SA Dorper stud wins best interbreed cleanskin at Vic Sheep Show

A SA stud has cleaned up in the cleanskin interbreed competition at the Vic Sheep Show, with their exceptional team of Dorper sheep.

Brummy's Blacks Dorper stud, Bordertown, won the supreme cleanskin exhibit with a ewe and an array of other ribbons at Ballarat, Vic, on Sunday.

Stud principal Danny Brumfield said the effort of travelling over from SA was well worth the trip.

While the stud was the only Dorper exhibitor on the day, they faced off against four other cleanskin breeds including the Australian White, Ultra White, Wiltipoll and Wiltshire Horn, to claim the supreme cleanskin broadribbon.

"Her mum was grand champion at Bendigo last year," Mr Brumfield said of the supreme Dorper ewe.

Judge John Harbour, Ballarat, said overall type and muscling on the ewe made her a standout in the interbreed line-up.

"She had very good muscling right the way through," he said.

"The depth of muscle she had in her legs, her loin and her shoulder was fantastic. She was really good for type and very good on her feet."

He said the stud's entire show team was a highlight of the breed.

"The Dorpers aren't a real big sheep, but these guys had very good growth and they were structurally very good sheep," he said.

Brummy Blacks brought a show team of eight Dorpers - five ewes and three rams - in their third time competing at Ballarat.

The champion cleanskin ram was awarded to the ram from Banksia Australian Whites, Inverleigh, Vic.

The 10-month-old was praised for its style and future breeding potential.

"He is a very young ram, but he's already showing a lot of length and capacity," Banksia stud principal Deb Morrison said.

"He's got a very good style, good thickness throughout and a lot of room to keep maturing."

SUPREME EXHIBIT

The supreme cleanskin ewe was pipped in the overall interbreed competition however, to an outstanding White Suffolk ewe from Mallee Park stud, Vic.

It was a sliding doors moment for the Hopetoun-based stud, who almost didn't attend the show after stud principal Tim Ferguson fell sick last week.

White Suffolks were the feature breed of the show.

"We had a couple of issues in the lead-up to the show and then I got sick," Mr Ferguson said.

"We had actually pulled out of the show altogether."

It was his stepson Jack Landrigan who stepped up to take Mallee Park's show team of four White Suffolk and nine Poll Dorset sheep to Ballarat with limited show experience.

The supreme interbreed exhibit was 1.5-year-old White Suffolk ewe, praised for her overall muscling and exceptional carcass traits.

"Her hindquarter, loin and back end are pretty good and that's where I think the breed needs to be, and [it's] what we're trying to achieve," Mr Ferguson said.

Shane Baker, Baringhup, Vic, who judged the ewe throughout the day, said the sheer volume of muscling on the female put it a cut above the rest.

"She carried it all and was still very feminine," he said.

"She had terrific meat down the hind leg and was very adequate through the length and thickness of her loin."

Mr Baker said the White Suffolk ewe was slightly more structurally sound than the ram.

"It's difficult to get the volume of muscle on a female as what she had," he said.

It was an all-female line-up for the final interbreed showdown, after all three short wool, long wool, and clean skin champion ewes won out over the champion rams to face off for supreme exhibit.