Sydney Royal 2021: Thalabah, Langdene, Nerstane, Hollow Mount awarded in Merino pairs and groups

It was the final award on a day that also saw Langdene Merinos of Dunedoo retain the Bruce Merriman Memorial Trophy and Alfoxton Poll Merinos, Armidale come out on top in the Otway Falkiner Cup.

In the pairs, first time winners, Hollow Mount, Crookwell were awarded the National Pair of the Year and Nerstane Merino Stud, Walcha won the RAS Pair of the year.

The prizes were decided on by a panel of judges including Graham Coddington, Coddington Uardry Poll, Gulgong, Rodger Matthews, Borambil, Corowa, Phillip Carlon, Queenlee, Uralla, Tim Bower, Stanley Vale, Uralla and Gary Kopp, Towonga, Peak Hill.

It was the second time that Thalabah has taken home the Stonehaven cup, which is awarded to the best group of five Merinos, March shorn and stud principal Kristen Frost said the win meant more than anyone could know.

Speaking on behalf of the judges Rodger Matthews said the sheep were a super-productive, very well-structured team.

"They're good square sheep, they have the length and a lot of production," Mr Matthews said.

The Thalabah team beat out strong competition from four exhibitors including Nerstane, who placed second and was commended by judges for their high quality of wool. Hollow Mount picked up another ribbon for the day, coming in third.

Thalabah was started by Mrs Frost's father, John Williams, in 1992 after many years as a successful stud breeder, having also previously owned and run Koonwarra Merino stud.

Mr Williams was unable to attend the show this year due to his health, but he was able to keep across all the action with the event and win FaceTimed to him.

"Working together as a team with Dad and my husband Anthony has been special, we didn't think my father would get to see this group of sheep," Mrs Frost said.

Their winning team of five had fine medium wool and four out of the five were two-teeth sheep.

Four of the five were embryo transfers by Langdene 15-0044 and they were out of two different ewes, including a previous Great Southern Supreme Merino grand champion.

Langdene, Dunedoo took home the Bruce Merriman Memorial Trophy, awarded to the best Merino group of five, August shorn.

They nudged out four exhibitors including Alfoxton, Armidale in second, with their all poll team, and Wongara, Old Junee in third.

Speaking on behalf of the judges, Tim Bower said the winning team was very even, particularly in wool type but also in conformation.

It's the third time in a row the Dunedoo stud have won the trophy and Langdene's Ben Simmons said it was good to be back in the show ring and able to benchmark themselves with other exhibitors.

The whole winning team showed off Langdene genetics with the lead ram an ET by Langdene 14-0700, while others were by Langdene 17-0024 and Langdene 17-1010.

Mr Simmons said the fine medium wool sheep had been born in drought conditions but they had come out of it well, enjoying a fantastic season for the last 15-months.

Alfoxton Poll Merinos, Armidale won the Otway Falkiner Cup for Poll Merino group of five, beating out the only other exhibitor in the competition Wongara, Old Junee.

It was the first show of the year for Alfoxton and they had so far taken home three ribbons in three competitions entered.

The fine, fine medium wool sheep were commended by judge Tim Bower for their structure.

"They're only young sheep but they show where the breeding industry is going and it's certainly moving ahead in leaps and bounds," Mr Bower said.

Merino studs from the southern tablelands and the New England dominated the pairs competition.

Ten pairs were entered in the National Pair of the Year competition and judges decided on five finalists - Wongara, Old Junee, Hollow Mount, Crookwell, Alfoxton, Armidale, Alfoxton Poll, Armidale and Langdene, Dunedoo.

The pair from Hollow Mount were given the nod for first place over Alfoxton Poll and Wongara in third place.

Speaking for the judges, Gary Kopp said all pairs entered were of a very high standard and it was a unanimous decision to award the sash to Ken Woolf's Hollow Mount pair.

"They are a magnificent pair, medium wool type and the ram had length and depth of body, with long-stapled fleece with style and crimp," Mr Kopp said.

"The ewe matched the ram for evenness of type of fleece and body."

The four-tooth Hollow Mount ram entered in the strong wool class has a fleece which measured 21.4 and Standard Deviation (SD) 3.4 while the four-tooth strong wool ewe has a fleece which measured 19.8 micron and SD of 3.2.

The Hollow Mount pair are eligible for the national final to be held during the Australian Sheep and Wool Show in Bendigo in July.

Eight March-shorn pairs were entered for the RAS Pair of the Year, again scrutinised by all judges.

After much deliberation the sash was awarded to Nerstane, Walcha, while the two entries from Hollow Mount, Crookwell, were placed second and third respectively.

The winning pair, exhibited by Hamish and Jock McLaren were described by judge Graham Coddington as having an edge over the competition for their evenness of type and were very well matched.

"All the teams were well matched but we thought the winning pair had the edge over the others for less faults," Mr Coddington said.

"Their wool was bright and even and with good bulk,

"They are very productive sheep."

Each of the Nerstane pair were sired by N22, a ram sold privately to the Coramandel stud in WA in 2019 and who is leaving excellent progeny in the Nerstane and Coramandel studs.

The two-tooth finewool ram carried a fleece with measurements of 18.4 micron and 2.5 SD, while the two-tooth fine/medium wool ewe carried a fleece measuring 18.4 micron and 2.6 SD.

Have you signed up to The Land's free daily newsletter? Register below to make sure you are up to date with everything that's important to NSW agriculture.