Stanley Vale Merino Stud - News & Views

Hands up if you know a good chop!

Updated August 07, 2015 13:09:50

A new generation of livestock farmers are learning about ram genetics, the best cuts of meat and how to ensure their animal's welfare.

About 50 high school students from across the central west of NSW got their hands-on some poll dorset sheep in Cowra at a lamb industry field day.

Young High School teacher Tim Minehan said the number of students taking agriculture as a subject is growing.

He brought four Year 11 students to Cowra for the day to learn about choosing the right ram for your flock, what makes the best eating meat and how to ensure the welfare of your animals.

Year 11 student Nathan Hislop is considering going into lamb production when he leaves school.

"It's good to get a day out of school and look at sheep, learn new things, the fat scoring on sheep was good to learn. I tied with Stacey for first in the chop judging," he said.

"I own sheep with my cousin now. I've got my own flock so it will be good to take what I've learnt back to the farm.

"The interest in agriculture is really growing and with the way young people are bringing technology into ag it's good and changing a lot."

Stacey Dorman said she will go home and tell her father what he's doing wrong.

"We had to look for whether the rams had a good body shape and strong legs," she said.

Organiser Ruth Klinger said the Central West Poll Dorset Association wanted to give students a taste of how they could make decisions to ensure the best product.

"We're teaching them about genetic markers, ram selection and sheep nutrition and welfare, plus a butcher is here to show them where different cuts of meat come from," she said.

Ms Klinger said new technology is assisting local breeders to lift production rates and quality, with a number of them trialling gene testing for cold weather survivability.

"Newborn lambs are pretty exposed to the elements and sheep have to get shorn at some point in time and you can always hit a cold snap, so if we can find ways to increase lamb survivability that would be fantastic."

Topics: livestock, livestock-welfare, sheep-production, secondary-schools, cowra-2794

First posted August 07, 2015 13:07:30

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