The Merino Wether Challenge — an initiative of the Australian Sheep Breeders Association and Australian Wool Innovation — has previously been held annually in South Australia, NSW and Tasmania.
The challenge is a hands-on program for exposing students to the many opportunities and careers in the sheep and wool industry.
GSSC is among 11 Victorian schools participating in the program.
Six sheep from the Victorian Stud Merino Breeders Association were provided to each school in March, with all animals coming from the same stud.
In the five months since, the challenge for each school has been to apply best practice animal husbandry and nutrition to produce the ‘meatiest’ animals with the best quality wool.
The challenge has been part of the curriculum for GSSC’s Year 10 Agriculture studies, Year 9 elective students and Year 11 VCE Agriculture students.
The Year 10 students have also undertaken field trips to the University of Melbourne’s Dookie Campus, a Merino stud and the Bendigo Sheep and Wool Show.
Judging for the competition will be held on Wednesday, August 28 at Clunes, where two teams of five GSSC Year 10 students will join teams from the other participating Victorian schools.
All sheep will be tested for carcase value and the length and quality of wool
Students will take part in the tests, and awards will be given for highest value fleece, highest value carcase, best presentation, most engaged school and a combined-score grand champion.
The sheep will then be processed at an abattoir, adding a ‘real world’ context to the commercial side of the sheep and wool industry.
Year 9 students Amber McCauley and Myah Huddle both said they were comfortable with the final processing of the animals.
“Of course, we are okay with that,” Amber said.
“That’s how the circle of life goes.”
Amber said the competition gave the students an opportunity to learn much about livestock.
“We like going out with the sheep and it’s good in the classroom to learn about how they eat, their digestive system, what people use the sheep for: are they dual purpose, or are they just either wool or meat?”
Despite aspiring to be a photographer, Amber said it was only half of her dream.
“You can have two things you can aspire to be, and my family wants to start up a farm so it’s like I’m getting in there before it, and I prefer to photograph landscapes and animals so it kind of goes hand-in-hand.
“I can do both at the same time.”
Myah said visits to an aunt’s livestock farm were an inspiration for her and that the subject was not what she had expected.
“I didn’t know there would be actual sheep here,” she said.
“I have also learned new things I didn’t know I would learn, so I will have something to do with agriculture in the future — I love animals and farms.”
Agriculture teacher Charlotte Drinnan said although there was little crossing over of the three year levels, the rostering of feeding the sheep was crucial.
“It’s a cooperative and we share the love about,” Ms Drinnan said.
“But we do use the weight data for the Year 11 curriculum, so we do different things between year levels.”
The sheep will be judged on their wool from six samples, as well as being shorn for determining fleece weight.
The animals will also be scanned for eye muscle size and rib fat.
An estimated carcase value will be derived at the judging and compared to measurements made at the abattoir.
“They get measurements for all of it and (the students) can see how accurate their estimations are,” Ms Drinnan said.
GSSC will continue to take part in the annual event, with the competition fully incorporated in the college’s agriculture curriculum.
