Kolindale stud wins supreme ribbon

And when they did, it was a special day for the Ledwith family's Kolindale stud, Dudinin - one they will not forget quickly.

In the morning they claimed the top award in the woolshed grand champion fleece, and then as the sunset and the lamb chops came off the barbecue, they did the same in the Merino ring.

When the family claimed the prestigious supreme ribbon in the Merino ring with an upstanding Poll Merino sire, named Lustre 73, it marked the first time the Ledwiths had exhibited the supreme champion at Woolorama since buying the stud from Colin and Rae Lewis 16 years ago.

CHAMPIONS

Mr Lewis is still heavily involved in the stud helping out the Ledwiths out with joinings and classing of the rams and Ledwiths greatly appreciate his knowledge and his assistance helped them achieve this award.

The win also meant a 20-year drought was broken for the stud in the Merino ring, with the last supreme win being in 2004.

When judging started, the race to take out the coveted supreme award was wide open, as there were plenty of outstanding Merinos and Poll Merinos in the shed and no one would have thought the Kolindale ram would have had a chance as it stood out the back of the shed looking a little worse for wear after a suspected altercation in the trailer with another ram on the way to Woolorama.

But it came good and as a result the judges had their work cut out for them as they worked their way through the classes and sorted through the 146 rams and ewes entered from 23 studs to find their supreme champion.

Eventually they narrowed down the field to their top four for the day's last award and that was when the job got even tougher as the pressure was on to get it right, as not only was the honour of exhibiting the supreme exhibit on the line, but so too was a Honda XR 190 two-wheel motorbike.

Standing alongside the Kolindale Poll Merino ram in the final judging as the sun began to set was a medium wool Merino ram and a medium wool Poll Merino ewe from the Wise family's Wililoo stud, Woodanilling, which exhibited the grand champion Merino ram and grand champion Poll Merino ewe and a fine wool Merino ewe from the King family's Rangeview stud, Darkan, which had been sashed the grand champion Merino ewe.

While all were quality exhibits in their own rights, when the judges handed in their voting cards, the 165.5 kilogram Poll Merino sire from Kolindale got the nod in a unanimous decision.

When the Kolindale ram was announced the winner, judge Steven Bolt, Claypans stud, Corrigin, said the Kolindale ram was a clear winner and a magnificent sire.

"He is a great example of the modern Poll Merino," Mr Bolt said.

"He has length of body, impressive size and structural correctness and a very good strong wool fleece all over.

"He really picked himself and is an outstanding exhibit to be the supreme champion.

"He is a credit to the Kolindale stud."

Also full of praise for the ram at the end of the day for its wool quality and size was judge Shayne Mackin, Kamballie stud, Tammin.

He said the ram had tremendous presence and was structurally very sound.

"He also carries his wool quality really well down for a strong wool type," Mr Mackin said.

"He is a fantastic modern Merino."

The upstanding ram showed all day it was a quality exhibit, starting off when it got through its initial class for four-tooth, strong wool Poll Merino rams finishing ahead of 11 other rams in one of the biggest classes for the day.

From here it went on to be sashed the champion strong wool Poll Merino ram and grand champion Merino ram.

When it was sashed the champion strong wool Poll Merino ram, judge Phil Jones, Belka Valley stud, Bruce Rock, said it was a massive ram with a tremendous topline and plenty of width through the barrel.

"He is very well made and has a very good leg set up," Mr Jones said.

"In addition to his size and structural correctness, he carries a lovely white, strong wool which has a well-defined crimp and varies very little in terms of quality from head to toe.

"He is a really hard ram to fault."

The four-tooth, AI-bred, ram is by Wallaloo Park 422 and out of a Kolindale Majestic 439 ewe.

Pushing the Kolindale ram in the Poll Merino ram classes were a number of exhibits, but none more so than a medium wool sire from the Blight family's Seymour Park stud, Highbury, which was sashed the reserve grand champion Poll Merino ram.

When the well-made ram received its reserve grand champion ribbon, Mr Bolt said it had very good structure and expressed good purity and softness.

