AFTER roaring back into life and celebrating its 21st year in style last year, the Williams Gateway Expo Sheep Show was a much quieter affair when it was held last Saturday.
After being cancelled in 2020 due to COVID-19, restrictions this year again played havoc on the event which has become well-known as a great family day out for all.
This year's event was restricted to just the sheep show in the ram shed and it was well-supported by stud breeders from as far away as Miling in the north and Gairdner in the south, after cancellation of the Wagin Woolorama in March, also due to COVID-19.
While there was no action outside the ram shed this year, there was plenty inside with an action-packed day of judging for both the Merino and British and Australasian Breeds, as new names were added to the show's honour boards.
The Blight family's Seymour Park Poll Merino stud, Highbury and the Cole family's Sasimwa Suffolk stud, York, will appear on the honour board when they won the highly-regarded Farm Weekly-sponsored breeders' group classes for two rams and two ewes in their respective sections.
Along with having the honour of winning the classes, they also had to fit a new portable generator in with their teams on the way home.
With very few pens spare in the ram shed, competition was fierce in both the Merino and British and Australasian Breeds judging rings as the judges made their way through the 155 Merino and Poll Merinos from 21 studs and 183 British and Australasian Breeds sheep representing seven breeds from 21 studs.
In the Merino ring, the Blight family's Seymour Park stud claimed its first win in the class everyone wants to win.
The Seymour Park team of classy Poll Merinos defeated five other teams in the hotly-contested class which saw the judges go back numerous times to the teams, ensuring they got their placings right.
Judge Steven Bolt, Claypans stud, Corrigin, said the Seymour Park team was a unanimous winner.
"All four sheep in the team have excellent wool quality, were well-covered and have productive skins," Mr Bolt said.
"They were also the most even team especially in regards to their wool quality."
The Button family's Manunda stud, Tammin, finished second in the class with a Poll Merino team for a second year running, while a Merino team from the King family's Rangeview stud, Darkan, finished third.
Mr Bolt said the Manunda team was made up of four big, productive sheep that stood over a lot of ground, while the Rangeview team was a very productive and quality woolled team, however both lacked the evenness of the Seymour Park group.
In the individual classes in the Merino judging it was again the Seymour Park stud which finished on top when an upstanding strong wool Poll Merino ram from the stud was sashed the supreme exhibit and champion ram of show.
The champion ewe of show title went to a fine wool Merino ewe from the Rangeview stud.
In the British and Australasian Breeds section there were five breeds represented by five studs and every one of them was aiming for the Farm Weekly sponsored prize for the best group of two rams and two ewes.
This year the finalists were a wide-open field that featured few of the more-recognised stud prefixes and several teams had a red-hot chance of winning.
The line-up included the Glover family's JimJam Texel stud, Boyup Brook, the Batt family's Alcostro Ile de France stud, Wagin, the Cole family's Sasimwa Suffolk stud, York and Max Whyte and Gail Cremasco's Brimfield Poll Dorset and White Suffolk studs, Kendenup.
With a quality line-up of rams and ewes on the judging mat, the father-and-son judging team of Roy Addis, Nutrien Livestock Breeding and Brenton Addis, Yonga Downs White Suffolk stud, Gnowangerup, had their work cut out for them.
Not only were they looking for quality among the four animals - and there was plenty - it was evenness that was the overriding factor when they announced the Suffolk team from the Sasimwa stud as the winner.
Roy Addis said the Sasimwa group was a terrific team.
"Not only did the four sheep represent the breed well but more importantly they are an excellent representation of the prime lamb industry," Mr Addis said.
"They have heaps of meat on them, they are structurally very correct, with great toplines and they were hard to fault.
"There wasn't a sheep among them that we felt let them down, they were just a fantastic even group which was what got them over the line."
The Brimfield White Suffolk team was announced runner-up in the class and again quality was not in question
Mr Addis said the Brimfield team consisted of four great sheep with the carcase traits they were looking for all day.
"They also all had good toplines, plenty of volume and were structurally sound sheep," he said.
"At the end of the day the Sasimwa team was just that little bit more even and similar which is what you look for in a group class."
When it came to the single interbreed classes in the British and Australasian Breeds judging ring, it was a White Suffolk ewe from Josh Addis' Kalagan White Suffolk stud, Denmark, that took top honours and was sashed not only the interbreed champion ewe but also the supreme interbreed exhibit.
The champion interbreed ram was exhibited by the Bingham family's Iveston White Suffolk stud, Williams.
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