Elite breeders prepare for Bendigo feature competition

More than 1800 sheep will make their way to the Australian Sheep and Wool Show in Bendigo, as it celebrates 25 years.

The Australian Sheep and Wool Show is celebrating 25 years at its home in Bendigo this year.

And Shane Baker of Booloola White Suffolk stud at Baringhup has shown sheep there every year since.

This year White Suffolks are the feature breed and Shane has entered 12 of his sheep into this year’s show.

“We are fortunate Bendigo is our local show, we have a lot of ram clients who stop by and it is a good networking event, where you can catch up with like-minded people,” Shane said.

“Showing gives us a shop window to advertise the elite end of our rams.”

Shane established the Booloola stud in 1998 and moved back to the farm full time in 2012. Since then they have increased the size and focus of their flock, and will offer 250 rams at their stud sale this year, making it the largest White Suffolk ram sale in Australia.

“We’ve changed our focus a bit, we are more focused on breeding rams for our commercial clients, we have reduced our frame size a bit while continuing our easy care and easy lambing characteristics of the White Suffolk,” Shane said.

Shane Baker of Booloola White Suffolk stud.

While Shane said they had reduced the amount of shows they attend now, only going to the Sheep Show and the Bendigo Elite White Suffolk show in September, it did offer a chance for them to benchmark against others.

The Australian Sheep and Wool Show runs from Friday, July 18 to Sunday, July 20.

Sheep and Wool Show chief executive Margot Falconer said there were about 1800 sheep entered across 24 different breeds.

“We are pretty happy with the numbers, as the country is not in the best position from drought to floods,” she said.

“People come to the show to catch up with friends and colleagues, as much as they come to show sheep,” Margot said.

The Australian Sheep and Wool Show has been running since 1879, but moved from Melbourne to Bendigo in 2000 to “ensure its longevity”.