Peel High taking Suffolk champions to defend Schools Champion title

Last year the school came away with the top honour of Grand Champion of the Schools Exhibit, after taking out the Grand Champion School Ewes with their Suffolk beauty Sue.

This year the Peel team is taking not only Sue back to defend her crown, but also Sue's twin daughters Wattle and Eucy - short for eucalyptus - to compete in the milk-tooth class.

Agriculture head teacher Ben Bowman said that, despite the tough drought conditions, the team was feeling confident of putting in another good show.

"The drought has obviously affected the sheep, but we are very happy with them," he said.

"The students have been working really hard to get the sheep ready all term, and we would love to get some back-to-back titles."

Last year the school also took out the Peter Taylor Memorial Trophy for Suffolk Group, and the Reserve Champion Schools Ram, although were pushed all the way by Sydney's St Gregory's College and its Corriedale competitors.

"It will be interesting to see if there is any difference between the metro schools and the country schools this year," Mr Bowman said.

This year, the Peel team of eight students will be showing 12 sheep at the show, but has had to unfortunately abandon a first attempt at the meat bird poultry section.

Both Gunnedah and Armidale High schools have also pulled out, after recent bouts of hot weather affected weight gains.

"The chickens are meant to be kept at about 20 degrees for the last few weeks, but we have still been getting days in the 30's," Mr Bowman said.

"Our chickens are about 2.5kg, but the Sydney and coastal schools are between 4-5 kg - the heat has really knocked them around.

"The kids have learnt plenty from the experience and are already planning how to do it better next year."