Ridgway Poll Merino Stud in South Australia is top of the heap

Ric, Gail, Matt and Rachel Ridgway have a conviction to produce elite wools on fast-growing, highly fertile Merinos.

They intend to do so through selection and a nurturing program aimed specifically at delivering a dual-purpose animal.

Ric Ridgway said the plan had always been to select for free-growing, sharp crimping, white wools with extra emphasis on nourishment, staple length and fibre density, which allows progeny to thrive in any environment.

As to staple length, he said sheep were grown to produce 60 to 70mm fibre and cut between four and five kilograms every six months.

To get there, Ridgway has maintained a "sharp and firm focus" on choosing animals with good early growth, positive carcase traits and correct conformation.

Ridgway Merinos had consistently recorded 115 to 125 per cent lambs weaned and livestock, raised on the stud's predominantly light, sandy soils and under average rainfall of 350mm, reached marketable size as quickly as possible.

Early growth also enabled the joining of ewe lambs.

Importantly, Ridgway has made good use of historic data and Australian Sheep Breeding Values to guarantee reliable and consistent breed outcomes with outstanding wool quality year in, year out.

ASBVs have been used at Ridgway for more than 10 years and have positively influenced joining decisions and hastened genetic gain, resulting in increased profitability for their clients, according to Matt Ridgway.

Matt said they embrace the use of ASBVs and realise their effectiveness at improving a particular trait.

"But we remind our clients not to lose sight of the importance of the visual assessment of any potential sires," he said.

And, just as importantly, Ridgway proudly promotes its genetics as a path to a mules-free flock because its animals are plain bodied with low breach wrinkle.

"Selection criteria has resulted in the production of rams that will breed progeny which are both predictable and consistent," Ric Ridgway said.

"From a total sheep productivity and profitability perspective, we are confident that these are the types that will perform exceptionally well in different areas.

"We have clients operating from the vast and lower rainfall pastoral areas of South Australia and New South Wales through to 750mm rainfall districts in the southern areas of Australia."

On August 9 Ridgway will conduct its annual on-farm auction and last year it broke new ground and teamed with AuctionsPlus and the advent of an online audience paid good dividends, Ric said.

Seven phone bidders, including some from NSW and Victoria, competed with 45 who registered at the sale and helped the Ridgway family sell 142 of 151 rams on offer with an average return of $2391 and a top of $9200 to a repeat buyer.

The top lot, sired by Gunallo 295, was an April 2019-drop, weighing 120 kilograms, with an eye muscle depth of 48.5 millimetres and 9.5mm fat depth.

The 20.8M ram also had impressive wool tests of 2.8 standard deviation, 13.5 coefficient of variation and 99.8 per cent comfort factor. It also had outstanding MerinoSelect figures, including a yearling clean fleece weight of 27.5 and yearling staple length of 14.7.

And they're elite figures, for sure.