A family who have kept the Dorset Down breed alive for nearly 70 years have taken out the grand champion ewe and ram in its competition at the 2023 Australian Sheep & Wool Show.
The Chapman family's Woodhall stud, Wedderburn, which was established in 1945, were the dominant winners, but stud principal Colin Chapman said he was also glad that the Moorabbee stud, Mooralea, took part in the competition.
"It's great to have new people come along, which allows us to diversify, gather more interest and then have a bit of competition," Mr Chapman said.
"We try to cultivate that sort of thing and the whole heritage breed concept, not only for the Dorset Downs, but other breeds like the Dorset Horns as well."
Mr Chapman said he aimed to always come to the Australian Sheep & Wool Show to showcase heritage breeds as he felt it was important to show their sheep meat qualities.
"We do like to come here as well as the Melbourne Royal Show at times to showcase these rare breeds in Australia," he said.
"Dorset Downs bring a whole heap of genetics to breeding in this country, especially for meat quality and composition."
"They also provide a good source of genes for the process of breeding meat sheep in particular."
Judge Mark Sidey, who breeds Corridales at Waipara, New Zealand said he did not see any major faults with any of the entrants in the competition.
"The winners had a great range of good qualities here today," he said.
"But I was very impressed with how many sheep were not overfed, and not grossly overweight,"
He also praised the commercial aspect of breeding seen in the breed at the competition, and said it was beneficial to have new breeders like Moorabbee were having a go.
