St Quentin’s ewe wins Wagin supreme sash

With fleece as white as snow and abundant in quality, a St Quentin stud Merino ewe, bred at Nyabing, was the stand-out supreme exhibit on Friday during Wagin Woolorama’s Merino sheep judging.

The four judges, including former Willemenup stud co-principal Collyn Garnett, of Gnowangerup, Victorian Rod Miller, of Gleanpaen stud, Landmark stud stock agent Rick Power, of South Australia, and associate judge Craig Jackson, of Collie, deliberated for several minutes before awarding the sash.

“The ewe has very special wool and good structural outlook,” Mr Power said.

St Quentin’s strong wool 2-tooth Merino ewe, which was earlier judged grand champion Merino ewe, stood against three other grand champions in the supreme judging line-up, including an Angenup Merino ram, a Lewisdale Poll Merino ram and a Coromandel Poll Merino ewe.

The unexpected result had absent St Quentin stud co-principal Scott Crosby surprised as his mobile phone lit up while in Perth.

Mr Crosby said he had expected a good result, but not a supreme win. “It’s our second supreme win, with one of our ewes also taking out the top award at Woolorama in 2013,” he said.

“This year’s winning ewe was a daughter.”

Mr Crosby said they matched up a Kamballie stud semen sire to one of their special ewes to produce this year’s supreme exhibit.

“The Kamballie ram contributed some size and length to this first drop ewe,” he said.

Also in the supreme line-up was an entry from the Campbell family’s Coromandel stud, a medium-wool exhibit which placed first in its 4-tooth class of 11 before being judged the grand champion Poll Merino ewe.

Mr Garnett said the Coromandel ewe had a soft silky muzzle and was structurally correct.

Two grand champion rams were also in contention for the purple supreme sash including a Lewisdale strong-wool Poll Merino and an Angenup medium-wool Merino.

Mr Garnett said the Lewisdale ram had a massive chest area and showed great body thickness and length.

“The Poll has a lot of production and is very good on his feet,” he said. Mr Power said the Angenup ram had stretch and a terrific outlook.

In the Countryman Cup pairs competition, Coromandel stood its grand champion Poll Merino ewe with a very evenly matched medium-wool Poll Merino ram to take the win.

Coromandel earlier won the champion 2-tooth ram award.