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Sheep & Fleece
  1. Royal Agricultural Society of NSW
  2. Sydney Royal Competitions
  3. Competitions
  4. Sheep & Fleece

Sheep & Fleece

The Sydney Royal Sheep & Fleece Show is one of the largest and most prestigious Sheep & Fleece Shows in Australia. Each year over 700 sheep and 100 fleeces are exhibited at the Sydney Royal Easter Show. There are three major categories in the RAS Sheep & Fleece Show: Merinos, Meat and Dual Purpose sheep and the Fleece Section. Merinos are bred for their fine quality wool while meat breed sheep are bred for their meat eating qualities; their wool is of less significance. Dual purpose sheep produce quality wool and meat.   Winning a Sydney Royal ribbon especially a Champion, is highly valued and keenly contested by Exhibitors who come from all over NSW, Queensland and South Australia.

Sponsors & Supporters

Sponsors & Supporters

2018 Supporters The Royal Agricultural Society of NSW gratefully acknowledges donations, prizes and trophies awarded throughout the Sheep & Fleece Competition at the 2018 Sydney Royal Easter Show from the following: Merino AWTA Ltd NSW Stud Merino Breeders' Association Inc Riverina Wool (Aust) Pty Ltd Schute Bell Badgery Lumby TA Field Estates Pty Ltd Meat & Dual Purpose Breeds Australian Poll Dorset Association - NSW Branch Australian Stud Sheep Breeders Association - NSW Branch Central Western Region of the APDA NSW Border Leicester Sheep Breeders Association Inc Sheep Fleece Australian Wool Exchange Ltd Mr Ian Wass Schute Bell Badgery Lumby The Hon Katrina Hodgkinson

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Bush Telegraph

Bush Telegraph

Going for the trifecta

Going for the trifecta

Some may consider three a crowd but not in this instance. In this case, three is the winning trifecta, with three Sydney Royal Regional Food Competition Champions collecting the coveted title in their first year of entering. Hum Honey, Bunny Chow Down and Hazelbrae Hazelnuts perhaps had a dash of beginners luck along with exceptional products, earning each the title of Champion. Hum Honey took the Champion Regional Food Other Product title home to Queensland’s Sunshine Coast for their Cold Fusion Organic Lemon Myrtle Honey. With a passion of bringing consumers the purest raw honey from their free-range farm, Hum Honey embraces the philosophy of “savour the flavour”, and the Sydney Royal judges certainly did. Cold fusion is a process that allows the introduction of sensational flavours into the raw honey, a specialty that Hum have embraced and won them a hive of Sydney Royal medals. Along with their Champion Cold Fusion Organic Lemon Myrtle, Hum also received Silver for their Cold Fusion Organic Australian Lavender and their Cold Fusion Organic Cinnamon Quill and a Bronze medal for their Cold Fusion Australian Organic Ginger A bunny chow is a traditional curry served by street vendors in Durban, whilst a Bunny Chow Down Rosella Apple Chilli Jam is a Sydney Royal Champion Sweet Preserve. Combining a love of curry with a desire for unusual gastronomic flavour combinations, Bunny Chow Down took off in Queensland in 2013 and now includes an incredible range of chutney, marmalade, pickles and glazes.  Combining apple, sugar, rosella, lemon juice and chilli the Champion Sweet Preserve is bursting with sweet flavours with a bit of a zing and pairs beautifully with chicken. Hazelbrae Hazelnuts produce Tasmania’s very first hazelnut oil, which is also Sydney Royal’s first Champion hazelnut oil, the 2018 Champion Regional Food Specialty Product. This multi-purpose oil can be used for gentle frying, in salad dressing, drizzled over fruit or rice dishes, added to desserts or milk-based drinks and even applied as a moisturiser. With one of the largest hazelnut groves in Australia, the 5,000 hazelnut trees at the family-run farm in Hagley, northern Tasmania, certainly delivered the good oil for the judges.    Discover all the Sydney Royal Regional Food winners here.

