
"We were looking for slightly different things, he was going for a slightly stronger fleece than what I usually look for but I was able to work with it and adjust what I knew to understand what he was going to pick."
Still having input in the final decision, Ms Baker challenged Mr Burrows at times especially in the groups and was pleased to know her opinion was still considered important.
"In years to come I hope to be a judge, and take it to another level of involvement within industry," she said.
"Most importantly being involved in industry, and through connections and experiences such as this, I can go down any avenue whether it be working with people here at the show or another area within the sheep industry."
