Ellingerrin Border Leicester stud and Finley High School win interbreed at Melbourne Royal Show

Ellingerrin stud principal Heather Stoney, Modewarre, said her ewe winning supreme interbreed sheep exhibit at the show was her biggest show win ever.

"I thought it would never happen," she said.

"I knew the ewe was outstanding, but for her to win against an outstanding ram was the biggest surprise."

The ewe won against the winning interbreed ram of the show by Finley High School, Finley, NSW.

Ms Stoney believed her winning exhibit was the perfect ewe.

"She's structurally sound, has a lovely fleece of wool, and she's feminine," she said.

"She's a really 'out there' ewe, she paraded well and just looked fantastic."

She said the now 13-month-old ewe only won third in her class at the Australian Sheep & Wool Show in Bendigo in July.

"She was a bit immature back then, she's matured a lot since then and she's fresh now," she said.

"It takes a lot to get them right at show time, just like a racehorse preparing for the Melbourne Cup, they have to be prepared."

She said the win validated years of hard work for the stud that was established in 1975.

"It's very exciting to win this award against all of the beautiful sheep that are here," she said.

Winning supreme Poll Dorset the day before interbreed was a "dream come true" for Finley High School, so to win interbreed ram of the show was "beyond our wildest dreams".

Those were the words of Finley High School's very proud agriculture teacher Gary Webb, who said it was a surreal experience to be awarded best of the best at such a significant event.

"Schools aren't supposed to win awards like this," he said.

"It's just hard to put into words how exciting this is - it's something we've dreamed about.

"It's rewarding to see so many years of hard work validated like this."

He said the ram was a stand out for them and one they expected might do well in the judging - just not this well.

"He's a great barreled sheep with heaps of strength through the loin," he said.

"He's wide in the hindquarters and just a very correct ram."

He was sired by Hillden 499-15, from Hillden Poll Dorset stud, Bannister, NSW, whose genetics were used predominantly in the stud.

They planned to sell the ram in the near future.

Interbreed judge Scott Mitchell, Rene Poll Dorset, White Suffolk and Charollais stud, Culcairn, NSW, said each breed had a stand-out sheep.

"Having looked over 15 different breeds, it was a very tough task for us as judges to pick out the winning stock because there was such good representation," he said.

"The Borders in most shows go pretty well in the longwool section and they're very well represented at royal shows.

"Every time I saw this ewe I thought she was a beautiful ewe."

Mr Mitchell said it was not a challenge selecting the ewe over the ram.

"When you get to the pinnacle stages of showing at interbreeds, the animals are there for various reasons," he said.

"The ewes are always very attractive because if you get a good one, they show themselves off better than the big heavy rams who is chock full of meat."