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Sweet Study for Scholar

Sweet Study for Scholar

A 2016 Royal Agricultural Society of NSW (RAS) Foundation Rural Scholar is causing a buzz in apiculture with her research on a disease of economic importance to Australian agriculture. Tara Needham, a final year veterinary science student at Charles Sturt University (CSU) in Wagga Wagga, has undertaken an independent research project on American foulbrood (AFB), the most serious brood disease affecting honey bees in NSW. The bacterial disease kills larvae in their cells within the hive and current treatments exterminate the entire colony; devastating to an industry contributing approximately $36 million annually to the State’s economy. AFB is an infectious disease and can be spread by interchanging apiary equipment or if bees consume contaminated honey. Beekeepers are required to notify an apiary inspector under the Apiaries Act if their colonies are infected, if left unchecked AFB will eventually kill all the hives in an apiary and will spread to other hives within flying distance. “I expect to find AFB exists at subclinical levels in many hives and that while bees are able to manage those levels, environmental factors like stress and human influence such as pesticides can cause the disease to become pathogenic,” Needham said. The research involved collecting more than 1,000 samples over 5 months along with laboratory work to monitor seasonal patterns and AFB prevalence in the Riverina. Needham is now finalising results and aims to finish the report by her July graduation. “The prospect of publishing a scientific article on a subject I’m passionate about makes all the work completely worth it, it’s amazing seeing it come to fruition,” the 23-year-old said. Needham “fell into apiculture” after joining the Wagga Wagga Bee Keeping Club to learn about the only insect that produces food for human consumption. “I thought it would be a great hobby but it turned into a passion,” she said. “Bees are incredibly fascinating creatures with complex lives. Their world is dictated by smells and seeing ultraviolet; it’s so different from ours.” The NSW Department of Primary Industry supported Needham’s project alongside CSU staff including Veterinary Pathology Lecturer, Andrew Peters, who ensured experiments were correctly designed and the scientific process understood.  “Tara’s research is very significant to the future of this area in agriculture and vet science. Bees are economically and agriculturally valuable, the importance of their health should not be underestimated,” Peters said. Roughly 65 per cent of Australian agricultural production depends on pollination by honey bees, seeing their services valued between $4-6 billion. With more than 3,000 registered beekeepers and over 200,000 hives, NSW is Australia’s largest beekeeping state contributing approximately 40-45 per cent of the national honey crop. “It’s great that young vets are supported by programs like the RAS Foundation Rural Scholarship because it gives them the ability to explore emerging and niche needs within agricultural industries, Australian biosecurity and vet health,” Peters said. RAS Foundation Rural Scholarships assist individuals whose career aspirations benefit rural and regional NSW communities. More than 350 scholarships have been awarded since its inception in 2011 totalling over $1.7 million. Needham was one of 58 scholarship recipients in 2016, which covered her textbooks, apiary equipment and study placement travel costs. “The support of the RAS Foundation has been invaluable,” she said. “I’ve networked with other recipients and was able to dedicate myself to finishing my degree to my full potential without financial stress.” Executive Officer of the RAS Foundation, Kate Ross, said the scholarship re an initiative designed to ensure an increased flow of skilled people to rural and regional NSW communities. “Scholarships support our mission to build strong, sustainable communities by providing vital funding to rural-minded students working towards their educational goals,” Ross said. “We choose students who are passionate about their local communities and have the energy, skills and enthusiasm NSW country areas need to remain sustainable,” Ross said. Applications for the 2018 Rural Scholarships open on 1 August and close 30 September 2017 http://www.rasnsw.com.au/foundation/scholarships-and-grants/ras-rural-scholarships/

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The evolution of Australian chocolate

