Scott and Donna's Fosterfield Finewools won champion hogget fleece, three individual fleeces, plus two second and third places.

The flock was also successful at the Blayney Show with champion commercial value fleece and seconds for fine and medium wool fleeces.

Every wool section at Bathurst and Blayney Shows was hotly contested.

Bill Gilbert of Nutrien also reported a very successful show in the sheep section.

Numbers were slightly down but there were no merinos this year.

Feature breed Corriedale was well represented with surrounding schools showing their stock.

The champion ram, champion ewe and most successful Corriedale were won by Boolina Stud, Katrina Abbott from Wambool.

The meat breeds ram was won by Cranbrook Dorset Stud, P. Balcombe, Canowindra.

Champion meat breed ewe was shown by Talkook Border Leicester Stud, R.A. Anderson, Crookwell.

Most successful meat breed exhibitor was Cotties Run, Ross and Jeanette Wilson, Bathurst.

In the prime lambs competition, Cotties Run took out the prize with champion pen of lambs, champion pen of lambs (commercial value) and most successful exhibitor.

The champion single lamb was won by Mark Ryan.

INCLUDED in Bill Gilbert's show report is a mention that no merino sheep were entered in the various sections.

We realise that much of the Tablelands has been changed from wool production to beef, prime lambs and shedder sheep as the shortage of rural workers has become more obvious.

There are still plenty of merino flocks across the district and shearers and wool handlers will always find plenty of work but the dyed in the wool sheep specialist has become scarce.

To look back several decades and find that NSW Department of Agriculture employed full-time sheep and wool officers in Bathurst, Orange and Goulburn and that Sydney wool firms used hire cars to drive clients to wool stores at Ultimo where modern hotels are now situated, it is a great reminder of how things have changed.

SOME very practical comments following the Royal Bathurst Show:

Did it really cost about $500 for dad, mum and three school kids to have a day at the show?

Why weren't there any stud merino sheep competing?

Were you proud of all the lovely buildings in the showground complex and were you happy to know they are all about to be restored?

Do you think the ferry buses from the Hereford Street car park were a resounding success?

I NOTE the passing of the gentleman of the thoroughbred racing scene in the Central West, Don Ryan of Bathurst.

Don was respected as a very good jockey, race caller and trainer but most of all as a genuine friend to many and a real family man.

He is greatly missed by his many friends.

BREEAC is a little country town 160 kilometres south-west of Melbourne and a pair of farming brothers run a big flock of sheep on 2600 hectares of rocky undulating country near the town.

The Alston bothers used horses and motorbikes to move the mobs but now use drones to do the job, with the ability to fly low for the drone's noise to push the sheep along.

Tom Alston had a nasty motorbike accident in 2008, wearing a helmet but taking months to heal from much lost skin.

These farming brothers are in their early 40s and are showing us the possibilities of using technology to perform farm jobs in a very different way to what our grandfathers did.

THE two sitting councillors at Oberon Shire deserve praise for making their intentions clear for September's local government elections as prospective candidates can gauge who they may have to work with for the next three years.

In many instances there has been at least one councillor who is difficult to work with and and these people have often been re-elected as they are seen as stirrers who help keep the show honest.

Councils and boards can be great to work with and can achieve good results or they can resemble a cat fight every four weeks.

It would be great to see some under-50 country candidates stand for their local council.

LAST week's photo of the team that artificially inseminated about 900 merino ewes to a battery of rams that were nominated by their stud owners shows us what can be achieved by a substantial funding from Australian Wool Innovation.

A lot of these studs are now breeding dual purpose poll sires with a lot of emphasis on early maturity, fertility and carcass quality.

A wide range of results will come from this Merino Sire Evaluation and not least will be the "nicking" of bloodlines with the predominately Roseville Park ewe base of the donor flock.

In the same week as this trial commenced we read of the success of the Hooke family's East Loddon stud at Wanganella in the Riverina where they have ceased mulesing their 10,000 SRS commercial ewes and they concentrate on lambing percentage and store stock sales as they claim that is their major profit driver.

THERE was a retraction in the Eastern Market Indicator during Week 45 of the wool market with an offering of 47,558 bales across the country.

The EMI dropped 23ac/kg or 1.71 per cent in AUD terms and 2.61 per cent in USD terms with a passed-in rate of 15.3 per cent.

All types were lower but by the end of the week it was the finer merino types that had decreased the most by up to 40ac/kg clean.

Word is that logistical problems and delays are still causing some issues and reflecting on some exporters' buying and selling programs.

We are now starting to see a larger "mix" of wool types with older drought-affected wools that have been on hold accompanied with new season heavier burrier types being offered. These ultimately leading the micron price guides (MPGs) down as they can be difficult to place into existing orders.

Europe and India are still buying our wool, however, with the current COVID situation in India, even though all mills are working, they are working at a reduced level and it may be that way for a while yet.

Week 46 has an estimated offering of 54,752 bales which is 30,000 more bales than the same sale in 2020.

Hopefully with a stable AUD/USD rate we will see more interest and an unchanged wool market in week 46 at the least.

GEORGE says he hopes to die before his beloved wife.

He believes he will be judged by his maker and "I don't want the missus there before me, telling Him things".

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THE difference between stupidity and genius is that genius has its limits.

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SHE said: "My opinion may have changed, but not the fact that I'm right."

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DID you ever notice that everyone who favours birth control is already born?

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IF you live to 100 you've got it made. Very few people die past that age.