WHEATBELT wool producers got one up on their traditional wool growing cousins this week when a fleece from Pithara grabbed one of the first supreme ribbons on offer at this year's IGA Perth Royal Show.
The fleece, which was awarded best of the show, was exhibited by Darrell, Glenys, Brad and Emma McIlroy, Glendawn Poll Merino stud.
The stylish, fine wool ram fleece shone through with its whiteness, softness and tremendous weight to receive the judges' ticks of approval.
The classy fleece was one of three exhibited by the McIlroy family this year.
The win marks the first time the family has won the supreme fleece title at the Royal Show after exhibiting on and off for the past 10 years.
Their previous best result was reserve grand champion ram fleece in 2014.
The Glendawn fleece finished ahead of 189 other fleeces during judging.
The winning fleece was entered in the open fine Merino ram fleece class and scored 95 points out of a possible 100.
It displayed measurements of 20.7 micron, 99.5 per cent comfort factor, 123 millimetre staple length, 55N/kt staple strength, 80.1pc yield, 12.8 kilogram greasy fleece weight and 10.3kg clean fleece weight.
It scored maximum points for clean fleece weight, staple strength, evenness, handle and colour.
The competition judges were Tim Burgess and Tony Alosi, Elders, Cameron Henry, Landmark Graeme Luff, Primaries wool and chief judge Tim Chapman, Primaries.
Mr Chapman said the supreme exhibit was a magnificent fleece, which showed great style, softness, handle and lustre and tremendous weight.
"It's a very high yielding white wool," Mr Chapman said.
"Its objective measurements were excellent and demonstrated its high quality.
"It is great to see fleeces like this are being produced in the Wheatbelt and it is a credit to the McIlroy family."
Darrell McIlroy said the win was unexpected and a surprise.
"I was tossing up whether to exhibit the ram in the show or its fleece because when our classer Preston Clarke looked at him a while back he said he was a magnificent ram, in the end we decided to shear him and enter the fleece - so it is a great result," Mr McIlroy said.
"I am a wool man and love my sheep, we are one of very few operations running sheep in our area.
"I really like breeding Merinos and I breed for good wool, so I am chuffed to win."
The McIlroy family runs 550 Poll Merino ewes and when they shear in summer the adult flock averages 20 micron with an 8kg cut.
Mr McIlroy said they were looking forward to next year's shearing given the season they are experiencing.
"If you could order a season you wouldn't order anything better," he said.
"The sheep are in really good condition and the crops are doing well."
The supreme fleece was off a four-tooth Poll ram, which they blade shore and tagged at last year's Dowerin GWN7 Machinery Field Days before shed preparing it at home.
The ram was sired by a Lewisdale-Corrigin ram (which was sired by East Strathglen Duke) that the McIlroys purchased about four years ago.
This year 21 exhibitors, including some first exhibitors, entered 190 fleeces in the competition, which meant numbers were up on last year.
The fleeces came from across the State's wool growing region, including from Pithara in the north east through to Esperance in the south east.
The fleeces ranged from ultrafine to strong wool Merino, and a small quanitity of Corriedale and Melanian fleeces.
Mr Chapman said overall the high standard of entries made for a close finish at the top-end of the competition, with only two points separating the top three fleeces.
"The brightness, growth and yields of the fleeces were outstanding," Mr Chapman said.
"Unfortunately the fleeces were more tender throughout than past years, which is no doubt a result of the seasonal conditions.
"It was also pleasing to see some outstanding commercial values among the farmers' fleeces, which included a top fleece value of $114.71."
The IGA Perth Royal Show starts this Saturday.
p Check out next week's Farm Weekly for all the results from the show's first weekend of judging.