The evolution of Australian chocolate

Words: Jodie Van Der Velden With the Easter holiday celebration just weeks away, there’s no doubt chocolate consumption in Australia will spike. Chocolate eggs, said to be an ancient symbol of new life and resurrection and celebration of spring returning, have been associated with this religious holiday since the early 19 th century in Europe. With chocolate on everyone’s minds and palates at this time of year, it’s timely to reflect on all things chocolate and where Australia sits in the chocolate world. The Australian chocolate industry has experienced a rapid evolution over the last decade, with Australian artisan chocolatiers producing as beautiful chocolate products as those found in the luxurious chocolateries of Europe. At the 2013 World Chocolate Masters competition, Australia won third place ahead of Italy (first place) and Netherlands (second place) as well as winning Best Architect of the world - globe. These results clearly highlight the quality of training and innovation found here in Australia. Contemporary Australian trends in chocolate are very much in line with current global trends. Consumers are continually becoming more discerning through increased health awareness and education. Whilst there are certainly still consumers that are satisfied with mass manufactured low grade chocolate products, there is a rapidly growing consumer group that is concerned with the ethics and sustainability behind growing and harvesting cacao, and the manufacturing of chocolate.   Consumers are now interested in single origin and single plantation chocolates. These products are made from cacao beans grown in a single location or plantation and contain individual flavour profiles drawn from the cacao bean, rather than the addition of flavours.  As the health benefits of chocolate are continually revealed, astute consumers are very conscious of artificial ingredients. There is a growing trend to choose quality over quantity, with consumers turning towards high-quality dark chocolate rather than milk and white chocolates which contain a high sugar, low cacao content. Favourable consumer attitudes towards higher quality chocolate products have caused a decline in demand for some mass manufactured lower grade chocolate products.  This trend has resulted in more opportunities for boutique artisan chocolatiers to contribute to the market.  Consumers have become more daring than ever before and are trying, and loving, unique flavour combinations, such   as chilli and mango, lime and basil, saffron, and balsamic vinegar. The Sydney Royal Chocolate Competition is an ideal showcase for Australia’s chocolatiers. In my role as Chief Chocolate Judge, I’ve witnessed greater emphasis being placed upon innovation and the use of high quality natural ingredients from producers.  To see beautifully crafted, innovative chocolate products that have been executed with outstanding technical expertise and skill, being rewarded with Sydney Royal Gold Medals is a very rewarding experience in itself.  These awards are invaluable to the winner in acknowledging their outstanding product and encouraging further innovation to lead the Australian chocolate industry into the future.  About Jodie Van Der Velden Jodie Van Der Velden is the Chair of Judges for the 2016 Callebaut Sydney Royal Show and has been Chief Judge of Sydney Royal Chocolate competitions since 2012. Ms Van Der Velden has 10 years’ experience as a professional chocolatier. Her passion for the craft has been rewarded through myriad accolades. Considerable time spent in cacao plantations all over the world, working to understand the raw product in its natural state, has contributed in no small part to Ms Van Der Velden’s superior palate and the success of Josophan’s Fine Chocolates, which she founded in 2005.

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Seafood industry catches technology

