The ribbons handed out for the 2020 Queensland State Sheep Show may be the most unique in the show's history, if it turns out that the event ends up being the only one of its type in Australia this year.
The vast percentage of the broad ribbons presented at the revised show, held two months after it had been scheduled, were won by the Brumpton family's Mt Ascot Merino stud, which hosted the day at its new shearing shed at Baynham near Mitchell.
The evergreen stud collected grand champion Merino ewe and ram trophies on the way to taking out the Queensland Pair, Breeders Group, Queensland Ewe of the Year, Queensland Ram of the Year, and Supreme Merino prizes.
In the poll section, Victoria Downs showed the grand champion ewe, while the younger Brumpton generation's Jolly Jumbuck stud had the grand champion ram, which went on to be the Supreme Poll exhibit.
Together with Coban, Roselea and Wilgunyah studs, they brought together 44 entries in a show of survival and endurance, thanks to the call put out by Queensland Merino Stud Sheepbreeders Association president Peter Hacker.
When he heard the RNA was planning to create a 'virtual Ekka' wool competition, collecting and judging fleeces at a venue outside Brisbane, he suggested the plan to run the state sheep show in conjunction.
The State Sheep Show had originally been scheduled for Cunnamulla for the first time in the event's history but that was canned along with nearly every other show in Queensland this year.
Exhibitor Will Roberts, Victoria Downs, Morven, thanked the Brumptons for the opportunity to show what studs had produced with their 2018 drop.
"The standard is getting better every year," he said. "I don't know that we've seen better than this."
The Hacker family's Roselea stud showed the 2020 Royal Queensland Show grand champion fleece, picked from 79 fleeces.
Judge Frank Roberts, Nutrien's wool area manager for western NSW based at Dubbo, judged the fleeces and said the standard overall would stand up in any show, despite many not keeping their best fleeces when the Ekka as a whole was canned.