Misty Hills in group win

Building on a successful show year, Russell and Heather Meaton, of Misty Hills stud, Kojonup, won their first Rabobank Trophy with a group of five superfine Merino rams at the Katanning Sheep Show.

The winning group - three Merino rams and two ewes - included the overall grand champion Merino ram of the show, an embryo transfer-bred 15.9-micron August-shorn stud sire.

Judge Mervyn Hardie said the group was very even in the wool.

"They carried silky soft wool and were superb examples of the superfine breed," he said.

Misty Hills also took out the _Countryman _ pairs competition with their top August-shorn ram and an equal as judge Don Jackson validated the wool quality.

"They are excellent examples of superfine," Mr Hardie said.

In the Elders Field Day Four competition, there were six groups of regulation shorn and five groups of April-May shorn Merinos.

The winner of the latter group was Barloo stud, with four Merino rams, while Woodyarrup stud took out the former with four Merino rams.

In the Pro Ram and Ewe competition, a total of 16 Merinos and Poll Merinos were calculated on the scoreboard for best results.

The winning ewe from Seymour Park stud, Highbury, received 88 out of 100 points for body weight, with 12.5kg of fleece weight combined with top points for wool objective measured traits, commercial fleece value, wool quality and coverage, constitution in and out of wool to amass 620 points out of a possible 650.

The winning ram from Belka Valley had a perfect score of 100 for body weight, and was near the top on all other scores to accumulate 615 points out of 650.

Judge Craig Heggaton said the overall quality was very good.

"It is very pleasing to see the sheep judged both objectively and subjectively," he said.

"The top end sheep were a great balance of wool and meat."

Another great example of the Merino balance of wool and meat came from the Landmark Production competition, which was won by the Woolkabin stud, of Woodanilling with a March-shorn Merino ram.