Bernadette Nunn
He’s only nine but East Trentham’s Sebastian Beattie has already ticked off his number one ambition, showing his own stud sheep at the Kyneton Show.
“I just always wanted to show my sheep,” he said.
He did more than that though, winning the Champion Stud Sheep Junior Handler award.
Steward of the stud sheep competition, Kate Janssen, said the Kyneton Agricultural Society had to change the longstanding award from 15-25 years to 5-25 to recognise the nine-year-old.
“We don’t usually get such young breeders starting out in the sheep industry so it was an acknowledgement and encouragement to keep going,” Ms Janssen said.
Sebastian entered the first lambs he’d bred, born in June from two ewes. They’re the heritage hampshire down sheep, a British breed that’s rare in Australia with few registered breeders.
His stud is a dream already six years in the making.
“Since I was three I always loved them,” Sebastian said. “I think it’s just because they have the black face.”
He’d been training the lambs almost as soon as they were born to get them used to being handled, wearing a halter and being led, standing and practise turning around for the judge.
He trained them for an hour every day as soon as he’d come home from school, longer on weekends.
“The lambs run up to him like a dog when we drive up the driveway, wherever they are in the paddock,” mum Heidi Keighran said.
“He was down there getting swooped by magpies in the paddock. He’s very dedicated.”
Sebastian said the hardest part was getting them to walk.
“When we first started training all they wanted to do was jump in the air.”
The ram lamb, Arthur, is his favourite.
“He’s got a funny personality,” Sebastian said. “He’s a bit dopey and he loves food so he’s a bit chubby. He will eat out of my hand sometimes.”
In a somewhat reluctant deal, Sebastian gave one of his three lambs to sister Audrey, 7, and taught her how to train her ewe lamb, Lilac, for the Kyneton Show.
“He just told me how to get the ewes to walk and where to walk them,” Audrey said.
Audrey also won a sash for junior handler 5-15 years.
“I was really proud of Lilac for doing a great job at the show,” she said. “I was proud of myself as well but mostly Lilac. I was pretty nervous she wasn’t going to stand still but she did.”
Sebastian’s female lamb, Lily, was placed third while his ram Arthur also placed second. The three lambs then won second in the group category, enlisting cousin Rylan Keighran to help.
Then eight, it was also his first time showing.
“Rylan was really good. He handled Lily really well,” Audrey said.
Ms Janssen said they competed against breeders from the district and as far as Romsey and Huntley.
“It’s just lovely to see someone so young interested in picking a breed that’s not well known and obviously he and Audrey put a lot of time in after school into their sheep and they are all loved. It’s a great start.”
She said the judge, Ellie McDonald, was impressed to see someone so young having a go at breeding sheep and learning to look after them and show them when it was not an easy thing to do.
Sebastian admits he was anxious on Show day.
“I was very nervous, just that my sheep weren’t going to co-operate,” he said.
“He just couldn’t sit still the poor thing,” Simon said. “They were up at 6 o’clock, pacing the hallway, ‘when are we leaving?’, ‘what’s happening’.”
Sebastian said showing was “a good experience” though he was “a bit embarrassed” to be honoured with the special sash, preferring his sheep to be in the spotlight.
“They were nervous about being in front of people,” mum Heidi said.
Simon says there were many good lessons in the experience. “It taught them patience and persistence,” he said. “They put in a lot of effort. They put in hours and hours of work.”
Simon also showed sheep as a boy, at the much bigger Royal Melbourne Show, but said the Kyneton Show was a better experience.
“All their school friends came, their relatives were all there to support them,” he said.
“A few cousins and other kids from school are thinking about wanting to do the same thing after watching what they did.”
Sebastian and Audrey are the third generation of sheep breeders in the family, following their dad and grandfather Ted, 76, who started the Derrynock poll dorset stud 56 years ago.
“A lot of us farmers are at our use by date so it’s great to see the grandkids picking up and going forward in the industry,” Ted said.
While there’s some banter between the older Beatties and the children about their black-faced sheep, the Derrynock founder isn’t concerned the children aren’t continuing with the white-faced dorset and have chosen an entirely different breed instead.
“The grandkids like that breed so I’ll back them a hundred per cent.”
Ted said he was “tickled pink” to help the children and was very proud on Show Day.
“It’s a challenging breed,” he said. “It’s great to see. There’s a lot of ageing farmers who don’t get the opportunity for succession so it’s great I have a son and quite a few grandchildren that are interested in the farm so hopefully it will continue on after I go.”
Sebastian’s ultimate ambition is to sell his rams at his dad’s ram sale and he’s already planning to enter more sheep at next year’s Kyneton Show.
“I will breed with the ewe lambs and go back to the show,” he said.
Audrey is just as keen to keep showing alongside Sebastian.
“We always said we would have a farm together,” she said. She’s okay with her big brother remaining the boss. “As long as he doesn’t tell me what to do,” she said firmly.
