SA Sheep Expo to open up world of opportunities

Organisers are hoping the SA Sheep Expo will be bigger and better than ever, with a diverse education program and even more industry experiences on offer in 2025.

The event, to be held from April 14 to 16 at the Adelaide Showgrounds, will feature education sessions focused on ewe production, as well as junior judging and sheep handling classes.

Each entrant will be allocated a sheep to look after for the three days of the event.

Expo president Peter Button says the aim has been to promote the sheep industry to youth aged 12 to 23 years from across Australia.

He is very proud of how it has grown from 40 participants at the first Expo in 2016 to its biggest year in 2023 with 142 entrants.

This year, it has been capped at 170 entrants giving even more youth passionate about the industry a chance to take part.

"Because it is in the holidays and they have to pay to attend we only get kids there that want to be there and want to learn," he said.

"Their positive attitudes to each other, the presenters and the committee blow us away every year."

He says it is pleasing a "fair percentage" of entrants attending the Expo are from non-agriculture backgrounds.

"They will probably never be able to buy a farm and run their own sheep but they can be an agronomist, they can be a vet, they can work for a stock agent, they can work on a station or in pastures and animal health - there are so many things they can be involved in," he said.

Mr Button says the event is a great opportunity for entrants to network with people from within the industry and increasingly agribusinesses are looking to the Expo as a source of potential employees.

"Each year we seem to get another company or two offering work experience and there were companies there last year specifically looking at the older participants for some to approach to see if they were interested in working for them," he said.

"That is huge to think it has got to that level."

Among the confirmed topics at this year's Expo are feeding ewes in dry times, pregnancy scanning, feed budgeting, classing ewes, auctioneering and low-stress stock handling with dogs.

Sixteen-year-old Issy Armstrong from Wagga Wagga, NSW, is looking forward to the SA Expo after being awarded a bursary from the Australian Poll Dorset Association Adelaide region group to cover her entry fee.

The Year 11 student admits to being nervous attending her first Expo in 2023 and not knowing anyone but now has friends from "all over the place".

"I saw on the White Suffolk Facebook page that the youth were offering bursaries, applied and was lucky enough to get one of those," she said.

"It is a long way to come but when I looked around there was nothing like it here in NSW, there is Dubbo but that is only Merinos," she said.

Issy - who lives on a mixed farming property that produces crossbred lambs and Angus cattle - says the Expo has also helped her make career decisions about becoming a livestock consultant.

"The workshops at the Sheep Expo are really helpful in furthering my knowledge and putting me with like-minded people," she said.

"It has been really helpful to talk to those people from businesses such as Elders and Nutrien who have had stands at the Expo about careers in the sheep industry.

"Everyone has the classic idea you can only be a farmer in the ag industry, but the Expo shows you so many other ways you can be involved without just running a farm."

Last year, Issy finished third in the intermediate achievement award.

The major prize for the Expo is again a study tour of New Zealand, but other experiences include a chance to be a steward at the 2025 Royal Adelaide Show, as well as a Heiniger Learners scholarship to attend a learners or improver shearing school and receive a shearing toolkit.

Registrations close on March 3 if not already filled.

• Details: https://www.sasheepexpo.com.au/