That is the opinion of Tarras merino sheep farmer Robbie Gibson, whose family has been entering merino sheep in the Wanaka A&P Show since it started.
‘‘Just about all the judging is done by the eye, so the sheep has to be structurally very sound, good-looking, have presence and have lovely, long white wool,’’ Mr Gibson said.
Mr Gibson entered his sheep for the first time in the Wanaka A&P Show in 1980. His father, Bill, showed sheep from their farm for the first time in 1946, and Bill’s father, Hector, had sheep in the first Wanaka show in 1933.
The three-generation Gibson merino story began in 1917, when Hector Gibson bought parts of the Morven Hills station and created the 853ha flatland Morven Downs farm.
Malvern Downs attracted nationwide attention in 1950 when it became the first New Zealand farm to produce polled or non-horned merinos, which mature more quickly and are bigger than traditional merinos, making them better for meat production.
Bill Gibson (91) has only missed one Wanaka A&P show, in 1976, when he was judging sheep at the Royal Easter show in Sydney. Robbie Gibson has missed only three.
Father and son said the Wanaka A&P show was not only about competing against fellow breeders but also about fellowship.
‘‘You want to beat your opposition but at the end of the day you’d go and have a beer together,’’
Mr Gibson sen said.
‘‘The weather is always good, everyone has a good time and you wouldn’t get a better setting anywhere else in the world’’, his son said.
The Wanaka A&P show is this weekend, at the showgrounds and Pembroke Park.
