August-shorn champions in Sydney

The judges were:

The 16.3M ram- Yellow413 tag- was praised by superfine judge John Crawford, Rock-Bank stud, Victoria Valley, Vic, for being a "very well balanced sheep with good rich superfine wool."

"He has a massive amount of wool on him and it was his extra nourishment and substance that impressed," he said.

The champion's other wool tests included a 2.5SD, 15.2pc CV and 99.7pcCF.

Shalimar Park stud's Jack Carlon said he was lost for words with the accolade- their best ram success since achieving supreme exhibit more than a decade ago..

"I liked him in the shed coming through but he has outdone himself," he said.

"He is a deep ram with a big barrel on him and well covered."

Mr Carlon said the ram, which went back to Nerstane 910 bloodlines, would be shorn and retagged to likely make a return to Sydney as a four tooth.

Also in strong contention was the fine wool Poll Merino champion from Greenland stud, Bungarby which had earlier been judged the reserve Poll Merino ram at the Great Southern Supreme Merino show in Canberra in January.

"He has beautiful soft wool on him and is a credit to his breed type," Mr Crawford said.

A Merino ewe, graduating from the 'not more than four tooth' fine medium wool class was judged to be the champion August shorn Merino or Poll Merino ewe.

The ewe had previously been judged champion fine medium wool August shorn Merino ewe.

On behalf of the judges, Drew Chapman, West Plains, Dalgety, described the champion as a 'lovely feminine ewe.'

"She has soft velvety ears and muzzle, with a kind eye, and she stands so well," Mr Chapman said.

"Her neck extension and topline are what we are looking for in our breeding ewes.

"She is carrying a rich and lustrous wool, and I think she will develop into a great ewe with maturity."

Her fleece figures indicated 16.4m, 2.4 Standard Deviation, 17.7 Coefficient of Variation and 99.8pc Comfort Factor.