Mulloorie, Kerrilyn Merino studs win medium wool titles at Bendigo

The Meyer family of Mulloorie Merino & Poll Merino stud, Brinkworth, SA, won the strong wool class of the show, minutes before winning the medium wool category.

The strong and medium wool rams were sired by Mulloorie Elliott.

Mulloorie Merino & Poll Merino stud principal Peter Meyer said the medium wool ram had good data to back up his impressive visual traits.

"He's a big ram with a lot of size and structure and has a good wool covering," he said.

"His wool is very testing with a micron of 19.5 micron, a standard deviation of 2.7, a CV of 13.6, and a 99.6 comfort factor.

"He stands correctly, he has straight feet and is a very pure sire."

Mr Meyer said he loved to compete against other Australian Merino studs for a number of reasons.

"I love showing because you get to see what other people have in their studs," he said.

"It gives you a standard to breed to and an idea of the direction you're taking."

Mr Meyer said the stud was a labour of love, which sold a large portion of its rams to the pastoral areas of NSW, including Broken Hill, NSW, where the sheep performed well.

"I have two sons, Brett and Paul, and Brett runs our property in the south-east, and Paul is up at home at Brinkworth and runs the stud with me, along with my grandson, Darcy," he said.

"We put a lot of work and effort into these sheep."

Victorian operation Kerrilyn Merino and Poll Merino stud, Dunluce, won the grand champion ewe title.

Kerrilyn Merino and Poll Merino stud principal Norm Weir said he was "rapt".

"We're very pleased and even more pleased because I won the grand champion strong wool ewe with its grandmother back in 2019," he said.

"It was ET bred and it shows that we're producing a very line and consistent group of ewes."

Mr Weir said his stud sells 70-100 Merino and poll Merino rams each year to clients across Victoria, with an occasional ram sold to an interstate buyer.

The ewe went on to become the champion Victorian-bred ewe at the ASWS.

Medium Merino judge Matt Ashby, Ashrose Poll Merino stud, Gulnare, SA, said the opportunities for the strong wool Merino grand champion ram were endless.

"This ram has a great outlook, he has stretch of body, his confirmation was fantastic and he's going to cut a heap of wool," he said.

"Not only does he have a good width of body, he has beautiful, long, soft, deep-crimping wool and he's very pure so there's many positives from just looking at him.

"He's the complete and very balanced package."

Mr Ashby said the ram would be suitable in a range of operations across Australia, and abroad.

"The market for a ram like this is literally anywhere in the industry through AI," he said.

"I'd imagine this stud will use this ram intensively throughout their program and market him throughout studs in Australia and possibly even internationally."