After three years in the runner-up spot, Tara Park has come out on top at the 2019 South West Slopes Stud Merino Breeders Field Day.
The Boorowa stud's ram was named Ram of the Year by competition judge, Ross McGauchie of Terrick West, Prairie, Victoria, return judge, Graham Wells, One Oak, Narrandera and associate judge, Jack Kelly, Egelabra, Warren.
Mr McGauchie said the ram's overall scale and structure made him the winner against some tough competition from the Yarrawonga ram in second and Brundanella ram in third.
"The Tara Park ram is beautiful on his feet, he's got good width through his body and great barrel so he'll have really good doing ability when he gets out into the paddock," Mr McGauchie said.
"Clearly he's got a lot of wool on him, he's well covered, he's a very complete sheep."
Tara Park stud principal, Guy Evans said the winning ram was from a long line of Tara Park sires.
"His sire was Tara Park 6281, who was by Tara Park 4339, which goes back to an old family line that's been around for a couple of decades which is quite phenomenal, they just keep going," Mr Evans said.
"To have that sort of depth of genetics in a family line, you know their predictability's going to be good."
The medium-wool ram had a micron of 18.8, standard deviation of 2.6 and comfort value of 99.9 per cent.
Last year's ram of the year winners, Yarrawonga, still had their share of glory on the day, winning the Wendouree Shield for Pen of three Merino Hogget Rams.
Yarrawonga was followed by Grogansworth in second and Brundanella in third.
Mr McGauchie said they chose the Yarrawonga group for their evenness, quality of wool and structure.
Yarrawonga stud principal, Steve Phillips said the group of three rams were sired by Alfoxton 430, a ram they bought for $30,000 at the Merino National at Dubbo in 2017.
"They're probably the best horned rams we've ever breed and we're over the moon to have won it," Mr Phillips said.
It was the first outing for the three rams and Mr Phillips said they planned to sell two of the three rams at their upcoming on-property sale.
The Spectators Choice Award, which was voted on throughout the day, was awarded to one of the field days founding members, Wendouree Merino Stud of Grenfell.
There were 58 studs displaying rams, the field day becoming more popular among exhibitors and spectators each year.
- Full report on the South West Slopes Merino Breeders Field Day in the September 12 edition of The Land.