Supreme Dorper: Dell Dorpers, Moama, NSW
Grand Champion Dorper ram: Dell
Senior champion Dorper ram: Bulmar, Spring Hill, NSW
Junior champion Dorper ram: Dell
Grand Champion Dorper ewe: Dell
Senior Champion Dorper ewe: Dell
Junior champion Dorper ewe: Nomuula, Moonbi, NSW
DELL Dorper stud, Moama, NSW, has claimed an impressive three-peat, winning the Supreme ribbon again at this year’s Australian Sheep & Wool Show (ASWS).
The ewe Dell ‘Stretchy’ took out the Supreme ribbon for a third time in a row, to add to her win in the Senior and Grand Champion awards.
Dell’s Andrea van Niekerk said it was probably the first time a ewe had ever won the Grand Champion title at the national Dorper show and the ASWS. “She has real good length in the rump, with a strong loin, and she is extremely feminine for her age,” Ms van Niekerk said.
She has real good length in the rump, with a strong loin, and she is extremely feminine for her age.
- Andrea van Niekerk, Dell Dorpers
“She’s very sound on her legs and feet, for such a big ewe.”
Last year, judge Rikus van der Merwe said Dell ‘Stretchy’ was an “exceptional” animal. This year, judge Justin Kirkby, Amarula Dorpers and White Dorpers, Gravesend, NSW, said he was surprised she had won previously. “I had no idea, until I looked at the trophy,” Mr Kirkby said. “But she’s just an outstanding sheep, just a beautiful, beautiful ewe and functioning really well for a three to four-year-old.”
He said judges looked for what they called “capacity’, when assessing Dorper ewes. “Dorpers are an arid region sheep, so they have got to fill their rumen up with food, or fill their belly up with lambs.”
A nine-month-old ram, Dell Joel junior, won the Grand Champion Dorper ram ribbon. He weighed 73 kilograms, had a fat covering of 6.5 millimetres and a 39mm eye muscle.
Mr Kirkby said there was not a lot to split the Senior and Junior ram.