On Saturday 27 February, a very excited and eager group of new and old Young Farmers set off to the Berwick Show. We were in search of success, hopefully some blue ribbons and of course a good time. It was an early start for all, meeting down at the Tintern Farm by 6:45am and leaving on the buses at 7am. When we arrived in Berwick, the sight of their first of many sheep shows must have been quite exciting for our Year 7’s. Entering the shed, we were all eager to start the day immediately. After a small pep talk from our Farm Captains Maya Watt and Daisy McMillan, all students were allocated to specific sheep and we worked as a team to prepare our East Friesians and Romneys as best we could. Louise Smith and Daisy McMillan set their trimming skills to the test and got straight to work on the Romneys wool. As the Young Farmers students rushed around cleaning the sheep, Farm Captain Maya Watt was very busy organising allocation of sheep and sorting out many important details for the showing.
When it was finally time to show, our Romneys were first in line to be judged. Many thanks go to the generous and kind judges that in many cases travel very long distances to judge our sheep along with many other studs and farms. In the end our big Romney ram Elmo won Champion Romney Ram. In the long wool class, our young Romney lamb group won a blue ribbon for first place.
Later on in the day it was time to show our East Friesians. Once all our rams and ewes had been judged, our East Friesian ram Bart took the title of Champion East Friesian.
Having had a successful and enjoyable day, we were finally finished with all judging and showing and it was time to pack up and head home. There are so many thanks that need to said, probably too many to mention individually.
On behalf of both Maya Watt and myself (Daisy McMillan), your 2016 Farm Captains, I would like to say a big thank you to our one of a kind, all-star Young Farmers showing team. Many big thanks also need to payed to Mr Gavin Wall, Mrs Diane Grochowska, Miss Liz Wall and Ms Oriana Constable. These shows wouldn’t be possible without the help of all these people as well as the community teams that run the actual shows. We are all very excited and cannot wait for the Bendigo Show in July.
by Daisy McMillan, Year 11
