A big barreled ram with tremendous presence from the Mulloorie stud, Brinkworth, was given the nod by the four-state panel of judges for supreme exhibit.
Earlier in the day the 21.8 micron ram known as Lewy exhibited by the Meyer family was the grand champion August shorn Poll Merino ram in the strong feature breed showing.
Judge John Daniell, White River stud, Minnipa and Poochera, who spoke on behalf of the judges said the ram was a unanimous winner in the high calibre field of eight March shorn and August shorn champion rams and ewes.
"I guess it is a case of what you see is what you get," he said.
"He is very well put together, he is balanced, he is symmetrical, very good on his feet and pasterns, wonderful topline and great spring of rib and great skin purity through the muzzle and over the ears.
"He carries a long stapled, well defined, crimpy wool, great colour and as a couple of judges commented he is a great modern Merino to take us into the future."
The Meyer family were elated to win their first supreme sash at Adelaide, where they first started showing 40 years ago - coming close many years previously with grand champions
This year they had three sheep on the mat in the final eight at the pinnacle of judging, also winning grand champion August shorn Merino ewe and grand champion March shorn Merino ewe.
In a sign of the close bond between Paul Meyer and his supreme exhibit he leaned down to put his head on the ram's face as the announcement was made.
Lewy is a son of Mulloorie Elliott - the 2018 grand champion Poll Merino ram, and out of a Mulloorie Kenny daughter which had been shown in 2017.
"We have never won it so it is exciting and to win it in a feature breed year is a real honour," Paul Meyer said.
Lewy's other wool tests include a standard deviation of 3.7, coefficient of variation of 17pc and comfort factor of 99pc.
It was the icing on the cake to a strong show season for Lewy which was the runner-up in the Field Day Ram of the Year at the Elders SA Stud Merino Expo in Burra in March, reserve champion medium wool at the Hay Sheep Show in June, and at the Northern SA Merino Expo at Jamestown last month the ram earned the right to represent SA in the National Ram of the Year.
Paul Meyer said they were excited about the progeny they could breed from Lewy.
"He will be shorn and on display at our on-property sale and then he will be getting his working clothes on," he said.
"His barrel and the way he carries himself is so good, he has very good wool on him as well as really good meat attributes."
For the first time all the age groups were judged together instead of classes for two tooth, four tooth and six tooth but the highest placed under 1.5 year old were awarded the junior championships.
The NL Fiebig & Sons Prize for junior champion ram went to EC&SE Koehler, Radnor stud, Langhorne Creek with a ram that was third in the big fine wool ram class.
The Eric and Leila Koehler prize for junior champion ewe:was won by Morley stud, Cleve with a medium wool Poll Merino ewe which was AI bred from Gunallo 463.
