Woo hoo, we won!!!! Campbell Town took out the Fleece competition, the most engaged award and took out the overall day with the smallest of margins from Scottsdale.  

Excited students arrived at the brand new shearing facility at the show grounds at 8.00am on Wednesday 24 September 2025 to commence our day of judging of the wethers in three areas – carcass value, fleece value and presentation. 

We were pleased with how the sheep were looking. Charlotte, Ruby, Makaya, Dane and Callum had been working on tidying up the fleeces while Sophie, Hollie, Aydon, Liliyana, Lachlan and Roselina have spent the last couple of sessions cleaning faces and tags. Regular weighing of the wethers this year allowed us to alter their diet as required and Number 79 (Landcruiser) has led the way, reaching over 80kgs. The graph below shows their weight gain throughout the last couple of terms. 

The secondary students completed all the challenges set by the organiser, Lachie West. These challenges saw students measuring the wool for length, dust, micron and colour. We did this twice and were surprised by how much the wool had grown. Other challenges included an exercise in working out the scoring process which involved lots of maths. Hats off to Makayla who led the way and enabled us all to have a great understanding of the scoring used on the day. Students looked at parasites and what it could be like to be a wether in another location. Completion of all these activities resulted in students winning $500. 

Our day started with a final clean up and our sheep were the first to go through the carcass judging where they are weighed and measurements are taken of the fat and eye muscle. Next, students took mid-side samples and we watched as they were measured to get a final micron score for each sheep. The sheep ranged from 15.8 micron to 19.9 micron, all under 20 which was great. As all this was happening, more and more schools were arriving and the space was getting crowded as more people poured in, looking and comparing the sheep. Good time for a watermelon break! Mr Bryant checked in to see the presentation judging where four schools were lined up, with 3 judges assessing conformation, wool and the presentation of the sheep. 

Finally our sheep were shorn and fleeces weighed. It was great to see students helping each other out from different schools, especially with the younger students. 

Students spent the rest of the day visiting the stands – AWI, Elders, RAW, TIA and the Ross Wool Centre. Through these presentations we learnt about the processing of wool, the creation of the end products, the importance of pasture variety and mental health. 

The presentations were held at the end of the day. We were excited to take out the Fleece competition with a first, and to also receive the $500 engagement award. And we didn’t think we had any chance at the big award, as Scottsdale A team had been placed in all three of the sections. It was a very excited group of students who stepped up to the stage to receive the champions ribbon and prize. Great work from them all and a very excited return to school to share their joy. 

A big thank you to all the people who have supported us this year with the wether program. Thanks to Mel Morris (Elders) for helping teach us about wool handling, Georgina Wallace (Trefusis) for her tips on preparing the sheep and tipping the horns, David Taylor (Kennilworth), Sam Lyne (Riccarton) and John Taylor (Winton) for donations of grain & hay.