Students at WA College of Agriculture - Cunderdin have continued to excel both academically and in practical pursuits.
This is evident from their achievements at the Pingelly Shears shearing competition on February 18.
The college continues to produce talented shearers under the guidance of sheep enterprise technical officer, Wayne Laird, who has held the position for the past 23 years.
In the novice section at Pingelly, the school performed incredibly well:
- Danny Halligan (New Norcia) came 1st
- Phillip McDonald (Esperance), 2nd
- Daniel Willmott (Tambellup) 4th
- Isaac Stokes (Tammin) 6th
- Jack Oorschot (Esperance) came 8th
- Connor Anderson (Quairading) 10th
- Chloe King (Mukinbudin) 11th and Brayden Fairhead (Pingelly) came 12th.
Four students from the college have been selected in the State novice shearing and wool handling team to compete in the national titles in Bendigo on October 28 this year.
They are graduates from last year, Jayden Smith (Cranbrook) and Shannon McLean (Coomberdale) along with current year 12's, Grace Davey (Wongan Hills) and Danny Halligan.
Mr Laird has been invited to attend as either wool judge or team manager.
The competition is sponsored by AWI.
College farm manager, Kim Gray, congratulated the students on their participation and the way they represented the college.
He also acknowledged Mr Laird's efforts in training the students to such a high level.
"It is not uncommon for up to 20 students to head to the shearing shed after classes at 4:00pm and for them to shear until 5.30 when they have to be pushed out of the shed to shower ready for the evening meal," he said.
Last year, Mr Laird took five students to Sydney to compete in the National Merino Challenge.
Students are keen to do well at this year’s Wagin Woolorama for a chance to compete at the Challenge in Melbourne this year," Mr Gray said.
For more information, go to http://cunderdinag.wa.edu.au.