NSW Poll Dorset championships sees Andbo return after eight years

The Crookwell-based stud brought a team of 10 rams to Cowra and won the junior champion ram.

The stud also took home the intermediate performance ram, was second in the junior performance ram, won the junior pair of rams, and was first and second in the junior shorn ram class.

Stud principal Andrew Seaman said he started the stud when he was 14 and was breeding for traits such as length, muscle and good bone.

The animal also had to have good feet, he said.

"If the animal was going to be long, it had to carry itself, but with plenty of depth, plenty of muscle," he said.

"That's what I'm trying to keep."

Mr Seaman said the stud had suffered through some challenging seasons, which had made showing unviable for several years.

"I carted water for nearly 16 months so that wasn't much fun," he said.

"We just had a heap of dry times at home - we just couldn't get rain even when there was rain around."

It was his daughter, Georja, who was behind the stud's return to the show ring, he said.

"She's the one that got me back into it," he said.

"She's pretty mad on the stock - she's quietened all these down and most of the credit goes to her.

"I had eight years out of the game but we're just trying to get out there and see what everyone else has got."

He said he had made a real effort to improve the quality of his stock over the years.

"I spent a lot of money on my rams, I spent a lot of money on my ewes - anything that doesn't cut it just goes," he said.

"I've been pretty hard on my stock but I've got them to where I'm pretty happy with them now.

"I had a cracking flock sale last year, a lot of new clients and it just went off with a bang - I wasn't expecting that but it did."

He was pleased with how the show team was looking and was aiming for the Australasian Dorset championships in September.

The junior champion ram, Andbo 124, was an August-drop and had previously won the pairs class at Yass, he said.

The ram was descended from Hillden 123-10, which won major championship titles in 2011, and out of a ewe by Armdale Park 108-14.

"This fella here is just starting to thicken up, he's probably just starting to outdo his mate," Mr Seaman said.

"He's very correct, cracking head on him, nice neck, nice smooth shoulders.

"If they haven't got smooth shoulders they don't stay - obviously I don't buy any rams that are heavy in the front end."

Events like the NSW Poll Dorset championships were a good way to compare his stock against other exhibitors, he said.

"They're always a good mob of blokes at the Dorset shows, everyone's pretty keen to look at each other's animals," he said.

"That's the big thing I reckon, get around and have a look around and see how your stock are tracking."

It was a relief that the season at Crookwell was so far going well, he said.

"We've been pretty spoilt here because it's been pretty mild here this winter, but obviously in the Tablelands you've got to feed stock pretty well," he said.

"Ewes are starting to look for their feed now but we've been spoilt so far."

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