A veterinarian who helped introduce White Dorpers to Australia in the mid-1990s has won the breed's supreme exhibit with a 14-month-old ram at the Australian Sheep & Wool Show.
Kaya Dorper stud principal Adrian Veitch, Narrogin, WA, won the breed's top gong in Bendigo on Friday afternoon with Kaya Dorper 210265.
The light blue ribbon will be added to the collection of major sashes Mr Veitch has won in the last eight years since he first brought his studstock across the Nullarbor Plain, WA.
"It's just a young ram that was bred out of a really good sire who was also a very good show sheep," he said.
"He's a very smooth ram so we plan to hold onto him for a year and potentially sell him next year."
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The May 2021-drop ram was one of 37 sheep to make the journey from WA by truck.
"We flew ourselves over, which is always nice," Mr Veitch said.
"For a ram like this, we'd probably get $5000 plus, depending on who is prepared to pay for it."
The stud plans to show 14 sheep during the three-day show, and offer 23 in the Dorper sale via AuctionsPlus.
"The biggest trait with the White Dorpers is their shedding ability, they have good meat and eating qualities along with growth," Mr Veitch said.
"In my stud, our main quality is eating quality because our rams are all in the top 10 per cent of shedding breeds for meat."
His operation includes 3000 sheep.
"I did the original embryo work that brought all these sheep into Australia back in 1995," Mr Veitch said.
"I contracted for the company behind that and worked in South Africa for two years as a vet so to win this category is quite special."
Hay War Memorial High School, which runs Aberline Dorpers and White Dorpers stud, claimed the grand champion White Dorper ewe.
Aberline Tranquility was out of Aberline Peace and had a May 2022-drop ram lamb at foot.
White Dorper judge Dawson Bradford, Hillcroft Farms, Popanyinning, WA, said he was pleased with the overall presentation of the rams and ewes on offer.
"The overall fleshing of the sheep, along with strong bones and strong heads really stood out because I didn't expect to see so much bone in the sheep as we did in the top ones," he said.
"Some sheep had ill-shaped feet and some probably just needed some trimming but you find in wet conditions they can grow longer.
"I liked the supreme ram's balance and length; he was a long sheep but also carried a lot of depth as well and held his top line extremely well."