THE 2014 Royal Melbourne Show Fleece Competition was announced as part of Wool Day at the showgrounds last Friday.
Mt Challicum stud at Ararat made it two in a row, taking out not only the Australian fleece competition at the Australian Sheep & Wool Show at Bendigo in July, but now also champion skirted fleece title at the Royal Melbourne Show.
Phil and Kim Hartwich entered an ultrafine fleece from one of their two-year-old stud rams.
The 15.8-micron fleece weighed seven kilograms and had a commercial value of $60.46.
Mr Hartwich said the ram was from their "softy" family on-farm, whose breeding was about 25 per cent Rock-Bank and 75pc Mt Challicum.
The family hadn't won either competition before this year.
"We were ecstatic to win both, particularly with two separate fleeces," Mr Hartwich said.
The most valuable skirted fleece in Melbourne at $94 was exhibited by the Miller family, Glenpaen stud, Brimpaen, weighing 11.7kg, measuring 17.3 micron and yielding 71.1pc.
Another top performer was long-time show fleece competition entrant and Polwarth stalwart Doug Hopkins, Challicum, who won Best Merino Lambs' Wool (367) with an entry that received 91.5 points out of 100; Best Comeback or Crossbred Lambs' Wool (443) on 92.5pts and Champion Lambs' Wool with the same entry; before being named Most Successful Australasian Lambs' Wool Exhibitor.
Exhibiting fleece at the show the past 50-plus years, Mr Hopkins said it was all about knowing what the judges were looking for.
"You only need one pound to enter, so I make sure to get rid of all the second cuts, and put a bit of time in making sure we have the right sample," he said.
"We are very lucky that the lambs are also run on very clean country, and having a few lambs on the ground at the right time to choose from."
Challicum produces about 2000 lambs a year. The fleece was cut from their autumn-drop lambs.
Most successful skirted fleece exhibitor went to Tintern Schools, who exhibited six fleeces from their Romney flock.
The top Romney ram fleece was cut from a ram sired by their champion Romney at the show.
It measured a micron of 36.8, greasy fleece weight of 8.5, clean fleece weight of 6.5 and 76.4 yield at a value at $30.52. It scored a total of 83 points out of 100.
Tintern farm manager Gavin Wall said they were ecstatic with the result, from their small flock of only 30 sheep.
Other results
* Best Ultra Fine Merino Fleece (Skirted Fleece) - Phil and Kim Hartwich
* Best Superfine and Medium Merino Fleece (Skirted Fleece) - Coryule Merino
* Best Fine Merino Fleece (Skirted Fleece) - Peter Rogers, Mount Yulong
* Best Strong Merino Fleece (Skirted Fleece) - Panorama Poll Merinos
* Best Corriedale Fleece and Most Valuable Corriedale fleece (Skirted Fleece) - Stanbury
* Best Polwarth Fleece (Skirted Fleece) - Peter English, Moorabbee,
* Best British Breed Fleece (Skirted Fleece) - Ian Rathjen, Pina Border Leicester
* Best Non-Merino Fleece; Best Non-Merino Fleece From A Commercial Grower; and Best Comeback or Crossbred Fleece (Skirted Fleece) - Fraser Bros
* Best Merino Fleece From A Commercial Grower (Skirted Fleece) and Champion District Fleece - Mansfield A&P Society - G O'Brien
* Champion Skirted Fleece - Phil and Kim Hartwich
* Most Valuable Skirted Fleece and Henry W Hopkins Memorial Award recipient - RJ&SJ Miller, Glenpaen, Brimpaen
* Champion Black and Coloured Fleece and Most Successful B&C Exhibitor - (ewe) Helen Wright, Kan-B Colours
Alisha Fogden
Cropping editor of Stock Journal.
Cropping editor of Stock Journal.
