It may have been a three-year wait due to show cancellations, but the Wadlow family, Old Ashrose stud, Hallett, successfully defended the supreme fleece title they also won in 2019.
In a rare feat, they had all four major Merino winners - grand champion and reserve grand champion in both the rams and ewe fleeces.
The stud's winning pair from the 2021 Elders SA Stud Merino Expo at Burra may not have had their chance in the show ring, due to the show being cancelled for the second time last year, but their fleeces came up trumps as the grand champion ram and ewe fleeces.
The supreme fleece - off a stud reserve PBC90 - was the 14.2-kilogram grand champion ram's fleece, which tested 19.9 microns and had a 76 per cent yield.
Speaking on behalf of the judges, AWN state manager Rod Miller said the fleece, which scored 91.3 points from 100, was outstanding for both quality and quantity.
"It certainly challenged us as judges about what is perfection - for something naturally grown like wool, it is so white," he said.
"It was bulky, but also beautiful."
Old Ashrose's champion ewe fleece also had plenty of bulk, weighing in at 12kg with a 76pc yield.
Stud principal Nick Wadlow said they liked to support the wool section and he was really pleased with their success.
"It is a reflection of the wool quality on our top sires and sale rams and it is a chance to compare our wool with everyone else," he said.
Old Ashrose stud were most successful exhibitors in the wool section, with their 10 fleeces.
They also won the champion prem-shorn ram's fleece.
Mr Miller, who judged with Nutrien Wool's Tony Kidman, said the quality of entries was excellent - across multiple breeds not just Merinos - but encouraged all entrants to look at their clip preparation with some inadequately skirted fleeces costing entrants a win in the individual classes.
The finest Merino fleece entered was 19M, which surprised Mr Miller too, given the volume of fine wools being grown in SA.
"There are strong premiums for those categories of wool - prices for 16.5M super fines are double 19M - hopefully we will see more of them next year," he said.
The show's wool convenor Andrew Duncan and his family had the best processing fleece from their Gum Creek South property at Farrell Flat - a 21.4M Greenfields blood ewe.
Carolyn and Grant Johnson, Carcuma North, Peake, were the most successful prem-shorn Merino exhibitors.
