Celebrating back-to-back wins was the Western Australian College of Agriculture (WACOA) - Denmark, in the 2023 Patmore Feeds WA State Ag School Merino Judging Challenge - with 300 out of a possible 400 points in the competition at the Rabobank WA Sheep Expo & Merino Ram sale at Katanning last week.
Winning team members were Olliver Bush, Dakota Dalton, Alison Findlay and Jesse Oldfield.
Second was WACOA - Narrogin, with 290 points, followed by WACOA - Cunderdin with 214 points and WACOA - Harvey, with 193 points.
The challenge required the students to judge four stud rams from various studs present and rank them from first to fourth on their overall quality.
The students were judged by Kurt Wise, Wililoo stud, Woodanilling, on their sheep handling (mouthing technique, fleece opening, manner and low-stress stock handling), oral assessment (terminology, fault identification, accuracy and public speaking manner) and their presentation (dress standard and OHS compliance).
The students were given 15 minutes to judge the rams before they had to provide Mr Wise with an oral presentation and reasoning.
Each student was individually scored out of 100, with their points going towards the college's overall score (with a maximum 400 points).
Mr Wise was pleased with the outcome of the competition and how the students judged the rams.
"They all did well and had a really good go at the judging which was good to see," Mr Wise said.
"It was a standardised points system, which was based on sheep handling, presentation, and most importantly the oral presentation.
"For me, I was really interested to see why the students placed the rams in the order they did and for what reason, as well as their confidence and their terminology throughout the presentation."
Mr Wise commended the winning team, saying they were very consistent throughout the competition.
Patmore Feeds sponsor and sales manager Paul Avery said it was the company's first year sponsoring the event.
"We are a new local business, and we are super keen to get involved with events like this and support the industry, because the industry supports us," Mr Avery said.
"We like to give back."
A producer of quality feed pellets, he believed pellets were the feed of the future, particularly in delivering balanced nutrition for livestock.
"The students are also the future of the industry, so we thought when the opportunity came up that it was an ideal sponsor idea," Mr Avery said.
"It was great that a young company and young students, both on an innovative pathway could come together."
