THE Suffolk breed was the first to enter the ring at the 2021 Make Smoking History Wagin Woolorama, kicking off the day for the British and Australasian sheep breeds competition.
Judge was Ross Lane, Wongan Hills, a past Suffolk association president and former owner of the Linburn stud.
Mr Lane said the Suffolk ewes were a definite highlight for him on the day, which made for some challenging classes to judge.
"The ewes were very well presented and showed exceptional breeding," Mr Lane said.
"I was very particular with my assessment of all the sheep and wanted to make sure I highlighted the sheep with the best Suffolk qualities, that remained true to the breed.
"The representation from two agricultural colleges and their studs was great to see.
"The student involvement is really important and the schools have invested a lot of time and effort into their breeding and I hope this continues into the future."
The WA College of Agriculture Narrogin's, Collegian stud and the Esperance Farm Training Centre's, Escholar stud, were among the total of six studs, exhibiting 67 entries, in 11 classes in the Suffolk section of the catalogue.
In another successful year for the Sasimwa stud, York, their young ram under one year of age took out the broad ribbon for champion Suffolk ram.
"The ram was true to type, very smooth and well presented," Mr Lane said.
"He was very good for his age."
The ram was sired by Sasimwa 80.
The reserve champion ram title went to Karinya stud, Boyup Brook and was sired by Karinya Leo out of a Karinya ET dam.
"The reserve champion was another very correct ram," Mr Lane said.
"The top three rams were very hard to split and it came down to presentation on the day."
However, it was the ewes that shone the brightest on the day.
The prize for grand champion Suffolk went to the champion ewe exhibited by Richard Philipps and Sally Larkin's Karinya stud.
The ewe was sired by Pamellen 77/15 'Clancy'.
Mr Lane was highly impressed by the young ewe under one year old born after June 1, 2020, showing milk teeth.
"She is a great example of the Suffolk breed," he said.
"She will go on to do great things."
When sashing the grand champion he said the ram was not a mile behind, but the ewe had just been more impressive.
"The ewe was just a smoother animal, true to type and very correct," Mr Lane said.
"She hasn't finished growing, and when she does she will be a big ewe.
"She had less fat than the ram, she was a leaner type, with really good length."
The reserve champion ewe was awarded to Kalinda stud, for a ewe that came from the pairs class and was sired by Jusak Ambassador out of the dam Kalinda 281.
"The ewe portion of the show was just outstanding," Mr Lane said.
"Whether that was because of the season or just that the ewes came up better I am not sure.
"There were also more ewe entries."
The Suffolk breed featured prominently in the interbreed competition, firstly taking the highly sought after Farm Weekly and Elders jointly sponsored Honda XR 190GT AG Motorbike prize that was hotly-contested in the champion group of two rams and two ewes.
It was Matt Mitsopoulos's, Kalinda Suffolk stud, Boyanup, that took home the bike with its winning Suffolk group of two rams and two ewes that were a very even line up and this was one of the reasons theory stood out among the groups.
The Kalinda stud also took out the interbreed award for the group of three ewes, making the Suffolk breed the majority winners in the interbreed group classes and representing the breed exceptionally well.
Featuring strongly among the classes too was the Alibry stud, Wagin.
