Goldenover stud wins grand champion Suffolk

Ray Batt, Goldenover stud, Cuballing, is known for his Ile de France sheep but at the 50th Wagin Woolorama, he entered three rams from his fledgling Suffolk stud and won champion and reserve champion ram and grand champion Suffolk before continuing on to take the esteemed supreme champion British and Australasian Sheep Breeds animal of the show.

The achievement was something of a testament to Mr Batt's innate skill and lifetime dedication to breeding livestock whether it be cattle, sheep, pigs or poultry for himself or his employers.

This time his efforts found appeal with judge Adrian Veitch, Narrogin, who was looking for impeccable structure and soundness in his winners, insisting animals had to have both to carry them through a lifetime of high performance and production.

He was hard on slight foot and leg structure faults and, as a Dorper breeder, looked for superior muscling especially through the shoulders saying good muscling there translated to good muscling through the loin and hindquarters.

In his role as a subjective judge, he wanted all the attributes that appealed to the eye and by the second class for milk tooth rams born after June 1, he knew he was looking at a special sheep.

There were six in the class and based on his comments, the winner was an easy decision.

"He had the best bone, best head, best body and an excellent muscling and top line," Mr Veitch said.

"He is well put together and filled in through the shoulders - he is a very, very nice sheep."

And there was plenty more praise as the day wore on for the eight-month-old ram weighing 118 kilograms.

Second in the same class was another Goldenover ram that was a triplet by the same sire and went on to become reserve champion Suffolk ram.

The third Goldenover ram won the objectively and subjectively judged class and in the breakdown of points was placed second and it was its structure and soundness that elevated it to first place.

The story behind Goldenover's win started when Mr Batt bought four mated ewes at Stan Dorman's Advancer stud dispersal in April 2021 as foundation stock for a new stud.

After the ewes lambed down he inseminated them to Kerangie 19/2484, a sire from the now dispersed Victorian stud, that he considered the best Suffolk ram he had ever seen.

Now retired, Mr Batt planned to run only a small number of ewes and concentrate on breeding show quality stock and enjoy a hobby and passion that has seen him attend 60 Royal Shows (and many other regional shows) in his lifetime with great success.

He also intended to retain his Ile de France stud.

For Mr Veitch and nephew Aaron Foster, in the role of Suffolk steward, it was a day tinged with sadness after the death earlier in the week of their father and grandfather Dennis who, with wife Wendy, instilled their shared love of sheep via their Wendenlea Suffolk stud near Boddington.

Sasimwa stud owned by Glenn and Kay Cole, York, won the class for milk-tooth ewes born before May 31 and the same ewe went on to win the champion Suffolk ewe ribbon and reserve grand champion interbreed ewe of the show to give the black-face breed its best interbreed judging result for many years.

Mr Veitch described the sheep as an extremely good ewe and the most balanced (in proportion) of the six ewes in contention for the championship.

"She has a nice head, good neck extension, and muscling which runs from her shoulders through the back line to her loin and over the rump."

Their champion ewe was produced from a natural mating using the sire Advancer Yankee and Mr Cole said they had no special plans for her future other than to let her grow out before they assess her again at a later date.

Sasimwa also won the pair of milk tooth ewes, and the milk tooth ram, born before May 31.

READ MORE:

The stud brought a smaller than usual team of three rams and five ewes and with the last-minute withdrawal of another major exhibitor the breed was reduced to four studs exhibiting 45 sheep for 2023.

Mr Veitch said in the champion ewe line-up he had a choice of six ewes but it came down to a decision between just two belonging to Sasimwa and Karinya.

The late-drop ewe from Karinya, owned by Richard Philipps and Sally Larkin, Boyup Brook, was the youngest in the line-up but had loads of muscle, great neck extension and was good on her feet.

They collected the reserve champion Suffolk ewe award and all the blue ribbons in the group classes as well as two of the milk-tooth ewe classes.

The fourth stud was Colin, Robyn and Alison Batt's Alibri stud, Wagin, that picked up plenty of place ribbons to go with a win in the mature ewe class.