Self-confessed “hobby sheep producer” Dylan Fox has surprised the industry professionals by taking out the strong Merino fleece class at the 2024 Victorian Agricultural Society’s state finals.
Held during the prestigious annual Australian Sheep and Wool Show in Bendigo, Mr Fox’s fleece fell into the 21 micron and stronger category.
And he was rapt with the result.
Understandably.
He and his family farm the better part of 10,000 acres of dryland cropping at Goschen, about 20km south of Swan Hill, with a focus on wheat, barley, lentils and peas – plus some export oats and hay, which goes out through Ultima – and fallow a few paddocks for the sheep.
Oh, yes, and 350 Merino ewes for Mr Fox’s hobby crossbred meat production sideline. The fleeces he gets from his WA ewes pay to feed the sheep and their lambs.
And using White Suffolk rams from Anden at Moulamein, NSW, gives him exactly what he says he is looking for.
“I have only been doing this for six years, but I like to turn off a lamb around 60kg liveweight (or around 30kg carcase weight),” Mr Fox said.
“I use WA ewes because I like their size, their frame and doing ability and they are heavy cutters, giving me around 6.5kg from adults.”
“About 95 per cent of our lambs go through the yards with Nutrien Ag – about 70 per cent of what we sell are suckers and the later ones we tend to shear and fatten.”
This year Mr Fox will again join his 350 ewes to Anden rams and with the first cross is hoping for around 115 per cent lambing.
He says he tends to run fewer sheep but run them hard, so they have the strength to carry their lambs right through.
“I really only went into showing to support the Swan Hill show, and each year I pick out a few of what I reckon might be the better fleeces from my shearing,” Mr Fox said.
“This year, it turned out one of them was a little better than I might have thought.”
Mr Fox said it had been so long since he had seen his winning fleece, he couldn’t quite remember what it actually looked like.
He said it was a winner at Swan Hill and then went through the regionals – he’s in the Northern District Group – to reach the finals at Bendigo.
“I’ve always liked working with sheep, both my great grandfathers did as well, one was a shearer and one farmed them near Berriwillock,” Dylan said.
“Dad wasn’t into them all that much, but I had pet lambs as a kid, and it simply grew from there,” Mr Fox said.
“So you might have to go back into the family a bit to find them, but we have been farming around this area for five generations so it was pretty inevitable sheep would pop up again.”
Results in the VAS competition at Bendigo were:
Strong Merino Fleece Class
1st place – Dylan Fox (Northern District Group)
2nd place – Anthony Lowe (Wimmera Group)
3rd place – Robin Neilson (Midlands Group)