Seafood industry catches technology

PHOTO: Fishtales WORDS: Sue White  Article first appeared RAS Times November 2016 Technological advances have caused an trend in the seafood industry resulting in animal husbandry improvements with oysters being a key example. “Oyster growing was historically fairly rudimentary: tar covered sticks in the mud. There are now methods and equipment that maximise the opportunity for the oyster to be at minimal stress during its growing, and have maximum access to food,” says John Susman, Managing Director of seafood marketing company Fishtales. The shift, says Susman, is very much a function of research and development. He thinks the results pay off in terms of taste. “I think the standard of oysters now is much higher than it was fifteen years ago.” He believes there’s another link between taste and traceability. Susman says that consumers’ desire to know a product’s provenance has changed the game for farmers in unexpected ways. “One of the real transformations has been that growers and catchers of seafood have taken a much greater interest in how their seafood tastes. It sounds like a simple principle, but for a long time a lot of catchers and growers were disconnected from where their product ended up,” he says. Susman also thinks that the closing of the gap between ‘catcher and cook’ and ‘water and plate’ has had a significant impact on the way seafood producers are looking at their businesses. “In aquaculture in particular there’s a much greater potential to have an impact or input into the outcome of the product than there is in wild harvest,” he says. It’s a principle with which Dr Belinda Yaxley, Sustainability and Accreditation Officer at Tasmania’s Petuna Group, would likely agree. “In salmon, we’re really getting towards world-class practice. You have automated feed systems, which allow you to feed the fish more efficiently, with little or no feed waste. You have a person sitting in a barge with computer screens; they just press a few buttons and the feed is delivered to the pen,” she says. Those pens now feature ‘in pen’ monitoring, not only to help producers better understand fish behaviour, but to keep a handle on the many environmental variables at play, such as temperature, dissolved oxygen levels or salinity. “That helps us improve our animal husbandry,” says Yaxley. While Petuna’s approach has been proactive, Yaxley says that in salmon, positive attitudes towards innovation are industry-wide. One change, now taken up by all three salmon growers in Australia, has had a multitude of payoffs. “We were the first company to adapt a trivalent vaccine. We’re now vaccinating fish so they don’t get sick, so we don’t actually need to treat them,” she says. Read more about the Australian aquaculture industry and its sustainability .

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Cheeseboard paired with Beer & Cider

Cheeseboard paired with Beer & Cider

You've heard of pairing wine and cheese but have you tried pairing beer and cider with cheese? It's time to venture outside your comfort zone with these delicious, medal-winning products. Cheese Berrys Creek Gourmet Riverine Blue www.berryscreekcheese.com Cheese Fish Creek VIC 3959   Coles Extra Reserve Cheddar www.coles.com.au Hawthorn East VIC 3123   Meredith Dairy Chevre Goats Cheese with Fresh Dill www.meredithdairy.com Meredith VIC 3333   The Heritage Burnie South Cape Brie  www.lionco.com Burnie TAS 7320   The Heritage Burnie Tasmanian Heritage Red Square www.lionco.com Burnie TAS 7320   Beer & Cider Franklin Cider Company Frank's Summer Pear Cider www.frankscider.com.au Franklin TAS 7113   Lion Australia Southwark Old Stout www.lionco.com Adelaide SA 5001   Malt Shovel Brewery James Squire Four Wives Pilsener www.james-squire.com.au Camperdown NSW 2050   Matilda Bay Dirty Granny www.matildabay.com.au Port Melbourne VIC 3207   Dad & Dave #1 Pale Ale www.dadndavesbrewing.com North Manly NSW 2100

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Where are they now - Claire Fenwicke

Where are they now - Claire Fenwicke

For Claire Fenwicke, winner of the 2015 JB Fairfax Award for Rural Journalism , being at the coalface of rural journalism with the Southern Highlands News is a dream come true. Claire attributes her high marks in her Bachelor of Journalism to the financial support she received from the RAS Foundation when she was awarded a $10,000 grant. The valuable experience she gained through interning at the Sydney Royal Easter Show and Fairfax Agricultural Media also helped her in landing her new role. Claire loves the breadth of coverage working at a regional paper offers. She has now written stories on business and tourism, education, community organisations, environment, animals and any other feature that might come her way. With Tulip Time blossoming across the Highlands, Claire will be out and about every day sending out live tweets, Facebook updates and online stories from the event. Each day brings with it a whole new set of experiences for Claire. The RAS Foundation is thrilled to have been able to support her in achieving her dreams. WORDS: Kate Ross

