Condobolin High School students participated in the NSW Schools Merino Wether Challenge in Dubbo with great success recently.
They were awarded an Encouragement Award for their efforts. The students competed against 89 other teams at the event.
“During the show we went to workshops about wool quality, careers in the agricultural industry, training dogs and Fletchers marketing strategies for exporting meat products,” a post on the Condobolin High School Facebook Page read.
“We presented our sheep for both their wool and meat and were put up against many schools in our Zone 4. We were luckily rewarded with most engaging school on the mat for both categories while showing our wethers. This is because we consistently asked questions, gave valid answers, and engaged with the judges as much as possible. At presentation we also received an encouragement award for the 2 days of the show.
“We were also lucky to experience the ram show down the opposite end of the shed and learnt about the stud side of merino rams as well as how the owners tried to best present their rams. A series of topics were explained to us by owners such as problems they had along the way, how they got to where they are now, and how they overcame issues such as floods, droughts, disease and genetic issues.”
Whilst at the Wether Challenge students visited Fletchers International Group and Genstock.
“During the Fletcher’s tour we had the opportunity to experience a day in the life of an abattoir worker. Hannah our tour guide showed us the industry allowing us to see the abattoir while at work processing the lamb. We saw how the whole carcass gets to the small cuts of meat, boxed up and ready for export,” a post on the Condobolin High School Facebook Page read.
The post went on to say: “Genstock is a reproductive centre that collects semen, performs embryo flushes and artificially inseminates for local and district farmers. We were shown the newly developed ram shed and saw a demonstration on how the semen was collected. Then, we viewed the semen sample under a microscope and learnt about the fertility of it and the best times to collect it.”
Condobolin High School thanked Fletchers International and Genstock for providing and amazing opportunity; Mrs Wendy Patton and Mr Mark Phillips for taking the students; Miss Kate Umber and Mr Peter Speer who helped with the wethers at school.