The Berridale Agricultural Bureau's 92nd annual Merino Ewe Competition is continuing on the tradition and running once again on May 6 and 7.
It is the longest running competition of its kind within Australia, when the first Berridale Agricultural committee was formed in 1926 and the competition has ran annually ever since except for a few years during World War II and in 2020 due to COVID-19.
The committee are looking forwards to being able to host this highly coveted competition once again, with it being not just a sheep competition but a great day out and catch up for many farmers and likeminded people in the industry.
With many of the districts older graziers having never seen so much rain fall in the area before, this year we will see a difference in the ewes being presented compared to previous years due to these wetter conditions.
Judging this year we have David Zouch, stud manager of Hollow Mount Merino stud, Bigga returning and we are welcoming Matthew Coddington, owner and manager of Roseville Park Merinos, Dubbo.
Both men are distinguished members of the Merino industry and with a lifetime of knowledge between them, they will be assessing the ewes on four main criteria's; Type, Uniformity, Wool Coverage and Balance of the year's drop.
With eleven entries, including 3 novice entries, this year the judges will be kept busy over the two days.
Day one will begin at 8:30am in Rocky Plain at Robert Hain's property 'Glengyle', then it's up the road to Raymond Crowe's 'Rosemont' for his ewes to be judged and smoko.
Following on from there we will be stopping in at Neil Lynch's 'McCarthy's on Cootralantra road then through to Robert Hain's property 'Gunyah' for lunch.
Over lunch there will be a presentation from one of Troy Pharmaceuticals specialist Vets covering some of the resent health issues farmers have been facing with their sheep.
Then it's a quick trip down to Martin and Liz Walters 'Boundary Creek' at Jimenbuen to judge the sisters of last year's winning team and also first time entrants Adam and Ellyse Walters line of ewes.
Day two will commence at 8:30am at Peak View at Brett and Jane Constance's 'Athlone'.
Then it is back into Cooma to David Fraser's 'Timaroo' to see his line of ewes judged and to have smoko.
Following on from there we will head out towards Adaminaby to first time entrant Richard Maguire's property 'Greenvale'.
After that we will head back down to Will and Jenny Crowe's 'Bridlesdale' on Slacks Creek Road for lunch and a presentation from AWEX which will discuss new technologies they are implementing to improve wool traceability.
After that we will head to our final competitor Adrian Redmond's property 'Bibendale' on Cootralantra Road to view his novice entry.
Saturday nights presentation dinner will be held at the Coolamatong Golf Club with the evenings proceedings kicking off at 6:30pm.
If you wish to attend the dinner we ask if you could please book with our secretary for catering purposes. Please also note that bookings for the bus are also being taken with Sarah Rogers, secretary Berridale Agricultural Bureau on 0447 094 829
We wish all of our competitors the best of luck and we hope to see plenty of sunshine and spectators on the day.
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