Oberon Poll Dorset stud Tattykeel has claimed the grand champion double at this year's Sydney Royal Show, although it was a very close run thing in the ewe competition.
Tattykeel have enjoyed previous success at Sydney Royal and this year's event, judged by Ruth Klingner, Forbes, was no different.
The closeness of the ewe competition made the win all the sweeter for Tattykeel according to James Gilmore.
"We're very pleased to win both grand champion competitions. It's never easy to keep doing it, to be honest," he said.
"The reserve champion ewe from Cranbrook stud was 100 per cent our genetics and so that is never easy.
"It's never been easy and I doubt it ever will be."
Sired by Tattykeel ET 200060 and out of Tattykeel 160882, Tattykeel ET 230014 was named grand champion ram after winning the pair of rams showing milk teeth only, shorn class and champion senior Poll Dorset ram.
Tattykeel ET 230014's sire was the supreme exhibit at Sydney Royal in 2021 while three flush brothers out of his dam, Tattykeel 160882, sold at sale for an average of $30,000.
Mr Gilmore said the rams breed type is what really stood him out from the competition.
"I think the most important thing would've been his true to breed type," he said.
"He has good body length and depth, and has a good head.
"But being true to type back to an animal which was so dominant in the meat breed market is what really stood out.
"In the past few years, that has been somewhat lost a bit at times.
"Overall, he doesn't really do a lot wrong."
Mr Gilmore was also pleased with the rams carcase traits.
"He was carrying some pretty solid meat in all the right places," he said.
"He is 130 kilograms at 11 and a half months and is still flush with his lambs teeth.
"It's incredible growth for that sort of age which in turn relates to dollars for the commercial producer."
Junior Poll Dorset ram was won by a ram exhibited by Eugowra's Brendan Mansbridge and Dr Lydia Herbert.
The grand champion ewe, Tattykeel ET 230031, also has some significant pedigree.
Her sire, Tattykeel ET 200034 was supreme exhibit at the Cowra Poll Dorset show in 2021, the second largest Poll Dorset event in Australia.
Both the sire and the dam were sired by Tattykeel AI 180859, who was sired by Tattykeel 970080, genetics from 1997.
"So basically it's a double cross of 970080, genetics we reintroduced back in 2020 just to put some of the old traditional traits back in and it's really starting to show through," Mr Gilmore said.
"We used it to see how relevant we have been on gain.
"We never make erratic decisions when we change our breeding goals, we move in directions slowly.
"The things that we're chasing are very relevant animals that are easy doing, but that have the breed type.
"We're just going back to the simple things that made our breed so dominant - at one point it had 70pc of the meat sheep industry.
"And it had that because it was the best alternative.
"So we're committed to concentrating on the things that made it dominant, which are early growth time, consistency and carcase.
"They're the things where we've always been focusing on, but we're certainly focusing very heavily on that.
"Now 90pc of the team of sheep are embryonic transferred animals, so they're the top 5pc of our flock."
