South Australian brothers Tim and John Dalla made Sydney Royal Show history this year when they shared the judging duties on the Merino mats.
For the Dalla family, Merino breeding is in their blood. Hailing from the well-known Orrie Cowie Merino and Poll Merino stud in Warooka, South Australia, owned by Dennis and Heather Dalla, the two brothers, Tim and John Dalla, have become respected in the Merino industry in their own right.
Elder of the two, Tim, has been the long-standing respected stud master at Collinville Station, Hallet, SA, while John works with his father at Orrie Cowie as well as being a world champion blade shearer. Incredibly he has won seven national blade shearing championships.
This year they came together at the Sydney Royal to judge the Merinos Tim the medium and strong wools and John controlled the ultrafine, superfine and fine Poll Merinos.
The only other time they have judged side by side was at the Western Australian Merino field days in 2009. Both of the men admitted it was a pretty special and enabled them to create some history of their own.
