THIS year's WAMMCO State Prime Lamb Carcase Competition was won by the Mills family of Mingenew in what can only be described as the closest winning margin in the event's history.
Just half a point separated Ikewa Grazing's Peter, Kate and James Mills from Terry, Lynn, Dale and Suzanne Cronin, Bunkin Farming Enterprises, Dumbleyung, who took home second place in the country's most prestigious and notable carcase event.
The Mills family scored 2712.30 points ahead of the Cronin's 2711.84 for a line of just over 300 Overpark blood Prime SAMM-F1 Prime SAMM lambs delivered to the Katanning processing plant in early February.
The late May/early June drop lambs were the product of a very favourable season which saw them weaned, carried over the summer and fattened on lupin stubbles at the completion of harvest.
It was one of three lines of lambs delivered to WAMMCO by the Mills family for the 2015/16 season all averaging the same weighty figures on the kill sheets.
However, the latter two lines were delivered after the competition deadline, rendering only the first eligible for judging.
The entry also topped the large consignment (300 plus lambs) category, beating Andrew and Jeremy James's (BW James & Sons) Hyden-raised line of Poll Dorset and White Suffolk-Merino and F1 Prime SAMM lambs which scored a total of 2546.66 points.
This category attracted 22 consignments comprising 10,915 lambs which averaged a carcase weight of 23.2kg and fat score (FS) of 2.98.
It was only the Mills family's second year of entering. Last year they placed second in the 300+ category.
Each year the carcase competition distributes more than $20,000 in cash and prizes which in the last 13 years has totalled more than $185,000.
In that time the competition has scrutinised more than 250,000 lambs - 16,106 of which were entered (in 56 consignments) from August 2015 to February 2016 for this year's round of judging.
Across the board, this year's competition entries measured an average carcase weight of 23.42 kilograms (with a range of 18.9-28.1kg) and average FS of 2.98 (and range of 2.09-4.07 FS).
In line with the Mills family's first-time win, Prime SAMM bloodlines again conquered the top positions in all but one of the categories.
Graham, Chris, Wayne and Marie-Claire Barrett, GH & CA Barrett, Jerramungup, won first place in the trade weight category with a line of purebred Prime SAMMs that scored 2192.68.
Within the category's nine consignments of 3025 lambs were entered, with an average carcase weight of 20.58kg and FS of 2.59.
Within the lambs from a Merino dam category 8713 lambs from 22 consignments were processed with an average carcase weight of 23.39kg and 3.04 FS.
Barry Kowald and sons Sheldon and Trent, Capemont Farms, Katanning, won the category with a line of Prime SAMM-Merino lambs.
Nick Bagshaw, representing JS & EN Bagshaw, Boyup Brook, won the spring lamb category with a line of Poll Dorset-Merino lambs.
There were 7229 lambs from 20 consignments that were assessed in that category, with an average carcase weight of 22.18 and FS of 2.87.
WAMMCO supply development manager Rob Davidson said despite yet another year of success for the competition it wasn't without its challenges.
The promising start to the season saw some 26kg lambs hit the hooks before an early dry spell forced producers to turn away from the competition and focus on lamb survival.
November brought promising rains which rejuvenated the season before two malfunctions of the abattoir's VIAscan (which calculates the kilograms of red meat yield on every carcase using 180 degree digital measurements) forced the competition to close early, severely impacting the numbers of lambs entered.
The competition utilised the same weight and fat score grid as it did in the 2014/15 judging, allowing participants to compare their entries year-on-year.
Just seven points separated the top four places in the overall competition.
An admirable mention was also given to the Cronin family, Bunkin Farming Enterprises, Dumbleyung, who had four entries inside the top 10.
There was solid representation from right throughout the State, from Walkway, Mingenew and Eneabba in the north to Dowerin, Hyden, Ravensthorpe and Esperance in the east and Mt Barker, Manjimup and Boyup Brook and everywhere in between.
Mr Davidson said 84pc of entrants used Poll Dorset, Prime SAMM or White Suffolk sires while 80pc of dams were Merino and pure and F1 Prime SAMMs.
Some 78pc of entrants achieved 100pc plus in their lambing while the overall average reported by entrants this year was 109pc (which was up on the last couple of years of competition).
"We recorded a 61pc range in lamb marking - anywhere from 85-146pc," Mr Davidson said.
"Sixty eight per cent of pure Merino ewes achieved 100pc marking or more, while 84pc of non-pure Merinos achieved a 100pc lamb marking or more.
"Ninety two per cent of entrants said they joined more ewes or the same number of ewes in the 2015/16 season as they did in 2014/15.
"Only 8pc decided they were going to lower their numbers.
"This year we noticed that yields were slightly lower than we've seen in the last couple of years.
"The average line attracted 2000 points while last year's winning entrant took out the competition with a score of just over 3000."
