ORGANISATION skills of Dubbo Show Society's sheep shearing committee who organised the hosting of the 2019 National Shearing and Wool Handling Championships last week have been highly praised.
Sports Shear Australia chairman, Tom Kelly, Kilmore, Victoria, said the bar had been raised to a very high standard throughout the program that ran very smoothly.
"The three-day event was an exceptional success and I congratulate Dubbo on a job very well done, especially considering the drought," Mr Kelly said.
"It was a huge undertaking but they were a well-oiled machine."
What Mr Kelly thought was most outstanding was the quality and condition of the 2600 sheep that were shorn during the three-day event.
"We had a couple of discussions with the visiting New Zealand team manager, Dave Brooker, and he made comments on how enviable they were of our programs and the support of Australian Wool Innovation (AWI) and Prime Super," he said.
"We are certainly seeing the benefit of training from AWI with younger people pushing through at higher levels so much earlier.
"I'm hearing positive comments coming through about the junior level skill sets being achieved as such young ages and short experience, both in shearing and wool handling."
Don Mudford said it had taken three years of organisation, but his committee was confident after organising the local Dubbo show shearing competition for many years.
"We didn't think we would still be in drought after applying for the event 18 months ago, but while it has been extremely difficult to manage and keep the sheep in good condition, we feel it has been all worth the effort."
Finals
Fifty-five shearers and 37 wool handlers competed in the national finals last Saturday with the open shearing event the highlight.
Reigning national champion, Daniel McIntyre from Glen Innes, finished his 10 sheep behind South Australia's Nathan Meaney and Victoria's Jason Wingfield, however, after points were tallied he won the contest to keep his national title with a total pointscore of 54.468, just under runners-up, Nathan Meaney with Damien Boyle, WA, placed third.
Senior shearing finale winner was Beau Growden, SA,with Sam Byers, Tas, second and Vaughan Cutterbuck, Vic, third.
Blade shearing was closely followed b the large crowd as John Dalla of Orrie Cowie Merinos, Warooka, Yorke Peninsula, SA, the winner.
Novice shearing winner was Ethan Gellatly, SA, with Max Lodge, Tas runner-up.
