Ted Kennedy
An excellent line up of just on one hundred sheep and lambs, representing seven breeds of stud sheep, was a highlight of the sheep breed display at the 2018 Bindoon Show. Five of these breeds were the wool-shedding type.
Stud breeders brought their sheep from far and wide. Steven Abbott brought his Moodi Whites of the Australian White breed. The breeders were appreciative of the Bindoon Show Committee giving them the opportunity to display their sheep, and to talk to so many people about their breed’s features. Many ram orders were taken — a reward for their effort!
The winner of the Elders Ltd. $100 cheque for Best Presentation of Sheep Penned were the Afrinos of John Benner’s Bailup Downs Stud in Wooroloo. John donated the money back to the Society to put towards future promotion of sheep at the Bindoon Show which was greatly appreciated. Judge Robert Hawes had much trouble selecting a winner out of such a good line up.
Providing the wow factor at the sheep pens were the maremma livestock guard dogs. People streamed by all day to see Bradley Johnson’s dogs and give them a pat. He was kept busy explaining the outstanding features of these dogs, whose breed originated from the mountain area in North Italy. They are the subject of the Australian movie Oddball, which chronicles the story of a maremma dog in South Australia who guards the local fairy penguin population. A fascinating breed and thank you Bradley for the opportunity.
Special thanks must go to Jamie Withnell of Withnells Stock Yards who so kindly loaned 90 hurdles to make such an impressive line up to display the sheep. A big thank you Jamie from all participants and Committee!
It was excellent to see an increase in the number of fleeces in the wool section — nineteen entries in total. Dawn Glover of Wannamal displayed her excellent fleeces with the usual success we see at Bindoon! With wool being grown so successfully in our surrounding districts, and receiving record prices, the Committee held a ‘Know your Wool’ micron competition. The public could test their skill by placing the wool samples in the correct order of fineness to broadest out of eight boxes. Up to fifty people entered. When entries were closed the full details of each wool sample were displayed, including the actual price that that wool made at auction the previous week! The winner was a student from Morawa Agricultural College, Hayley Devlin, with an outstanding score of five out of eight. Hayley received a $100 cheque from Primaries Wool Ltd. Thanks to Greg Tilbrook of Primaries for the wool samples and the generous donation.
We welcomed Morgan Feed Supplies as a new sponsor to this year’s Show. They generously donated 500kgs of their Premium Pellets in a bulker bag, which was won by Edmund Rice College with the Best Beast at Show; one of their fine Shorthorn heifers. Morgans also donated a bag of poultry feed for the Best Bird in the poultry section, won by G. Ireland of Kellerberrin with his Bantam hen. The hen went on to win at Esperance the following weekend! Lucy Oversby, with an excellent ride in the Under 11 Barrel Race (held in conjunction with the Rodeo), won a bag of Morgan’s pellets, a popular local winner — congratulations Lucy!