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11 treats for Father’s Day

11 treats for Father’s Day

Spoil dad with these scrumdiddlyumptious selections from the 2016 Sydney Royal Wine, Dairy and Fine Food Shows.   BEER Gold American Pale Ale www.napoleonebrewers.com.au Napoleone Brewers, Coldstream NSW 3770   Gold Silent Knight Porter www.mobrewing.com.au Modus Operandi Brewing, Mona Vale 2567   Champion Lovedale Lager www.sydneybrewery.com Sydney Brewery, Lovedale NSW 2325   WINE Trophy 2014 Second Innings Malbec www.bleasdale.com.au Blesadale Vineyards, Langhorne Creek SA 5255   Trophy 2014 CCS Shiraz www.chalkerscrossing.com.au Chalkers Crossing, Young NSW 2594   CHEESE Gold Heritage Vintage www.begacheese.com.au Bega Cheese, Bega NSW 2550   BACON Gold Canadian Style Maple Bacon www.germanbutchery.com.au German Butchery, Mona Vale NSW 2103   LAMB Champion Grass Fed Lamb www.millyhill.com.au Milly Hill Lamb Pty Ltd, Armidale NSW 2350   BEEF Champion Grass Fed Beef www.bindareebeef.com.au Bindaree Beef Pty Ltd, Sydney NSW 2000   OLIVE OIL Champion Australian Extra Virgin Olive Oil www.cobramestate.com.au Cobram Estate, Lara VIC 3212   COFFEE Best in Show Kenya www.mycuppa.com.au Carlini Coffee Company, Ashburton VIC 3147

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By the people, for the people

By the people, for the people

WORDS: CHRIS SHEEDY Just as the Sydney Royal Easter Show is made successful by people, so too are our rural communities. The RAS has designed several awards to recognise and celebrate these local heroes. Here we take a look at the 2016 The Land Sydney Royal Showgirls. Showgirls At every Sydney Royal Easter Show over 500 of the state's most intelligent, passionate and knowledgeable young women compete for the title of The Land Sydney Royal Showgirl. Judging is based on contribution to local communities, knowledge of local and current affairs and future aspirations. The winner is invited to mentor competitors at the Sydney Royal Easter Show the following year, after spending 12 months as an ambassador for the RAS, rural NSW, and the agricultural show movement as a whole. This year's winner was 23-year-old Grace Eppelstun from Grenfell, who is studying a Bachelor of Science and Bachelor of Teaching. She is also a co-ordinator with the National Indigenous Science Education Program, which aims to improve the educational outcomes for indigenous students and communities. "This award has been a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for me," Eppelstun says. "Grenfell is a town of 2,500 people, in a shire of just 3,500 people. It is a small, close-knit community in which you don't tend to have exceptional, out-of-the-ordinary experiences. Now I have met John Singleton and Niall Blair, and become an ambassador for the agricultural show movement and for young women. I'm very proud of this achievement and also very happy for anything it might do for Grenfell." Runner-up was Emily Madge from Young, an active member of the Young Show Society, and third place went to Dana Velasco from Blacktown.

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Big hats to fill

Big hats to fill

The Watsons. A family with its own proud rites of passage and tradition of quietly supporting one another. RAS Councillor and Cattle Committee Chair Greg Watson is known for his impressive Stetson hat. His father Warwick, now a retired Councillor, wore a distinctive hat too, though it was made of straw. ‘I don’t know how Dad got around to buying a hat like that. He was conservative, but he was always known for it... But with my hat, because I was involved with the quarter horse industry, naturally I always wore western clothes.’ Now Greg’s son Adam is stewarding and sporting headgear of his own, in appearance somewhere between two. Is the prominent hat becoming a family tradition? ‘I guess we might be starting something,’ says Greg, ‘but it’s not conscious. I’d say it’s just a distinctive family style so you stand out in the crowd; so they can pick you out and bring their troubles to you. The only family tradition we have is just quietly supporting each other. We’re proud of being part of the Watson family and we always try our best to represent the family name.’ Greg’s grandfather was a legendary poultry exhibitor, and all the Watson men including Adam have shown birds, making four generations of poultry exhibitors. Greg’s not sure if Adam has ambitions to be a Councillor one day, but says clearly he’ll have to do it off his own bat. The day he got his own badge was a proud one. ‘Although being on Council was a great honour, the greater honour for me was following in my father’s footsteps.’.   WORDS: Vicki Hastrich Article first appeared in RAS Times July 2016

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