TATTYKEEL hit the jackpot during the Poll Dorset feature at the Sydney Royal Show, taking out grand champion ram and ewe with a pair of paternal siblings with show success in their blood.
By the Tattykeel Jackpot sire and from a daughter of Tattykeel Torque, the first and only ever Poll Dorset ram to be judged junior and overall grand champion as an August-drop eight-month-old, Tattykeel 180068 was sure to impress when he made his way onto the mat this year.
And that he did, coming out on top of the rams and taking home senior and grand champion Poll Dorset ram for the Gilmore family of Tattykeel stud at Oberon.
The ram weighed 126 kilograms and was described by Tasmanian judge Will Millroy of Rangeview Poll Dorsets, Pipers Range, as a sound ram that was hard to fault.
"He is smooth all the way through from the head and neck through the shoulder, with beautiful depth of barrel and plenty of meat through the loin and down the hindquarter," he said.
Tattykeel's James Gilmore said the ram was a double cross of Torque, with Jackpot also sired by Torque himself.
"Torque was a sire we knew would be the 'talk of the show' and was a real powerhouse, so the name fit," he said.
Tattykeel's junior champion ram, Tattykeel Checkmate, was also by Torque.
In the ewes, Tattykeel found themselves on top with grand champion going to Tattykeel 180016.
A daughter of Jackpot and a 3/4 sister to last year's supreme ewe, the beautiful fronted ewe as described by Mr Millroy, was said to have width and depth of loin and hindquarter.
"The champion ewe is a very well balanced ewe, chock full of meat and a very good loin," he said. "It was a difficult class this one, with two very, very good ewes, but it came down to the head and the champion ewe has a touch more of a Dorset head and softness in the head compared to the reserve champion."
Reserve grand champion ewe went to the Valley Vista 334.18 ewe from the Scott family of Valley Vista, Coolac.
Sired by Valley Vista Fyfe, the supreme Poll Dorset at the ASSBA Show in Bendigo in 2015, the VV334.18 ewe was the champion ewe and supreme short wool exhibit of the Royal Canberra Show in February.
Reserve grand champion ram went to the Springwaters 22-18 ram from the Rowley family of Boorowa that was also the winner of the Poll Dorset production class.
Weighing 135kg and measuring 55mm deep, 103mm wide and 43 centimetres square in the eye muscle area, he was used by the stud as a ram lamb with most of the Springwaters' ewe team in lamb to him.
Reserve junior champion ram went to Tattykeel 181061.Tattykeel also won the Peter Taylor Group and the group of three rams.
Praising the quality showing of close to 100 Poll Dorset entries, judge Mr Millroy described the line up as everything he looked for when selecting sheep.
"It has been a fantastic line up of exhibits that are well muscled, early maturing and everything I look for," he said. "It has been a privilege to judge these sheep."