"It has a lovely head, width between the ears which it carries right through, a pure, soft white face and excellent wool quality on its head which continues all the way through," Mr Bolt said.

"He has a beautiful, long-stapled, true medium wool all over.

"It was just unlucky to come up against this impressive Kolindale ram because for its type it is exceptional."

The Seymour Park ram earned the right to stand in the grand champion line-up after first winning its class for four-tooth and over, medium wool Poll Merino rams, in front of 15 other rams, in the second biggest class of the day and then being sashed the champion medium wool Poll Merino ram.

When it received its champion medium wool ribbon, Mr Mackin said the Seymour Park ram was a very well-balanced sire and was fault-free.

"He is structurally very good and has an impressive, white, well-marked fleece which varies very little from his head to his toes," Mr Mackin said.

The four-tooth AI-bred ram is by Moorundie 102.

In the Poll Merino ewe classes, it was a classy medium wool ewe from the Wililoo stud that won the grand champion Poll Merino ewe ribbon after catching the eye of the judges with its production and structure.

When the ewe received its purple grand champion ribbon, Mr Jones said it was a very impressive young ewe which had great overall production, balance and plenty of quality.

"She is beautifully made and has really good scale to go with a beautiful head setup and a pure muzzle," Mr Jones said.

"She also has a well-nourished, quality medium wool.

"She was very hard to pass."

Prior to being sashed the grand champion ewe, the four-tooth ewe was sashed the champion medium wool Poll Merino ewe and won the medium wool class for four-tooth ewes ahead of six other ewes.

When the ewe received its champion medium wool Poll Merino ribbon, Mr Mackin said it was oozing production and quality.

"She is a really well-balanced ewe and a real bale filler," he said.

The upstanding young ewe is by Moorundie 061.

Pushing the Wililoo ewe in the grand championship battle was a strong wool ewe from the Button family's Manunda stud, Tammin, that had been sashed the champion strong wool Poll Merino ewe.

When it received the reserve grand champion ribbon Mr Jones said the ewe was very pure and well put together.

"She has very good conformation and a soft, white muzzle plus a remarkable square backend and good length and depth of body," Mr Jones said.

"She also carries a beautiful, genuine strong wool to her points and there is plenty of it.

The four-tooth ewe started on its winning ways when it won its strong wool class for four-tooth ewes in front of three others and from there it claimed the champion strong wool Poll Merino ewe ribbon.

When it received this champion ribbon judge Robyn Jones, Belka Valley stud, Bruce Brock, said it was a well-balanced ewe with a great backend and wool quality right through.

The AI-bred ewe is by Manunda 731.

In the superfine wool classes, the ribbons were shared.

The Rangeview stud exhibited the champion superfine Poll Merino ram which was described by Mr Bolt to be a well-balanced ram with good structure and a quality superfine wool all over.

The ram is by Rangeview 901.

Standing in reserve to the Rangeview sire was a ram from the Rintoul family's Tilba Tilba stud, Williams, which was by Alfoxton Spartacus.

The champion superfine wool, Poll Merino ewe was exhibited by the Blight family's The Grange stud, Highbury and Mr Bolt said it displayed very good evenness and quality through its wool and was structurally very sound.

The reserve champion superfine Poll Merino ewe was exhibited by the Tilba Tilba stud.

When it came to the fine wool champion ribbons in the ram section, it was a two-tooth ram from the Seymour Park stud which stood at the top of the line and was sashed the champion fine wool Poll Merino ram.

Mr Bolt said the Seymour Park ram had depth and width, plus a beautiful soft face and purity through the muzzle.

"He also carries a quality, high yielding, fine wool all over," Mr Bolt said.

The ram is out of a maiden ewe which was joined to a syndicate of Seymour Park rams.

Standing in reserve and receiving the reserve champion fine wool Poll Merino ram ribbon was a four-tooth ram from the McLagan family's Eungai stud, Miling, which Mr Bolt said was an upstanding ram with a quality, white fine wool.

The ram is by Eungai Max which was the grand champion Poll Merino ram at the 2022 Perth Royal Show.

