Students use real-world skills to maximise lamb profits

A combined carcase and fleece value of $828 won students from Mudgee’s St Matthews Catholic School the overall championship in the NSW Dohne Prime Lamb Schools’ Competition. A total of 26 schools and 260 high school students from across the state competed in the inaugural Community Bank Gilgandra and Central NSW Bendigo Bank NSW Dohne Prime Lamb Schools Competition at Orange. Initiated and supported by the Australian Dohne Breeders’ Association, the competition was designed to develop the next generation of farmers, decision makers and industry leaders. Each school received five Dohne wether lambs in February and had the responsibility of finishing them on either grain, pellets, grazing crops or show meal over five months with the single mission of maximizing commercial profit through smart management. Students selected two wether lambs for processing at Gundagai Lamb in early July with the objective carcase data calculated to give a meat value. Accredited judges Barry Lang and Jason Southwell assessed the lambs on the hoof in the subjective judging, presenting the champion sash to St Matthews Catholic College with Dubbo College Senior Campus picking up the reserve champion. Lambs selected for the championship judging were weighed and ultrasound scanned for eye muscle and fat depth. They were then shorn with fleeces weighed and micron tested. In the carcase results, finalists were teams from Barraba Central School, Lake Cargelligo Central School, Orange High School, St Matthews Catholic School, Orange Anglican Grammar School. St Matthews emerged as the overall winner with a team carcase value of $725 with Orange Anglican College second on $696.30 and Lake Cargelligo third on $694.84. In the fleece results, finalists were Merriwa Central School, Red Bend Catholic College, Portland Central School, Crookwell High School and Orange Anglican Grammar School. Red Bend Catholic College, Forbes, took out the championship with an average fleece value per lamb of $121.23, with Merriwa Central School, Merriwa, in second on $119.85 and Orange Anglican Grammar School, Orange, third on $116.86. St Matthews was named as the overall champion with the combined scores to give an average fleece and carcase value per lamb of $828.39 while Orange Anglican Grammar School claimed the reserve champion sash on $813.16. Year 10 student Alannah Rossetto said the team was thrilled with the win after months of handling the lambs and feeding them a ration of finisher pellets, lucerne hay and a mineral mix. Orange Anglican College used a ration supplied by Furneys and MSM Milling to achieve weight gains of up to 300 grams per day and a meat value of $355 per lamb. “I am absolutely blown away with the performance of these lambs. To end up with a meat value of $355 each well exceeds our expectations,” College team leader Sarah Eyb said. The commercial Dohne lambs were supplied by the Currey family, Bogeweong Butcher Co, Walgett, NSW. Aside from the showing and judging, students gained an insight to shearing, fleece testing, working dog demonstrations, and learn about emerging technologies and explore career pathways at the trade stands. A Careers in Agriculture panel featured guest speakers Emily Pitt, AGnVET, Brooke Watts, Bralca, Michelle Henry, Gundagai Meat Processors, Peta Bradley, Sheep Genetics, Matt Playford, Dawbuts Worm Testing, and Kieran Smith, For Flocks Sake. Program coordinator Daniel Pumpa deemed the event as an outstanding success, with students developing real-world skills in animal husbandry, nutrition, health management and sustainable farming practices. Addison Britt, Orange Anglican Grammar, was among those students without a farming background and was inspired about being open to careers in agriculture. Year 7 student Lila Bramley was excited to be involved with the Grammar Schools sheep team and keen to be involved in next year’s event. “I was open to helping to see what it’s like in the sheep industry,” she said. Familiar with crossbred sheep, Charlie Hotham, a St Stanislaus College Year 8 student, was surprised to discover Dohnes are a hardy dual-purpose breed suited to pastoral areas. “The businesses here today taught us there were other ways to explore agriculture and it was good to meet new people through networking,” he said.