By Brendan Rees
Helen Raven made a last minute decision to throw some sheep in the back of her trailer to take to the Berwick Agriculture Show last weekend.
And she’s thankful she did because she took out the Supreme Champion Stud Exhibit award in the sheep show ring with her 20 month-year Hampshire Down Ram.
“This is something really special,” she said.
“He’s not really in show condition; I just brought him down because I was coming down here to judge tomorrow (last Sunday).”
“I threw a few sheep in the trailer yesterday and brought him with me,” she said last Saturday, 24 February.
Ms Raven travelled from Henty, New South Wales, saying she was wrapped to win.
“It takes years to get sheep to get this result. You might win here and there but to get something like this it takes years.”
“He’s a really wonderful ram. He’s also got a really beautiful temperament.”
“He needs a bit of condition on him because he’s going to Sydney next year.”
Ms Raven says she has about a hundred Hamphire Down ewes and about 50 Lincoln ewes on her farm.
She’s also passionate about educating the public about where their supermarket meat comes from.
“It’s nice to be able to pass on some of my knowledge to some of these school kids.”
“It (meat) doesn’t come out of supermarket shelf. I’m really passionate about that,” Ms Raven said.
“There’s such a divide between the city and the country.”
“We’ve got Sydney coming up in about three or four weeks’ time. I find the people there are so hungry to know anything – they’ll sit and took with you for ages.”
President of Heritage Sheep Australia Colin Chapman said all sheep were judged on merit at the show.
“It’s judged on the short wools with the meat and if it’s long wool, they judge it on their wool as well.”
“It’s like trying to judge apples and pears – it’s a bit hard but they’re got to judge them on their breed requirements,” said Mr Chapman.
“They’ve got to be a very good example of the breeds and they’ve got to beat the other good examples of their breeds.”
