DEVELOPING the young sheep minds of the industry is a focus of the team at QPL Rural, Temora who have come up with a new initiative to help drive education and enrich livestock and professional skills.
Entries have recently opened for the QPL Rural Youth Sheep Expo that will incorporate an online learning and judging experience followed by a live, face-to-face day at Temora on August 4.
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A concept believed to be the first of its kind in the sheep industry, the force behind the idea and its execution is 22-year-old QPL Rural livestock agronomist Emma Finemore who said the world is evolving and their is room for young minds and passionate youth.
"The industry is forever changing and evolving, and it will be great to have these students and individuals adapt their skills to an online format," Ms Finemore said.
"It is great to be able to go to a sale, present yourself well and have an opinion of what you see in the stock, but take that and give it a spin and say what if you had to buy online? How would you go about it?
"We want to push the participants out of their comfort zone."
The online component will feature three sections including a young judges competition, a young handlers competition and a meat information seminar.
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"The meat portion will include informational videos and content to help up-skill youth in the lamb and sheep meat sectors," she said.
"Handlers will be asked to treat the camera as the judge and show the craftsmanship, showmanship and skills they would if it was live. We are advocating for those without animals to get in touch with local studs.
"Each age group will judge a different breed of stock, with the older they get the harder the classes or requirements. They will be required to place the class and then film themselves giving their verdict."
Competitors are not required to take part in all three online sections.
For junior judging they opted to be innovative with the aim of developing the 19 to 25 years age group to be industry relevant by challenging them to interbreed classes.
"We wanted the older entrants to put their skills to the test and challenge them more to keep them interested and developing in the space," she said.
"By this age they should have an idea of what they like, understand the animals' purpose across a number of breeds, and see relevance to their own enterprise, stud or commercial, and compare across breeds."
QPL rural aims to provide a platform to allow those who partake to obtain industry ready skills, expand their network and build their professional profile.
The August 4 live day will include guest speakers focused on different pathways into and careers in agriculture, disease identification, low stress handling, wool and professional skills and development.
Prizes for the competitions will include exciting stud and sales experiences that are still to be announced in the coming weeks.
It is open to schools or individuals that are interested. Entries close May 31 with the deadline for submission of the young judges and handlers videos June 29.
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