A ram weighing 141kg and a ewe topping the scales at 105kg vyed for supreme all-purpose sheep honours at the Queensland State Sheep Show at Blackall last Saturday, impressing onlookers and the judge, Ric Power alike.
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Mr Power, who works with Nutrien Ag Solutions in NSW as a studstock representative, is also an accredited eye muscle scanner, and has been assessing Queensland's stud sheep entries for eight years.
He said big increases in fat cover and eye muscle area were the biggest changes he'd noticed over that time.
While the supreme all-purpose sheep award, a contest between the top ewe and top ram, went to Nigel and Rosemary Brumpton's Mt Ascot Merino stud at Mitchell, the family's sister poll Merino stud, Jolly Jumbuck, operated by Charlie, Felicity and Lachie Brumpton, claimed three of the four ribbons on offer in the section.
The two studs have competed with each other for the awards in the section at a state level for a number of years now, and the Brumptons are often quoted as saying their aim is to breed a dual purpose Merino so that clients can get lambs on the hook earlier, and to show they can compete with crossbred sheep in the current climate.
Last year at Charleville it was a Jolly Jumbuck ram who won the all-purpose category, with a Mt Ascot ram the reserve, and Nigel Brumpton said then that the pair, each weighing 136.5kg, were some of the biggest rams they'd produced.
This year's prize-winning ram from Mt Ascot weighed 141kg, underlined with an eye muscle area of 32.91 square centimetres and fat of 7.21 millimetres.
"That's as good as any meat breed," Mr Power commented to the crowd on Saturday.
His ram competition, from Jolly Jumbuck, weighed 123kg and had an EMA of 30.43sq cm and fat of 9.5mm.
In the ewe classes the champion Jolly Jumbuck ewe weighed in at 105kg, had fat of 7.84mm and an EMA of 26.7sq cm.
Figures for the Jolly Jumbuck ewe in reserve were a weight of 92kg, fat of 7.5mm, and an EMA of 26.42sq cm.
"The way they're lined up here, it's as if I'm judging British breed cattle - I'm looking at confirmation and structure," Mr Power said.
He urged sheep producers to slow down with their classing to check that they'd got their sheep looking square in the back end.
"Nine times out of 10, if you've done that, they'll scan well," he said.
He said fat cover correlated with lamb survivability and milking ability in ewes and with 'doability' in rams.
When he started in 2009, a 40mm deep muscle scan was considered big, but a lot were under 32mm, whereas on Saturday, the winning ram's muscle depth was 45mm and the winning ewe recorded a depth scan of 39mm.
Merino stud breeder Will Roberts said it was a very useful exercise from a stud breeding point of view.
"It's been an educational process for us," he said.
AWI board director Don Macdonald complimented the seedstock producers on their line-up, saying it was very impressive to see 100kg ewes.
Sally Gall
Based at Blackall, CW Qld, where I've raised a family, run Merino sheep and beef cattle, and helped develop a region - its history, tourism, education and communications. Get in touch at 0427 575 955 if you've got a story idea for me.
Based at Blackall, CW Qld, where I've raised a family, run Merino sheep and beef cattle, and helped develop a region - its history, tourism, education and communications. Get in touch at 0427 575 955 if you've got a story idea for me.
