It's a wrap for Westbury Show

The dogs jumped, the locals boot scooted, the pet lambs paraded and the equestrian, shearing, sideshow alley and home industries drew the crowds out into the cold for Westbury Show on Saturday.

Despite it being beanie weather there was no shortage of family fun and things really heated up when the Shearing and Wool Handling competition fired up.

SHEARING AND WOOL HANDLING

A field of 43 competitors across the seven divisions were grateful that the weather held off and the sheep stayed dry, as they worked against the clock on the open type crossbred ewes.

With work slowing down in Tasmania some familiar faces were missing due to work interstate but the competition was still as fierce as ever.

In the Open wool handling Victoria Lang from Ross finished ahead of Petrisse Lekkie, Jess whatley and Amelia Byers.

The Open shearing was dominated by the Byers brothers from Oatlands, with Jack beating Sam and Isaac Palmer coming in third and Jye Baldwin fourth.

DOG JUMPING

Another big drawcard at Westbury Show turned out to be the dog jumping contest, organised by Hagley Rural Youth.

Records were broken when Titan, a Belgian Malinois owned by Jay Sinclair of Swan Bay, rocketed up the boards to clear 2.5m.

Titan hasn’t done much competitive jumping, but after showing his owner he could jump the 1.8m fences at home he started entering him at shows this year, with his previous best being 2.2m at Agfest.

“I didn’t think he could go any higher, but he just blew me away at Westbury!” Jay said.

“They’re such an intense breed, and they require regular mental and physical stimulation, so he just loves this kind of challenge.

“Although they’re part of the Belgian Shepherd group, they were originally used as livestock herders but are utilised more now as police and armed forces detection dogs and K9s.”

Dog Jumping results - Large dogs: Jay Sinclair of Swan Bay with Titan 1 (jumped 2.5m), Patrick Groenewold of Westbury with Maple 2, Matthew Johnston of Birralee with Basil 3.

Small dogs: Poodle cross Taffy owned by Abby 1 (jumped 1.4m), border terrier Bean owned by Jacinta 2, Poodle Taji owned by Cassandra 3.

WOOD CHOPPING

The wood chopping was equally as exciting with the big guns in fine form.

The Hard Hitting competition a real crowd pleaser – the aim being to see who can slice through a 300mm log with the least amount of blows.

Zac Beams from Sidmouth won the section with 17 hits, Daniel Gurr of Deloraine was second with 18 and also on 18 but slightly slower was Dale Beams in third.

Amanda Beams beat the boys in a field of 12 to take out the Stock Saw Championships, a highly skilled contest that requires picking up a chainsaw and slicing two “cookies”, one down and one up, from four inches at the end of a log, in the quickest possible time.

However it was local Westbury lad, six-year-old Austin King, who stole the show.

Six weeks ago Austin’s mum approached the Northern Axemen’s Association saying her son was a huge Timbersports fan and wanted to learn to chop and compete in his hometown show.

With some coaching from Dale Beams, he managed to do just that – in front of a large crowd and his family he toiled for 15 minutes in the Junior/Beginners Chop and cut through his log.

Deddington junior axeman Mitchell Rowe won the section ahead of Margaret Hobart who has also just started chopping at age 45.

Another highlight was UK and young arborist Max Wright, 23, from the UK, who is working on an egg farm while gaining some wood chopping experience in the state that produces world champions.

Competing on the show circuit for three months, he’s already on the improve, moving out of novice with a win in the Underhand Handicap event at Westbury.

Woodchopping continues this weekend at both Scottsdale Show in the north and Huon Show in the south.

Wood Chopping results:

300mm Underhand Handicap: Daniel Beams 1, Max Wright 2, Daniel Gurr 3.

250mm Standing Handicap: Matthew Mathers 1, Matthew Gurr 2, Daniel Beams 3.

250mm Masters Standing Block Handicap: Anthony Richards 1, Matthew Gurr 2, Ron Davidson 3.

Novice/Junior Underhand Handicap: Mitchell Rowe 1, Margaret Hogarth 2, Austin King 3.

275mm Standing Handicap: Matthew Gurr 1, Anthony Richards 2, Daniel Beams 3.

275mm Underhand Handicap: Max Wright 1, Matthew Mathers 2, Matthew Gurr 3.

300mm Standing Hard Hitting Championship: Zack Beams 1 (17 blows, 43 sec), Daniel Gurr 2 (18 blows, 39.7 sec), Dale Beams 3 (18 blows, 42.8 sec).

Exeter Mower and Chainsaw Centre NTAA Stock Saw Super Series: Amanda Beams 1, Max Wright 2, Matthew Gurr 3.

BEEF CATTLE

Grand Champion Exhibit in the keenly contested beef cattle section at Westbury Show was taken out by Kanangra Cattle Co.’s Goondoola Alana V31, the sole Red Angus exhibit in the parade ring.

Proving that quality, not quantity, reaps rewards, Goondoola was Junior and Grand Champion Red Angus Female, Junior Interbreed Heifer, Supreme Female and Supreme Exhibit.

