SEASON and circumstance will be putting a lot of pressure on the fleece competition at this year’s Whitfield Excavations Swan Hill Show.
Long-term senior steward Carl Fox, supported by stewards Peter Pryor and Tony Fox, said a tough season and a growing shift from pure wool enterprises to crossbred flocks will impact on the number of fleeces entered in the Merino and general classes of the competition.
Carl said he has not seen the final entries yet but was hoping for multiple entries from 20 exhibitors or more.
Like many other regional events, connections were broken by the Covid-19 shutdowns and that means the wool competition, like many others, is going through a rebuilding process.
“Most of the fleeces we will see come from local commercial flocks, although in the past there has been good support from some of the bigger studs around us,” Carl said.
“The local wools tend to be medium to strong and in recent competitions we have seen fleeces here go on to success at a state level.
“And we do get them from both sides of the river, although the pastoral fleeces coming out of NSW tend to be dictated by how things are going there at the time.”
And there are significant opportunities for exhibitors at Swan Hill.
Every winner in the champion fleece sections of fine, medium and strong, becomes eligible for the group final.
Winners from there are then required to submit the same fleece for the state final (they eventually get the fleece back).
The pressure of choosing which will be the 2024 Swan Hill Show golden fleeces has fallen on the shoulders of Tony Keem.
As the owner of Northern Wool, Tony has had a long and distinguished career in the industry and was with Elders before moving into his current role.
The coveted champion fleece of the show is also sponsored by his business, which provides a sash and $150 cash.
All fleeces are judged as per the current recommendations set out by the National Council of Wool Selling Brokers of Australia.
