West Australian stud Bedrock Alpacas have swept the Best in Show awards in the alpaca competitions at the 2019 Sydney Royal Show.
Bedrock Comic was awarded Best Suri in Show while Bedrock Pakiri claimed Best Huacaya in Show, a pleasing reward for Chris and Tara Ravenhill.
Bedrock Alpacas have approximately 250 animals, with around 35 of them Suri.
The stud concentrates on breeding and the fleece market, and 'dabble in the meat market.'
The Bedrock contingent spend five arduous days travelling from Brookley Farm, Bedfordale Valley, each year and obviously know what they are doing as they have claimed Best Suri in Show for five years running.
It is the second time Bedrock Alpacas has claimed the double with Bedrock Wanaka and Bedrock Carter claiming top spot in 2016 respectively.
A very happy Chris Ravenhill said a lot of the stud's success comes from not restricting themselves to genetics within their operation.
"We are very excited to have won both Best In Show awards," Mr Ravenhill said.
"I think our success comes from trying as a stud to access the best genetics and not be restricted by just using what we have.
"We actively search outside our own stock to find the best genetics which matches up to our females.
"When we have seen genetics and styles we like here at the show, we get access to them.
"We have left females here in Sydney, left some in Victoria, and some in South Australia so that a male with genetics we like can be put over them."
While the results went Bedrock's way, Mr Ravenhill said which animals get adversely affected is a bit of a lottery.
"We have the added issue of five days travel to deal with and some of the alpacas do not cope as well," he said.
"We get the animals show ready and clean before they get on the truck.
"Then we try to keep them dry while we travel.
"Some animals suffer just by being in the shed here at the show and ours have five days of that before they even get here which is a tricky thing to manage.
"It is worth the effort though.
"The prestige and recognition which comes with winning at Sydney Royal makes it all worth it."
Judge Andrew Munn, who won Best Huacaya in Show the past two years with animals from his Alpha Centauri , said the Bedrock champions were just too good to go past.
"The uniformity of micron all the way across the animals was one thing which really stood them out from the rest," Mr Munn said.
"They had superior fleece density compared to the competition and I felt they were the standout alpacas of the show."