Owner Thomas Febey, along with his finacee Sheree and children Wyatt and Lila, runs Kanangra Cattle Co. at Sheffield, a small seedstock operation specialising in Angus, Red Angus and Limousin cattle. 

The family participates in the state’s show circuit to showcase their breeding program while expanding their business to sell high-end bulls and females. 

In addition to managing their farm, he has worked as a livestock agent for Elders for the past four years, helping clients market both stud and commercial cattle and sheep. 

Earlier this year Thomas took part in the 2025 GenAngus Future Leaders Program and has been putting his mentoring to good use with astounding success in the agriculture show program so far this season.

Judge Tom Wilding-Davies from Queensland said that the future of Tasmania’s beef industry is in good hands, going by the quality of exhibitors and the enthusiasm of young handlers.

“Everyone was so enthusiastic, it’s a nice little show with a good cross section of cattle,” he said.

He was full of praise for the supreme champion exhibit, saying that while it was unfortunate there was only one Red Angus entered, irrespective of colour she was a particularly good exhibit.

“She was a really highly appealing young animal, that had all the attributes that would benefit anyone in the industry,” he said.

Taz Simmental Vancouver took out Interbreed Senior Champion Bull and Grand Champion Bull for the Simmental Tasmania stud cooperative based at Sheffield. 

Goondoola Alana V31 exhibited by Kanangra Cattle Co. also earned some big titles with Interbreed Supreme Beef Exhibit, Interbreed Grand Champion Female and Interbreed Supreme Beef Exhibit.

Champion Beef Handler was Ashtyn Willey of and Reserve Champion Beef Handler was Hayden Harper of Riverside.

Beef Cattle results:

Interbreed Junior Pair: Tolivar Angus 1, Royston Shorthorns 2, Kidman Downs Simmentals 3.

Interbreed Junior Champion Bull: Royston Gunners Viking exhibited by Royston Shorthorns 1, Pine Park Vokal exhibited by Pine Park Charolais 2, Roland View V8 exhibited by Roland View Murray Greys 3.

Interbreed Senior Champion Bull: Taz Simmentals Vancouver exhibited by Taz Simmentals.

Interbreed Grand Champion Bull: Taz Simmentals Vancouver exhibited by Taz Simmentals.

Interbreed Junior Champion Female: Goondoola Alana V31 exhibited by Kanangra Cattle Co 1, Riddellvue Francita exhibited by Madella Oak Angus 2, Royston Buddy’s Belinda V58 exhibited by Royston Shorthorns 3.

Interbreed Senior Champion Female: Three Mile Spring Sophia exhibited by Three Mile Spring Angus 1, Taz Simmentals Vogue exhibited by Taz Simmentals 2.

Interbreed Grand Champion Female: Goondoola Alana V31 exhibited by Kanangra Cattle Co.

Interbreed Supreme Beef Exhibit: Goondoola Alana V31 exhibited by Kanangra Cattle Co.

Junior Handlers: 9–12yrs Mitch Woodiwiss, 13–14yrs Chloe Cocker, 15–16yrs Tayla Smith 1, 17–20yrs Hayden Harper, 21–25yrs Ashtyn Willey.

Interbreed Sires Progeny: Taz Simmentals 1, Tolivar Angus 2, Pine Park Charolais 3.

Interbreed Group of Three: Taz Simmentals 1, Royston Shorthorns 2, Roland View Murray Greys 3.

Interbreed Junior Champion Bull: Royston Gunners Viking exhibited by Royston Shorthorns 1, Pine Park Vokal exhibited by Pine Park Charolais 2, Roland View V8 exhibited by Roland View Murray Greys 3.

Interbreed Senior Champion Bull: Taz Simmentals Vancouver exhibited by Taz Simmentals.

Interbreed Grand Champion Bull: Taz Simmentals Vancouver exhibited by Taz Simmentals.

Interbreed Junior Champion Female: Goondoola Alana V31 exhibited by Kanangra Cattle Co 1, Riddellvue Francita exhibited by Madella Oak Angus 2, Royston Buddy’s Belinda V58 exhibited by Royston Shorthorns 3.

Interbreed Senior Champion Female: Three Mile Spring Sophia exhibited by Three Mile Spring Angus 1, Taz Simmentals Vogue exhibited by Taz Simmentals 2.

Interbreed Grand Champion Female: Goondoola Alana V31 exhibited by Kanangra Cattle Co.

Interbreed Supreme Beef Exhibit: Goondoola Alana V31 exhibited by Kanangra Cattle Co.

Junior Handlers: 9–12yrs Mitch Woodiwiss 1, 13–14yrs Chloe Cocker 1, 15–16yrs Tayla Smith 1, 17–20yrs Hayden Harper 1, 21–25yrs Ashtyn Willey 1.

Champion Beef Handler: Ashtyn Willey.
Reserve Champion Beef Handler: Hayden Harper.