WOOL brokers who see a lot of farms and a lot of sheep - along with the wool off them - consider Murray Hall one of the best "sheep men" in WA.
Mr Hall is renowned for producing best-styled wools and for the care he commits to his flock.
He has been doing it for 53 years on Purpareena, Tenterden West, where he farms with wife Erin, son Anthony and daughter-in-law Lesley.
During a visit by the Halls to Elders' Bibra Lake show floor last week to inspect wool samples, broker Rob Young pointed out one example of attention to detail in Mr Hall's endeavour to always achieve top quality in what he does and produces.
"His (shearing) shed could technically be called a five-stand shed, but he only uses four stands," Mr Young said.
"He doesn't operate a 'hungry' stand because he believes he gets a better job done that way.
"Anytime I call in his shed is always one of the happiest and smoothest running sheds I go to."
The soft, bright white, well crimped wool Mr Hall produces is testament to his dedication and care.
His mature ewe flock and red and blue tag wethers 5200 head in total were shorn in November and produced 169 bales in an even clip.
One line, as an example, produced test statistics of 19.5 micron, 0.4 vegetable matter, 71.7 per cent yield, 98 millimetre staple length and strength of 51N/kt.
Another line produced statistics of 19.8 micron, 0.4vm, 73.1pc yield, 99mm and 52n/Kt.
Mr Hall said his young sheep are shorn three times April, January and November in their first two years.
"That way we are keeping their wool (staple length) under 100mm," he said.
After that, they are shorn once a year in November.
"We lamb in July-August and run the weaners through to April when we cut 75 to 80mm, then we shear them again in January after nine months and produce another 85-90mm," Mr Hall said.
He was heading back to the farm the day after his show floor visit with Cranbrook contractor Ian Pope booked to shear 2250 blue tag wethers and ewes.
He said he expects to shear 2300 weaners in April.
Mr Hall also runs a cattle enterprise and what he describes as a "modest" cropping program, but his Merino flock is his pride and joy.
His father, Arthur, took up Purpareena after World War II and started Purpareena Merino stud in 1952.
Mr Hall left school in 1962 and started farming with his father.
He and Erin are Purpareena stud principals, but it is almost a closed stud.
"We only breed for our own requirements these days and a few regular customers," he said.
Asked for a tip from his experience to pass on, Mr Hall was happy to respond.
"Teach the lambs to trail feed pre-weaning so the weaners know what grain is used on farm and they know to chase the feed cart," he said.
"Then keep trail feeding as required as the weaners need 14pc protein to produce wool, increase body weight and maintain condition.
"We use a mix of Mitika oats and lupins with 1pc finely ground limestone as our standard mix."
The Halls did well on Wednesday last week as the market started to retract from its record opening week at the Western Wool Centre (WWC).
The Purpareena clip returned an average of 1122 cents per kilogram greasy as better specification wools below 20 micron maintained or increased value, but prices for broader micron wools dropped 17-20c/kg clean.
On the Thursday prices continued to slide for broader micron wools and finer wools joined the slide.
Prices for 19.5 and 19 micron wools slipped 20-30c/kg clean from Wednesday's level and 18 micron wools were down 10c/kg.
The Western Indicator finished the week at 1476c/kg, down 22c from its record the previous week of 1498.
At 1476 the indicator is still higher than it has been over the past 20 years and 26c ahead of its previous next best level achieved at the week 22 November 30 sale last year.
Merino cardings bucked the overall trend and pushed further into record territory at the WWC and Melbourne and Sydney centres according to Australian Wool Exchange (AWEX) statistics.
Carding closed the week at 1185c/kg at the WWC after climbing a further 14c, according to AWEX.
Last week's national sales generated $83.14 million and took total turnover so far this season to $1.4 billion.