The Elders flock ewe hogget competition at the McIntosh & Son Mingenew Midwest Expo returned to the program after a one-year hiatus and attracted three quality entries from local commercial growers.
The three lines of ewes were presented in excellent condition with almost a year's worth of wool, with the winner being PE & VJ Dempster, Mingenew.
Elders Mingenew livestock agent Ross Tyndale-Powell organised the competition and said the entries were a credit to the growers, and were some of the best in his time of more than 20 years' involvement.
While Elders decided to not proceed with the flock heifer competition and Expo organisers said the junior judging was cancelled at the last minute, the flock ewe competition made up for the loss with its high quality entries vying for the coveted first place ribbon.
This year entries provided judge and Walkindyer Poll Merino stud principal, Nathan Teakle, Northampton, with a difficult task of deciding which was the best.
He stepped in as judge on the day because the original judge had a conflict of interest with one of the lines of ewes entered being from his client and bred from his stud's bloodlines.
The flock ewe hoggets are judged on their wool and commercial qualities, as well as their conformation, structure and size for type.
"This is a competition for evenness across the entire team," Mr Teakle said.
"One team definitely stood out to me in this regard.
"The second and third teams still had good-sized frames but their wool was not as even across the entire line.
"They still had good wool, but they just had one or two sheep in the line that differed slightly in their wool type and it was the deciding factor for me."
The winning pen exhibited by James Dempster, PE & EJ Dempster, Mingenew, was from the Patterson's, Woolkabin Merino stud, Woodanilling, bloodlines and was September shorn.
"The winning team was a very visually even line up," Mr Teakle said.
"When I opened up the wool they were a nice and white, stylish wool type."
James Dempster said they had been on the Woolkabin bloodlines since the original Jaloran Merino stud, when owned by the Toll family, was sold and they transferred to the Patterson's Woolkabin stud.
"It was a last-minute decision to enter," Mr Dempster said.
"We mainly breed for wool traits and really like the nice white wool and their size.
"Our clients who buy our culls want the size to be able to put crossbreds over them."
He said the ewes had been run on lupin stubbles in the summer and he had planted quite a few perennials, which they ran on till the break of the season.
"Our lambing has averaged 120 per cent for the last few years," Mr Dempster said.
Mr Teakle said overall the sheep were in excellent condition.
"We are coming off a good season, so they have a good sized frame and wool length," he said.
Second was awarded to Gavin Elsegood, VR & BJ Elsegood for their September-shorn ewes that were from the White family's, Nepowie Merino stud bloodline, Nomans Lake.
Third went to a line of flock ewe hoggets entered by David and Brad Spencer, Gymbowen, Perenjori and were from the Sutherland's, Arra-dale bloodline, Perenjori.
