Monarto South farmer Robert Thiele added another Monarto Hogget Competition title to his resume on Friday night, triumphing with four ewes described as "peas in a pod".
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A multiple past winner, Mr Thiele's pen got the nod from two judges over a dozen others.
Judge Luke Schreiber, Spence Dix & Co, said the uniformity of the pen was what stood out to him.
"The main criteria was the evenness of the pen and those four ewes were peas in a pod," he said.
"They were extremely well-presented, well-grown, similar in their type and in good condition. Two of us judged it independently and we both came up with the same first pen."
Running a 900-head self-replacing Merino flock and cropping 480 hectares of wheat, barley and vetch at Monarto South, Mr Thiele said he was stoked to win first prize.
On Glenlea Park bloodlines for a dozen years, Mr Thiele said he aimed to breed large-framed, heavy cutting sheep with 19 micron wool.
Wether lambs and surplus ewe lambs are sold through Murray Bridge and Mount Pleasant.
Keeping plenty of feed on hand is one of his keys to presenting good sheep.
"My late father always told me where you can run ten sheep, always run nine," Mr Thiele said.
"It always gives you that bit of cover up your sleeve and doesn't bare out the ground too much.
"You don't have to feed as often and when the paddocks have a bit of cover they recover a bit quicker after a rain."
Mr Thiele took out the pen of four ewes competition ahead of Lincoln Williss and Lucernbrae, Callington.
Colrae Farms, Callington, were triumphant in the single ewe judging ahead of Mr Thiele, Lucernbrae and Mr Williss.
The Monarto Agricultural Bureau donated $2000 in proceeds from the competition to rural health not-for-profit Fat Farmers.
HERBIG TOPS WETHER STANDINGS
The wether competition was judged on a combination of carcase and fleece values after all animals were run under the same conditions for six months at Burdett.
Topping the total values was Liam Herbig, Callington, with his wether boasting a $43.14 fleece value and $173.06 carcase value for a total of $216.20.
Mr Herbig's Merino entry had a starting weight of 44.8 kilograms and finishing weight of 67kg, with a dressing percentage of 41pc resulting in a 27.47kg dressed weight.
The wether carried an 18.9 micron wool with a greasy fleece weight of 4.7kg and washing yield of 65pc resulting in a 3.06kg clean fleece weight.
Not far behind in the overall rankings was Rhys Erickson with a $213.84 value comprised of $35.61 for fleece and $178.23 for carcase.
Rounding out the placings was Mark Humfrey with a total value of $208.16 - $33.81 for fleece and $174.35 for carcase.
Mr Erickson's wether was top of the carcase values, with a starting weight of 55 kilograms, finishing weight of 69kg, a dressing percentage of 41 per cent, leading to a 28.29kg dressed weight.
A crossbred from Lucas Tassone led the way in terms of weight gain, with a starting weight of 28.8kg and finishing weight of 62kg.
Brinkley producer Dean Pearson performed strongly in the fleece values, placing first and fifth with his entrants.
His fleece winner had a 15.0 micron wool with a greasy fleece weight of 4.3kg and a washing yield of 63pc for a clean fleece weight of 2.71kg.
At 2500 cents a kg clean, this represented a $67.73 fleece value, $17 ahead of the second-placed entry from Lucernbrae stud, Callington.
Robert Thiele rounded out the fleece placings with a value of $48.36.
