A Ram - Is it a Dodge or a Merino?

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The colorful poster in the bakery window caught our eye with this announcement:

Annual Country Fair - Condingup Fairgrounds

We love small town events and this fair promised to deliver a great show... prize Merino sheep and even a sheep-dog jumping competition. At 10:30am Saturday morning we sauntered into the fairgrounds just as the band was starting to play.

We wandered around the displays of fluffy prize wool from Merino ewes. Having stayed at a sheep farm for a couple of days we felt slightly less-ignorant about wooly topics like wool fibers, such as quality and length, and the labor-intensive task of shearing thousands of sheep.

In the fairgrounds, we chatted with some young sheep ranchers, perhaps in their late-20's. They are the up-coming generation of ranchers now facing a challenging world market and shared their stories with us. These three brothers and their father own about 17,000 acres. They each look after their section of about 4,000 acres...no problem!

They are proud of their investment in prize Merino rams. They explained the market value of a pedigree ram and told us what they paid for the one which stood so regal in the pen beside us.

OK,you readers...especially truck-lovers. Here is "The Question": How does the price of a Dodge Ram pick-up compare with the price of a pedigree Merino Ram? Think first... what is the lifespan of a Dodge truck and what is the lifespan of a Merino ram?

(The astonishing answer you can find at the end of this page.)

The first event to capture our attention was the sheep-dog jumping competition. Owners and their dogs lined up and the idea was to measure the height of the barrier over which the dogs would jump. The starting point was 4 feet and each increase was in 6-inch increments. The winning dog scrambled up the wooden wall at the six-foot height!

Later, was the sheep-shearing competition. We sat in plastic chairs, front and center, ready for the action. First category was for the retired sheep-shearers and they sheared a ewe in under 3 minutes. Then the stakes went higher, and the shearers who are currently engaged in this occupation had a chance to show-off their skills.

These men, had a range of experience, the youngest was 18 years old and the older ones were in their 40's. We cheered loudly for the teen because few young men are willing to enter this physically demanding occupation, which strains the back, shearing up to 300 sheep in a day. The most expert of them sheared the fleece in under 1 minute, 30 seconds.

Ken is now trained for his retirement career! After careful analysis of the shearing technique and getting tips from the pros he is opening a day spa for your lambs and ewes. Come get fleeced!

A pedigree Merino Ram: $39,000 Australian dollars

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