Friendly rivals Reavesdale Wiltipolls and Westmoreland Wiltipolls shared the grand champion Wiltipoll honours in this year's Sydney Royal competition.
In the competition judged by Kelvin Cronk, Old Junee, Westmoreland secured early bragging rights by exhibiting grand champion Wiltipoll ram before Reavesdale got its own back by claiming grand champion ewe.
Based at Wisemans Creek near Bathurst, Westmoreland's Julie Huie, who runs the stud with Geoff Lucas, was very pleased with their ram.
"He's 15 months old. He's probably not our biggest, but he just ticks a lot of boxes," she said.
"He's got beautiful conformation and a straight back.
"And importantly, he's got a lot of meat on him.
"He actually came second at the NSW State Sheep Show in Dubbo last year so he's probably later maturing."
Ms Huie said they planned to put the ram into their breeding program.
"He'll be held. We held two of our top rams from here last year. We got first and second and they've done well for us this year and he will continue in that program.
"We're always chasing keeping the length in the body but making sure that we're not affecting the top line and overall confirmation.
"You've got to keep that balance."
Ian Hopwood, who runs Reavesdale Wiltipolls with Loris Denyer at Murringo near Young, was over the moon to claim grand champion ewe, especially as it is only their second time competing at the show.
"I think her size stood her out from the rest," he said.
"What I particularly like about her is her temperament, she's very easy to handle.
"She does have good carcase traits and plenty of meat on her and that's what we're looking for.
"She is a really good example of the Wiltipoll breed."
Mr Hopwood was very proud of the ewe which has come from Reavesdale genetics.
"We've bred her and we bred her mother before as well," he said.
"She's by one of our rams and out of one of our ewes.
"Genetically we've managed to get the black feet into them, the size, and we really concentrate on the temperament of the sheep so they're easy for people to handle.
"That's the main thing in trying to breed a true type of Wiltipol.
"To consistently breed that one is the key, not just a one off or two off, but you want that across the board."
