Sweetfield Corriedale stud, Mount Moriac, has had a stellar year at the 2022 Australian Sheep & Wool Show (ASWS), taking out the supreme champion Corriedale with their ram Rocky.
Leigh Ellis from the Sweetfield said the champion ram had been sired from a previous supreme champion at the ASWS, Sweetfield Archibald.
"He's one year old and still got his full mouth of milk teeth, so this shows when you compare his age to his growth, how he's doing really well in his development now," he said.
"The judge was talking about how he's very structurally correct, a true-to-type Corriedale with a very nice head.
"He's got a very soft, lustrous fleece, which is even throughout his body, and that's on top of a very meaty carcase."
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Rocky weighed 122 kilograms and had an eye muscle width of 41 millimetres and a micron of 32.4.
The stud had a fantastic competition with judges picking many of their ewes throughout several classes and winning out champion Corriedale ewe as well as the top ram.
Mr Ellis was also honoured that his stud also took out champion Corriedale ewe but was proud that both winners had been year-old champions.
"Our ewe has got the same breeding background as Rocky and at the end of the day, she's got similar attributes in terms of fleece she's carrying and her carcase," he said.
He also commended the great representation of the breed at the ASWS and was glad school competitions had shown high-quality Corriedales.
Mr Ellis' mother and stud principal at Sweetfield Bron Ellis also said the supreme ram held his head up high.
"He has lovely soft wool and a great representative of the Corriedale breed." Ms Ellis said.
Judge of the champion ewe Bridget Leahy, Montone Corriedale stud, Langwarrin said many of the sheep on show were very impressive, and the champion ewe ticked all the boxes.
"She was an exceptionally carcassed ewe and had beautiful wool as well and I pretty much chose it from her class and sort of knew she was going to be champion from that point onwardst," she said.
The grand champion for shorn Corriedales went to Blackwood Corriedale stud, Evandale, Tasmania.
Stud principal Peter Blackwood said his stud had been selecting for meat quality and muscle depth, intending to make their Corriedales commercially acceptable for trade.
"It's very important in a dual purpose sheep to have the lamb component covered and breeding these type of shape will have to have a very good carcase shape, as well as muscle depth to actually fit into those markets."
