Back, from left, teacher Charlotte Drinnan (on microphone), Kerrilyn Merinos sheep breeders’ Kerri and Norm Weir, Lucas Daldy, Fox and Lillie’s Eamon Timms and sponsor Rivalea Stockfeeds’ Ross Winfield. Middle, from left, Tarlia Rudge, Maddison Ellis, Ineke Walsh and Annabelle Haughie. Front, from left, Tyler Zammit, Lennix Ponting, Sophie Deith and Alexa Sharp.
Forget counting sheep, one local high school now has several championships to count.
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In this case, the counting doesn’t result in sleep, rather celebration, with Greater Shepparton Secondary College taking out its third overall win in as many years at the Victorian Schools Merino Wether Challenge in Clunes.
Teacher Charlotte Drinnan said she was “incredibly proud” of her Year 10 agriculture students.
“I am still trying to process this third consecutive win,” she said.
“The other schools have lifted their standard so much, which is great to see, but I was not confident we would win.”
Ms Drinnan said the event connected students and teachers from several schools across Victoria, both government and independent, rural, remote and metropolitan, under the same roof for the same reason.
“Each of us doing what we can in our given contexts. There is no ‘them and us’, just a good, friendly occasion,” she said.
Besides being crowned overall grand champions, one of the school’s two teams brought home a first place in both the ‘highest carcass value’ and ‘best presented group’ categories, with a highly commended for ‘students engagement presentation’ as well.
“The students were really excited,” Ms Drinnan said.
“They were organised, worked incredibly well as a team on all aspects of the day and leading up to the competition.
“To get to this level requires months of hard work and the students have put in some really hard yards.”
Year 10 agriculure student Lennix Ponting was excited to celebrate with his team.
Year 10 student Lennix Ponting said his favourite part of the competition was preparing the sheep for presentation.
“It was fun, but challenging, making sure there was no sawdust or straw in their wool,” he said.
“It definitely paid off, as the wool from the sheep I took care of was selected from our six wethers to be part of the Bendigo Sheep and Wool Show (in July next year).”
Like last year, rain presented some obstacles when it started coming down at around 9pm the night before presentation day and continued for more than 12 hours, flooding the shed floors and turning the outside to mud and slush.
“All this made for very challenging conditions to keep the sheep dry and the students clean; no-one was clean,” Ms Drinnan said.
Nonetheless, the school’s sheep impressed stakeholders, with one — unironically named Porkie — shocking the audience with his size.
“The operator of the sheep scales and ultrasound machine could not believe the muscle data of one of our sheep,” Ms Drinnan said.
“It was more on par with a British breed (meat sheep) than a Merino.”
Tyler Zammit, Maddison Ellis, Tarlia Rudge enjoyed competing with their sheep in Clunes.
Looking forward, the agricultural students will soon take delivery of two dairy calves to look after for a fortnight, before beginning preparations for the 150th Shepparton Show.
They will enter in the eggs and vegetables sections, participate in dairy heifer handling clinics and youth parader competition, as well as helping with goats, an animal display, a dog high jump and various other events to celebrate the show’s milestone.
In the meantime, they’re seeking sponsorship for a new shed to store animal feed and supplies.
“If there are any businesses or philanthropists in the community who would be kind enough to assist us with this expense, we would love to chat,” Ms Drinnan said.
“We are also keen to talk with any farming members of the community who are familiar with breeding and managing stud sheep, as my next goal would be to have a college sheep stud so we can compete at the various agricultural shows and at the Australian Sheep and Wool Show in Bendigo.”
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