A South Australian bred Dohne ram described by WA judge Rachel Browne as a “super example” of the breed has taken out the grand champion ram at the weekend’s Australian Sheep & Wool Show in Bendigo, Vic.
“He is very well presented and contains a lot of attributes that the Dohne breed is aiming for,” Ms Browne from Nyabing said.
The 140 kilogram ram exhibited by Greg Andrews and Nicole Luckraft, Hamilton Run, Jamestown, had many of the same traits as his sire – HR130004 – which sold to Chile for $20,000 in 2016.
Mr Andrews said the two-year-old ram, HR160121, which was also senior champion Dohne ram, had been a stand out in their 2016 drop rams for structure, wool quality and carcase.
“He has a magnificent behind with quality whiteness of wool and very pure around his head,” he said of the 2018 Bendigo champion.
Hamilton Run is retaining the ram but has already collected semen for export.
The ram’s figures included an Australian Sheep Breeding Value yearling fibre diameter in the top 10 per cent of the breed at -1.4, with a post weaning weight of +3.6 and yearling clean fleece weight of 12.2.
Ms Browne and co-judge Martin Pattie, Glencairn stud, New Zealand, had a more difficult decision for reserve champion between a two-year-old ram from John Nadin’s Macquarie stud, Warren, NSW, and another ram from West Wail, Pimpinio, Vic.
“We couldn’t split them on what they looked like and their type so we looked at the ASBVs – the information you can’t see to find the best ram of the day ” Ms Browne said.
“The Macquarie ram had a higher weaning weight, fleece weight and had a lower coefficient of variation for fibre diameter.”
Stud principal John Nadin said they had high hopes for the son of WA bred ram,TR7388, which was a stud reserve.
“He has rich wool, long staple and fault free – you just can’t find a fault in him and that is what has carried him through,” Mr Nadin said.
Fiona Cameron, Koonik Dohne stud, Nurcoung, Vic, secured both the champion sons of a sire class for two rams and the champion pen of three rams.
The judges praised the pair and trio of rams for their consistency of wool type.
The rams were all sired by KDS130545 which Ms Cameron said had been an “absolute impact sire” for Koonik.
Koonik’s grand champion ram from Bendigo in 2017 was an integral part of both the pairs and group of three.
There were nearly 40 rams from 13 Vic, NSW and SA studs shown.