A Yentrac ram was the star of the Southdowns at the Australian Sheep & Wool Show.
The August-drop ram won best hindquarters, best yearling ram and champion ram of any age.
Lynne, Robert and, daughter, Katie McCartney debuted the young ram, whose sire won a class at Bendigo some years ago, hopeful of his chances.
"He's very heavy in the hindquarters, a very well muscled ram, but you can't tell until the judging's over," Mr McCartney said.
Mr McCartney described Yentrac as a ram breeding operation for terminal sires and the stud boasts Southdowns, Poll Dorset and White Suffolk sheep.
The family brought three Southdowns and a dozen Poll Dorsets to the show but Mr McCartney said it was impossible to choose a favourite breed.
"That would be like asking which of my children is the favourite," he said.
"We cater for the different styles of lambs that producers want."
Mr McCartney has been breeding Southdowns since he was 17 and said it offered many benefits for commercial flocks.
"Southdowns are a very hardy, easy lambing breed particularly suitable for maiden ewes," he said.
"A Southdown ram puts a real stamp on his progeny, which makes them ideal for evening lines of composite ewes.
"You'd choose Poll Dorsets for their growth rate and White Suffolks are great for joining Merino ewes for a cleaner head."
The Yentrac stud is based in Tatura in northern Victoria and Mr McCartney said the season had been difficult.
"Ram sales have been tough enough this year with the dry conditions because ewe numbers have fallen," he said.
"Water is $600 a megalitre and people are asking whether they can make $600 out of lamb with the tonne of feed that could grow.
"Everyone's looking at their options because farming's a business," he said.
The McCartney family also runs Angus cattle with Charolais-sired calves but has cut its own cattle numbers to just a quarter of the normal stocking rate.
"The big challenge for the industry will be to rebuild the flock," Mr McCartney said.
"The tremendous prices have made it a great time to be in the sheep industry and those prices have helped but not offset the big dry."
Yentrac will compete in the Australasian Dorset Championships in September and will hold its annual sale in Tatura in late September.
Marian Macdonald
Writing for farmers in the Stock & Land, The Land, Queensland Country Life, Stock Journal and FarmWeekly, farming in Gippsland.
Writing for farmers in the Stock & Land, The Land, Queensland Country Life, Stock Journal and FarmWeekly, farming in Gippsland.
