ONCE again Hinesville West Plains Merino Stud in Delegate has experienced great success at the Sydney Royal Show, and along with several other wins, earned the very prestigious Supreme Merino Exhibit title.
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The win has attracted solid interest, and The Land newspaper printed an article on Hinesville’s success in its April 1 wrap-up of the Sydney Royal. Here we reproduce the article, written by Emma Downey, for our readers -
“IN A first for the Sydney Royal Merino competition, a Poll ram has claimed the supreme exhibit title for Delegate exhibitors, Drew and Laura Chapman, West Plains Poll Merino and Hinesville Merino studs.
The calibre of the ram, West Plains Mercenary, was further enhanced the following day when it went on to win the Merino objective measurement competition.
On the way to top title, the four-tooth Mercenary collected the medium-strong wool March-shorn Poll Merino ram title, followed by grand champion Poll Merino ram, then supreme Merino ram and finally supreme Merino exhibit.
Mercenary had a 20.3 micron fleece with a 3.4 micron standard deviation (SD), 16.7 per cent co-efficient of variation (CV) and a 99.4pc comfort factor (CF).
Poll Merino judges, Geoff Davidson, Moorundie Poll Merinos, Keith, South Australia, and Bruce Dunbabin, Mayfield stud, Swansea, Tasmania, selected Mercenary ahead of grand champion rams from the superfine, fine and fine/medium Poll Merino categories based on his "excellent wool on an excellent carcase" and "great bulk of fleece".
The seven Merino judges combined to adjudicate the supreme classes, and selected Mercenary for the ram's size, structure, correctness, length of staple and purity of fleece.”
And Mercenary was not Hinesville West Plains’ only successful exhibit. Also proving his quality was Hinesville Pharaoh, who was named Reserve Grand Champion Medium Wool Ram, and was Reserve Junior August Shorn Ram of the Show.
In fact, the local stud won nine championship ribbons throughout the event overall!
This wraps up a very successful show season for Hinesville West Plains, with the Chapmans now having a brief break from exhibiting before the Australian Sheep and Wool Show takes place at Bendigo in July.