Thrill of the chase for royal ribbons

This will be the 23rd consecutive year Mr Hill and his wife have entered Merino fleeces and they are hoping to at least match last year's "best ever" effort.

They entered 10 fleeces and came home with eight ribbons last year, including for grand champion farmers fleece and reserve champion farmers fleece.

"We had a ripper fleece last year, I was told on the quiet it was the best fleece in the show," Mr Hill said last week as he and his wife prepared to leave for holiday in Canada.

"But they had to give the supreme champion fleece to one of the studs because it wouldn't do to have a commercial operator beating all the studs," he said.

Whether or not wool politics got in the way, the Hills have won the supreme champion fleece title before, the first time in 1993.

They have also won a host of grand champion and champion ribbons.

Zone three fleece competition - zone three covers a huge slab of the eastern, central and western Wheatbelt, from the south coast north to Wongan Hills and butts up to Perth's outer-east suburbs - is usually an annual battle between the Hills and WA College of Agriculture, Denmark.

But Mr Hill has made the Zone Three Most Successful Exhibitor award his own over the years.

"I've got a bloody woolpack full of ribbons at home, but I still love winning them," said Mr Hill, a former shearer who transitioned to woolgrower.

"I'm a very competitive person, I admit that, but I love the challenge, I love competing.

"As a commercial woolgrower, I see it (winning Royal Show fleece ribbons) as an indication you're on the right track with what you are doing."

Mr Hill said he had not intended to enter this year, but his Elders Esperance representative convinced him to go again.

He delivered 12 fleece entries early and has arranged for a friend to collect any awards he and Bev might win at the September 25 presentation, just in case he is not back in time.

His secrets for success, both at showing and as a wool grower - his clip sold last week averaged 20.2 micron, 110-120mm staple length and a mighty 72.5 per cent yield - are simple.

"I don't like working for sheep, I like sheep working for me, so I probably run a bit light (on stocking rates) so I don't have to feed them, they feed themselves on green grass - 80 per cent of sheep is what goes down their throats," he said.

"The other thing is, I always use good rams.

"If I'm going to buy a ram I may as well buy the best, that way I'm getting the quality and well as the quantity."

His flock numbers 5000, half pure Merino and half Merino-Poll Dorset cross.

As a former South Australian, he used Collinsville Merino stud bloodlines originally then switched to Ashgrove Merino stud, Esperance, for his rams and is pleased with the results.

He recently sold some land and now farms about 4000 hectares because "((xEF))ït had got a bit too much for me" - he admits to being "just a few sleeps off turning 70".

But while his sheep enterprise is doing very well, his 600ha cropping enterprise is floundering in the wet.

"I should be putting some urea on because it's looking a bit yellow, but I can't get on it, we're on clay and you could bog a duck here at the moment," he said.

Mr Hill grew up on a family farm near Kimba in SA and worked as a shearer until 1975 when at age 29 he and his wife left to travel around Australia.

They had run out of money by Ravensthorpe and settled there because Mr Hill found work.

They successfully applied for a "conditional purchase" bush block from the government, which they eventially cleared, and started their enterprise with 90 sheep, old ewes Mr Hill bought with a shearing pay cheque from a client.

"I've been blessed," he said. "I've taken a hobby and made money from it."

He is hoping his show fleece entries this year are also blessed.

Entries in the IGA Perth Royal Wool Show are judged on softness, style and strength.

The wool display in the Jim Horwood Pavilion will be open 9am-6pm for the duration of the Show, September 24-October 1.