A four-tooth March-shorn superfine wool ram has been judged this year's supreme Merino exhibit at the Sydney Royal Easter Show.
Exhibited by Wal and George Merriman, Merryville Merino stud, Boorowa, the ram had made its way through the superfine class before being named supreme ram on its way to the final, where it meet stiff competition from the supreme ewe, which was exhibited by Shalimar Park, Wollun.
The winning ram, tag 29648, which was named grand champion superfine ram, boasted a micron fibre diametre of 18.6, a 2.9-micron standard deviation, a 15.6 per cent coefficient of variation and a comfort factor of 99.5 per cent.
Judge Ian Michael, Nyowee, Balaklava, SA, said all seven judges had a difficult time separating the supreme ram and ewe.
"Obviously they were two exceptional exhibits," Mr Michael said.
"It wasn't a unanimous decision. We thought the purity of the wool was outstanding, with a distinctive and beautiful crimp, it was a heavy-cutting fleece and a terrific style of wool and the ram had a beautiful outlook."
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Fellow judge Patrick Davis, Demondrille, Harden, echoed Mr Michael's sentiments saying all of the rams battling for supreme ram were of the highest quality.
"All the rams before us were very good of the wool type and showed that as they came through the classes, Mr Davis said.
"Overall, we thought the Merryville ram had a complete-correct structure, length of staple, an underline as good as you can get, good length of body, a good front end and was an outstanding stud sire prospect."
Merryville stud principal Wal Merriman said the ram's balance, structure, size and staple were all qualities that helped him stand out.
"He is by a ram called Giant Test, which also sired the grand champion fine wool ram and he was grand champion ram here in Sydney back in 2015," Mr Merriman said.
"Preparation wise, we didn't do anything too differently from what we've done in the past, we just tried to keep it as simple as we could, to be honest."
Mr Merriman said the victory vindicated his belief that the ram had good stud sire potential.
"We are really pleased with his results and from here he will go back home where we will collect some semen from him and he'll go back into the stud," he said.
The supreme exhibit victory was the icing on the cake of a successful show for Merryville, as it also won grand champion and reserve ram in the superfine and fine classes, as well as grand champion fine wool ewe, reserve champion fine-medium Poll Merino ewe and reserve grand champion fine Poll Merino ram.
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