I was extremely fortunate to be selected along with Jack Grundy from SA to complete in the 2024 Ovinpiades Mondiales World Young Shepherd Challenge in France. The competition was essentially a Sheep Olympics for young shepherds to compete internationally.
WoolProducers Australia approached the Peter Westblade Scholarship and Hay Inc. in February this year seeking alumni and graduates to represent Australia at the 2024 Ovinpiades Mondiales. Jack and I were selected and had the good fortune of being coached by Joe Walden, the current chair of the Peter Westblade Scholarship, who supported us throughout the competition in France.
The Ovinpiades consisted of twenty-eight competitors from seventeen countries including Argentina, Canada, Chile, Peru, Armenia, Benin, Ivory Coast, Togo, Australia, Belgium, Spain, Ireland, France, England, Scotland, and Wales.
We competed for seven days in several different locations around rural France. The competition started in Paris where we arrived and toured the city as a group, we then set off the following morning to travel Southwest of Paris to Limoges. We spent months preparing for the competitions and challenges and studying the French technique to give us the best chance of success.
Upon our arrival we were welcomed by the community and industry with substantial ceremony that set the tone for an extremely professional, well-planned event that we felt very privileged to be a part of.
Jack and I competed in 6 sheep focused challenges around Rural France, including shearing, foot pairing, lamb fat scoring and carcass yield estimates, drafting ewes on electronic ear tags, ewe health assessments and an electric fencing challenge.
The Australian team did very well in the Ovinpiades competition with Jack taking home fourth place overall, and I was extremely fortunate to come first in the Shepherdess challenge and second overall to France. The Aussies gave the French a run for their money, and we were stoked fly the Australian flag on the podium with a competitive Aussie spirit.
Jack said the competition was a great opportunity for young sheep enthusiasts to come together and compare different sheep farming techniques and to learn a lot about how different the sheep industry is in Europe.
Jack and I were fortunate to have an edge over some of the competitors due to our commercial mindset. I have worked in large commercial sheep operations which enabled me to approach the challenges differently to some of the other competitors.
The Ovinpiades competition provided valuable international networking opportunities and facilitated the chance to learn with like-minded people about the sheep industry in different parts of the world. The network and friendships we made will provide future travel opportunities to farms all over the world.
The trip to France opened my eyes up to the industry on a global scale and I have come home with new ideas and new perspective. France consumes 100% of the lamb produced in their country and studies show that French people eat twice as much meat as the world average. This was the overarching theme throughout the competition, with the French people celebrating their product and the farmers who produce it. They were proud to showcase their lamb in expertly prepared dishes throughout the competition and had ultimate respect for their farmers and young people coming into Ag.
This dynamic was a big learning opportunity for me to take away from the competition, this is something we need improve on in Australia. Traditionally Australia was famous for ‘riding on the sheep’s back’ but somewhere along the lines we have stopped celebrating our product. We produce some of the highest quality sheep meat and wool in the world with the biggest market share, yet we still have so much unfulfilled potential for increased marketing.
We made a point as the Australian team to wear merino wool every day of the competition. It was quite a shock for me when over 90% of the competitors did not know what merino wool was, I was amazed at the lack of international knowledge of merino wool and the benefits of wearing the fiber. Which emphasises the key take home messages of the competition being marketing. As Australian wool producers, we have huge opportunities to improve our product marketing and increase consumer demand. We need to start celebrating the food and fiber we produce and showcasing this to the rest of the world!
The experience wasn’t all competition, the French were extremely generous in hosting us and provided several opportunities to indulge in the local culture and cuisine, including a substantial amount of French wine. We also took the opportunity to teach the international competitors the how to dance the Nutbush, which was an iconic experience!
The competition concluded with a presentation ceremony where the winners were announced, and speeches were made about the importance of keeping the Ovinpiades competition going. The Shepherd Challenge has been running for 19 years with all but three countries having hosted the event in the past. At the end of the presentation ceremony the French industry leaders called the Belgian, Spanish, and Australian coaches to the stage to present them with a token Olympic torch.
It is up to Belgium, Spain, or Australia to host the next Ovinpiades World Young Shepherd Challenge in 2028. As the leading exporters of lamb and wool, hosting this international challenge would give us the opportunity to showcase our top-quality products to the world. It is time for us Aussies to push our products and celebrate our farmers again.
Australia was built on the sheep’s back, it is time we rekindle that pride!
Gabbie Horton
2023 Peter Westblade Scholarship recipient
Comments