TRAGOWEL dairy farmer Mick Shepherd was “over the moon” about winning the People’s Choice award in the sculpture competition at the Boort Show on Saturday.
“I love the Boort Show,” Mr Shepherd said.
“It’s a real good country show and I just want to take part but it’s nice to get a win too.”
He and his wife, Cath, were up until 1am the night before the show, finishing his entry Metal as Anything.
“That seems to be the tradition. It happens every year,” he said.
“I was still welding. She was holding things for me.”
The sculpture, made from nuts, bolts and car components consists of four life-sized, bearded, beanie-wearing band members.
While three of the group members were long-term projects, the drummer was put together in a couple of weeks.
The work was popular with showgoers, particularly because the drummer’s head could be moved with a remote control.
“I posed for a lot of photos,” Mr Shepherd said.
“Everyone thought it looked like ZZ Top.”
The hobby sculptor said his inspiration had come from late Kerang resident Fred Horsfall, who produced some sculptures for the Kerang library.
“He and I used to get together and get ideas from each other and almost compete with each other,” he said.
“He gave me ideas to lacquer and paint stuff.”
Mr Shepherd has been making sculptures for around 15 years, but never sells his work.
“It would take the fun out of it,” he said.
“And because I do it for nothing, people drop stuff off for me. Even the high school donated some steel.”
His pieces are “all over the place” on the Shepherds’ property at Tragowel, where a farm stay operation they set up has helped them survive through the tough times the dairy industry is facing.
It was the hobby sculptor’s fifth or sixth year entering the Boort competition, which he has previously won with a sculpture of popular film characters, the Minions.
He said his 20-year-old daughter Tiarna did a lot of the welding for him.
She also competes in the event and sometimes beats him.
The winner of the annual Boort Show sculpture competition was ‘Moz’ Moresi with an octopus sculpture made from machine chains.
