THE DAG Sheep Station’s weekend of shearing and speed dog agility trials was a great success, with organisers saying they were pleased with how it all went and about 1000 people watching all the action.
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The big drawcard for the long-weekend event was the Battle of the Guns – the invitational shearing competition on Saturday, with under-60s and over-60s shearers – many previous state, national and Diamond Shears competition winners and finalists – competing for buckles at the historic Wombramurra shearing shed.
Three-time Diamond Shears winner Michael Mepham, of Elsmore, near Inverell, won the under-60s event, while Neil Lett, of Nuntin in central Victoria, took out the over-60s.
A local invitational was also held, with three competitors battling it out; Nundle man Bob Worley took out the event.
Shearing scorekeeper and Nundle Public School principal Ian Worley said there were 21 competitors in the under-60s event and 12 in the over-60s, the eldest being 78.
“It was a very high standard, because they are world-class shearers; there were a lot of very close scores,” he said.
“The sheep were handled very well and the fleeces were shorn very cleanly and quickly.
“It was a great day.”
He said the event, through gold-coin gate donations, raised several thousand dollars for various Nundle organisations, such as the primary school.
“The shearing competition has been run for several years previously, but it was the first time it was an invitational,” Mr Worley said.
Jan Hahn, one of the organisers of the Dash for Cash, the utility speed dog trials competition, said: “It was a really good weekend out.”
Mrs Hahn, secretary of the Dungowan Sheep and Cattle Dog Triallers Club, said they were “very pleased – and there were some real quality dogs” during both days of the dog trials.
Thirty-four dog triallers competed on Saturday, with Maree Moran, of Wollomombi, near Armidale, and her bitch Amber blitzing the field, despite a mob of sheep described by Mrs Hahn as “a bit difficult”.
“She did an absolutely beautiful run, because the sheep were a bit difficult ... so for her to do a run in five minutes and 20 seconds around the course was amazing, because we had allowed a time of 12 minutes,” Mrs Hahn said.
Chriss Crowell, of Daruka, and his kelpie Pal did a fine, speedy round of four minutes and 34 seconds to take out the Sunday dog trial against 24 other hopefuls.
Mrs Hahn said some of the shearers who had competed on the Saturday also entered the Sunday dog trial and had great fun. Each dog-trial winner took home $500.
