Melville High School competes in NSW School Wether Challenge

Year nine, 10 and 11 agriculture students travelled over eight hours to compete with the six Merino sheep they have been raising since March.

Like 20 of the 58 participating schools, this was Melville High School's first time competing in the challenge.

Year Nine agriculture teacher Kelly Ryder said she has received an overwhelming amount of positive comments from the students about the event.

"The kids were amazing," she said.

"The judges gave us some really positive feedback...and important tips about how we can improve for the next year."

Over the three days (August 21-23) students were able to participate in sessions about shearing, nutrition, presentation, wool judging and utilising dogs in mustering.

Schools presented their sheep to be judged on their wool before they were mustered, shorn and their build was inspected.

"Some of the top wool ranking sheep got immediately sent to the abattoir" Ms Ryder said.

"So they were butchered through the night and the carcasses were handing the next morning to show the kids the quality."

The remaining sheep which had been loaned to the participating schools were also sent to an abattoir at the end of the challenge.

The students didn't just learn new skills with the Wether Challenge providing the opportunity to interact with other schools and industry experts.

"They were actually networking and asking [questions]" Ms Ryder said.

"They had great conversations networking and bringing back that information."

Melville High's team didn't place in the challenge this time but the first time competitors are already stategising for next year.

"They're pumped," Ms Ryder said.

"They want to sit down and have a reflection session where we can look at ways we can improve.

"They're already thinking about how we can improve and what we can do to have even better sheep next year."

The challenge has been just one of the many ways Melville High School has continued to develop it's agriculture studies with the school also partaking in the Cows Create Careers program.

But the 2023 NSW School Weather Challenge has helped inspire a number of students about the career pathways available to them.

"We've had some students who have been talking to parents and carers about looking into the agricultural industry as careers," Ms Ryder said.

"It's just expanding their knowledge and understanding of the industry, the sheep industry and what sort of careers are within that."

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