Poll Merinos and Merinos which participated in the Northern Merino Expo at Jamestown yesterday had the opportunity to enter their ram into one of three of the competitions on offer.
The Pen of Three, the Best Hogget Ram and the States Ram of the Year were judged at the event.
Mulloorie Poll Merino took out the SA state Champion Ram of the Year and the reserve with their full wool sires tags 792 and 1453 which are brothers.
Mulloorie stud principal Paul Meyer said the champion ram had been travelling around the country with them to Hay and Bendigo.
"It was Grand Champion Medium Wool ram at Bendigo show," he said.
"It has done a bit of a show circuit with us.
"Their breeding goes back to Mulloorie Elliot which was grand champion strong wool poll in Bendigo in 2018, sired by a ram we bought in WA.
"It will be a stud reserve but he will go onto Dubbo now and contest for the Australian Champion."
The reserve champion ram was the grand champion strong wool at the Bendigo show and also the supreme champion at Hay.
"It has been around the place too," he said.
"He will go in Dubbo, the Royal Adelaide Show and will be a stud reserve too.
"They have different types of wool with the champion a medium wool and the reserve a strong wool but we are proud of them both."
Judges of the three events was Tamaleuca Poll partners Kevin Crook and Danni Wilson, Ouyen, Vic.
Ms Wilson said the Ram of the Year was a magnificent ram.
"We went with the Mulloorie medium wool as he was more even right throughout right down to his belly he had medium wool," she said.
"The strong wool had beautiful wool but probably wasn't as even as the medium ram.
"They are really good upstanding rams, both the Mulloorie's were wonderful rams."
Pen of three winner wins third year running
The pen of three hogget rams was sponsored by Pringles Crough and was won by Collinsville with their line-up of lots 2, 3 and 4 from their on-property ram sale offering.
Stud manager Tim Dalla said their pen of three offering were three poll merinos which were structurally correct.
"They had good dual purpose traits with excellent wool quality, had a bit of nourishment, plainer bodies but with a good wool cut and match fairly well," he said.
"The pen of three is prestigious award because they need to match, it shows you have got depth of breeding, depth of quality and that's what we try to do at Collinsville.
"Lot 2 is embryo bred by Premier 102, lot 3 is AI bred out of Imperial 615 - the ram we sold for $62,000 and lot 3 is out of Masterbuilt 9 which is an embryo bred Masterbuilt ram we kept a couple of years ago.
"Thank you very much to the sponsor Michell's and the judges."
Ms Wilson said as judges the Collinsville group were a standout from their judging loop earlier in the day.
"They stood out in their marquee and they have come out here and very much standout," she said.
"They have won three years running and we didn't know that but they have standout rams."
Reserve ram gets champion hogget
The Champion Hogget ram is the reserved ram Yellow 530 from Collandra North which was also the reserve junior champion at the Bendigo Australian Sheep and Wool show.
Collandra North stud principal Sydney Lawrie, Tumby Bay, said the ram had been doing fairly well in the judging ring.
"It was one of the best junior short wools in Australia that pretty much made him as it got beaten by a full wool," he said.
"It's soft and pure, it's got the head coverage but it's plain.
"It's got beautiful nourished rich wool which everyone is looking for and it's bright and white so it can go into high rainfall but it's got the bulk and density to go into lower rainfall areas as well.
"It's sire was a champion ram which goes back to the ram we call Turbo which is one of our leading sires of the past three years."
Mr Crook said they made a cut of six standout rams in the hogget judging that were true to their type of either Merino or Poll Merino.
"Then we came down to three sheep which we thought were a really classy sheep," he said.
"Our winner has the most magnificent white waxy wool, is very well covered, but underneath has the most magnificent carcase you'd see.
"The whole line-up of rams here today were absolutely magnificent and a real credit to the breeders."
Ms Wilson said there were some quality rams presented.
Kiara Stacey
Journalist for Stock Journal. Kiara was in classified sales at Stock Journal before joining the editorial team in 2021. Kiara completed a Bachelor of Communication (journalism) at Deakin University the year prior.
Journalist for Stock Journal. Kiara was in classified sales at Stock Journal before joining the editorial team in 2021. Kiara completed a Bachelor of Communication (journalism) at Deakin University the year prior.