In the fine wool ewe classes it was the Tilba Tilba stud which claimed the champion fine wool Poll Merino ewe ribbon.

Mr Bolt said the Tilba Tilba ewe, which stood in the line-up after winning its class for two-tooth ewes, was a well-balanced ewe with good softness and purity throughout.

The ewe is by Alfoxton Spartacus.

The reserve champion fine wool Poll Merino ewe ribbon went to a four-tooth ewe from the Edward family's Belmont Park stud, Wagin, which Mr Bolt said carried a stylish, white, well-nourished fine wool.

The Seymour Park stud claimed the double in the fine-medium wool championships exhibiting both the champion ram and champion ewe.

The champion fine-medium wool Poll Merino ram exhibited by Seymour Park was described by Mr Mackin to be a sheep the industry could really benefit from.

"He is a big ram with a large barrel and is square behind," Mr Mackin said.

"He also has quality and quantity of wool.

"He has great crimp definition and staple length."

The upstanding ram was in the race for the champion ribbon after winning the biggest class on the day - the four-tooth fine-medium wool Poll Merino ram class - in front of 16 other rams.

Standing in reserve to the Seymour Park sire and taking home the reserve champion fine-medium wool Poll Merino ram ribbon was a ram from the Lewis family's Lewisdale stud, Wickepin, which Mr Mackin said was a modern Merino with balance and production.

The ram is by a Lewisdale sire, which is a son of George.

Taking home the champion fine-medium wool Poll Merino ewe ribbon for the Seymour Park stud was a classy two-tooth ewe, which Mr Mackin said carried a really stylish, crimpy wool.

"She has a quality wool all over that is coming off a really good skin," Mr Mackin said.

The ewe is out of a maiden ewe which was joined to a syndicate of Seymour Park rams.

The reserve champion fine-medium wool Poll Merino ewe was exhibited by the Mullan family's Quailerup West stud, Wickepin and it was described by Mr Mackin to be a good productive ewe with structural correctness and wool quality.

The two-tooth ewe is an ET-bred daughter of Nerstane 22.

The reserve champion medium wool Poll Merino ram ribbon went to a two-tooth sire from the Jackson family's Westerdale stud, McAlinden, which was by Glenlea Park 382

Mr Mackin said the Westerdale ram was a good young two-tooth ram with all its life ahead of it.

"It has size and quality and I think it will only get better as the year goes on," he said.

When it came to the reserve champion medium wool Poll Merino ewe ribbon, it was draped across the back of a two-tooth ewe from the Wililoo stud.

Mr Mackin said the Wililoo ewe was a well-balanced ewe with a good white, medium wool.

The reserve champion strong wool Poll Merino ram was exhibited by the Lewisdale stud and it was just unlucky it came up against Kolindale's supreme exhibit in the championship judging.

Mr Jones said the Lewisdale ram had a beautiful, long-stapled white wool and good balance and while it did have good size, it just didn't have the scale of the Kolindale ram.

The four-tooth ram is by Lewisdale Polly.

The Wililoo stud collected the reserve champion strong wool Poll Merino ewe ribbon with a four-tooth ewe which Mr Jones said was a good well-balanced ewe with a quality strong wool, but it just lacked the finish of the champion from Manunda.

This year the lamb classes attracted six ram lamb entries from the Wililoo stud and two ewe lamb exhibits from the Seymour Park stud, in the end the judges went for a Poll Merino ram lamb as its grand champion lamb and champion ram lamb.

Mr Bolt said the Wililoo ram lamb was a really well-balanced lamb which showed plenty of potential.

"He has width through the muzzle which goes right through to a good square backend," Mr Bolt said.

"He also has a soft, stylish wool all over coming off a good loose skin.

"It will be interesting to see how he grows out and develops."

The May/June 2023-drop ram lamb is by a Wililoo sire.

The champion ewe lamb exhibited by the Seymour Park stud and Mr Bolt said it had a great presence and outlook.

"She is structurally very sound and has a good white, wool that has a nicely defined crimp," he said.

The mid May 2023-drop, AI-bred ewe is by a Terrick West ram.