WANGOOLA Downs’ Greg Growden achieved a remarkable trifecta in the Mundulla Agricultural Bureau Hogget Competition on Friday.
In his more than 15 years as a competitor, he has enjoyed numerous successes including runner-up in the 2015 fleece classes , but this year’s winning result was even more special.
His two outstanding long-stapled Merino fleeces came up trumps in the Team of Two class. Both nearly 10 kilograms, the 20.9 and 20.4 micron fleeces were valued at $228.07.
Mr Growden also won the Ed Champness Perpetual Trophy for the hogget of the day, and the meat class, with his three wethers valued at $335.95.
Each of the 13 entrants selected a team of three wethers, which were run on the Salmon’s property for the past year. Prior to shearing, they choose their two best sheep for judging.
Mr Growden says the competition highlights the excellent returns for those with self-replacing Merino flocks.
“There is money in Merinos – not everyone has to go cropping or crossbreds,” he said.
It is also a great benchmark to compare the performance of his Hannaton-blood hoggets against other bloodlines in the district.
“We are getting very white wools which are soft handling with plenty of nourishment,” Mr Growden said. “They have handled the conditions of a long dry year really well.”
Wool judge and Landmark wool area manager Steve Averay praised the display of sound, high yielding wool.
“A lot of the sheep are cutting 7-10kg and with greasy fleece values about $10/kg, they are making $100 a fleece which is fantastic money,” he said.
“There is very little difference between 19 to 22 to 23M so our type of heavy cutting sheep in this area is going very well.”
Landmark Bordertown’s Graeme Hampel was the meat judge.
Mundulla Hogget Competition convenor Gary Lock had the closest estimation in the fleece valuation aimed to test participants’ skills. He valued the three fleeces at $287.60 compared to the actual value of $292.52.
Mr Lock said the hogget competition, which had been running for more than 40 years in its current format, remained a success.“It is still a wool growing district and apart from cattle the most profitable enterprise for farmers around here is sheep. We need to keep breeding sheep with wool cut and producing good wether lambs where there is still good money.”
Twelve teams have been nominated for the 2017 event, which will see the judging brought forward from August to February. The fleeces will be displayed at the Mundulla Show.
“Hopefully we can attract a few more people. By starting the competition in February it is a time when more wether lambs are around rather than people needing to hold onto three until later in the year,” Mr Lock said.
