Four dairy farmers from the Shoalhaven rose to the challenge and drenched sheep in front of a crowd of thousands on the weekend.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Nowra’s Marty Downes, Michaela Jeffery, George Miller from Berry and Pat Buckley from Camden placed second in the Young Farmers Challenge state final at the Sydney Royal Easter Show.
The team won the event at Berry Show earlier this year. The challenge requires mixed teams of four, aged between 18 - 35 years, to complete tasks including identifying fish species in a pond, animal handling, fencing, tractor driving, firefighting, first aid and heavy lifting. A fast time, correct techniques and a safe work method is judged.
The local team completed the heat in 12 minutes and the final in 15 minutes.
While they “winged it” this year, Mr Downes said the team will brush up on their theory for next year’s event.
“Before the event we had an exam and each mark you get wrong you’re penalised a second at the start so the winning team got a 15 second head start,” he said.
“It was things like working out calculations and what sort of protein and energy intake you’d need for a 20 kilogram sheep that we struggled with a bit.
“You can never really know what they're going to throw at you but it’s all about learning different aspects of all agricultural industries.”