On Friday 5 September a team of 22 students from The Henry Lawson High School competed in the Young Judges competitions.
In the morning, they learnt how to assess fruit and vegetables and grains. The students place the produce first to fourth for three classes in each section.
The fruit and vegetables they judged included mandarins, apples and potatoes under the guidance of overjudge Mr Stuart Muller from Forbes.
They learnt fruit stays fresh longer if it has a stalk or peduncle and it is more desirable if it is freer of pest damage, blemishes and diseases.
Next they judged barley, oats and wheat with Heather Walker explaining how to handle and assess the grain.
Her expertise after placing reserve champion at Nationals was apparent. The students observed the weights and protein percentages and then visually assessed each sample for freedom from pest damage, diseases, husk and foreign seeds.
Lastly they assessed 4 wool samples after Kelli Brown from Moses and Son Wool explained how to appraise a wool sample considering colour, fibre diameter, style, freedom from vegetable matter and dust and tenderness.
The results for Friday were:
Fruit and Vegetables- 1st = Lachlan Ingrey, 2nd = Thomas Vonthein, 3rd = George Troth.
Grains – 1st = Lachlan Ingrey, 2nd = Georgia Petty, 3rd = Bridie Forde.
Wool – 1st = Lachlan Ingrey, 2nd = Bridie Forde, 3rd = Matilda Morley.
On Saturday 6 September, Ali McCann, Georgia Petty, Chloe Petty and Keira Chown exhibited Poll Dorset sheep owned by The Williams Dursley Stud, that had been broken in by Mrs Makin’s agriculture classes and Mrs Walker’s Primary Industries classes.
They were very well presented and paraded. Lot 1 from their Auction on Wednesday was awarded the supreme sheep exhibit at Grenfell Show.
Proceeds from this ram were generously donated to THLHS agriculture program.
In the young judges meat sheep competition John Niven, the judge was impressed by the students’ ability to place the rams in the correct order and their accuracy of observations.
In the Meat Sheep young judges the results were:
1st- Georgia Petty, 2nd Lachlan Ingrey and equal 3rd – Ali McCann, Bethany Eagles and Eagles (both from Forbes High School.
In the meat sheep handlers Heather Walker judged the class, giving helpful hints on how to hold the lead, where to stand when the judge walks past and how to always stand the sheep squarely.
The results for the Meat sheep handlers were:
1st Lilly Eagles (Forbes High School), 2nd Bethany Eagles (Forbes High School), 3rd Mea Hocking (Harden Murrumburrah), 4th Jethro Fenton (THLHS), 5th Caitlyn Byrnes (Forbes High School) and Chloe Petty 6th
We would like to thank Lachlan Fertilizers for sponsoring the Young Judges competitions and Grenfell Commodities for sponsoring the Sheep section of the show.
