A FINE wool ram from the Southrose stud at Tintinara, with the scale and carcase of a strong wool, won the prestigious Australian Merino March Shorn All Purpose Champion Ram in Bendigo last weekend.
From a field of 145, the 14.6-micron ram - bred and shown by Jono and Hazel Ashby - turned heads in the large crowd.
The 111.5-kilogram ram had impressive raw wool measurements, including a standard deviation of 2.3, coefficient of variation of 15.8, comfort factor of 99.9 per cent, eye muscle depth of 40 millimetres and fat depth of 8mm.
The judge scored the two-tooth ram - 130158 - 86 points from a possible 100.
Half the points in the class are allocated from objective wool and meat measurements with the remainder subjectively determined by two judges who looked at conformation and structure, wool quality and cut and carcase attributes.
All Purpose meat judge Greg Sheather, Wesley Dale, Chudleigh, Tas, said the ram had a superb carcase.
"He doesn't just have the depth of loin at 40mm. If you run your fingers over him, he is very wide across the pins, (has) a long-gaited loin and lots of meat in him. He is the type of sheep which will go out and breed very well for everyone."
Wool judge Trent Carter said the class incorporated the finer points of the "traditional judging scene" and a strong commercial focus.
"Half the points are on physical measurement," he said.
"The Southrose ram shone through on that, putting him miles above the pack, so a very worthy winner."
A thrilled Mrs Ashby said the ram was sired by 090413, which Southrose had bought at the Bendigo sale three years ago from the Alfoxton stud.
By taking out the top prize and also having three rams in the final group, the Bendigo win almost duplicated Southrose's success at the 2013 Royal Adelaide Show where Southrose won the individual Fibre Meat Plus award and also the aggregate for the top measuring group of three rams. This is a similar competition which also emphasises the dual-purpose role of the Merino.
The champion ram was used as a ram lamb and Mrs Ashby said the stud had just finished marking about 40 of his lambs.
"The lambs are a good size and uniform across the group, so at this early stage they look really positive," she Ashby said.
The second placegetter was a 21M entry from Poll Boonoke stud which had the highest eye muscle depth across all the classes at 43mm.
* Full report in Stock Journal, July 24, 2014 issue.
Catherine Miller
Stock Journal's livestock editor and South East correspondent.
Stock Journal's livestock editor and South East correspondent.
