A TASMANIAN Polwarth stud has made it a hat trick after winning the supreme champion award at the Australian Sheep and Wool Show at Bendigo for the third time.
A ram from Wanye and Maxine Walker’s Riverview Stud won the award this year.
It comes after rams from the stud also took out the supreme titles in both 2019 and 2022.
This year’s winning three-year-old ram was bred at the Walker’s stud at Gretna.
Mr Walker said the winning sheep was sired by a ram from the stud and he was thrilled to have won the supreme title again.
“He’s beautiful in the wool and everything,” he said.
“When he won at Campbell Town everyone said he would take some beating at Bendigo.”
Mr Walker said the ram’s wool quality made him a standout.
“He’s a big barreled sheep and a heavy wool cutter,” he said.
“He’s got long stapled snow-white wool.”
The Walkers have about 220 sheep in their stud.
Polwarths numbers across the country are not as high as they once were, but Mr Walker said he had been a fan of the breed for a long time.
When he started working on sheep farms, Mr Walker said polwarths were the breed of choice and he saw how versatile they could be.
“I bought 25 off Dean Zantuck and started the stud and went from there and I’ve just stuck with them,” he said.
“I’ve got some good genetics, so I just pick out the best ewes and which rams to put them too and it’s starting to pay off now.”
Mr Walker said he had not brought a new ram into the stud for about six years.
“I’m using my own genetics at the moment, just picking out the better woolled ones and crossing them,” he said.
Mr Walker said polwarths are able to handle wetter conditions than merinos, which made them ideal for many regions.
“They seem a bit more resistant to footrot and they don’t get fleece rot as bad,” he said.
“I sell a few up to Waddamanna and areas like that in the snow country where they reckon the merinos don’t do as well.”
Mr Walker said the polwarths’ smaller frame size also made them easier to handle when it comes to shearing.
The Walker’s winning ram also took out the Reserve Champion award in the interbreed Long Wool Exhibit.
“It’s a good effort for a Polwarth,” Mr Walker said.
“They said they don’t think it has ever been done before. There are a lot of sheep in the sheds at Bendigo. It’s a big shed.”
The polwarth classes at Bendigo were overseen by judges from Uruguay.
Last week the judges paid a visit to the Walker’s property to have a look at their sheep firsthand.