Renowned south-west breeders claim interbreed trifecta for first time

A renowned exhibitor is riding the high of one of its "best years yet" at Sheepvention.

Sweetfield Corriedale stud, Mount Moriac, has finished the long weekend at Hamilton with the interbreed trifecta, winning all three longwool supreme titles for the first time.

The south-west Victorian stud won longwool supreme ram and ewe, as well as the supreme longwool group.

With a long history of show titles under her belt already, Sweetfield stud principal Bron Ellis said this year was one of her "best years yet".

"It's very unusual in the longwools to get the three in a row," Ms Ellis said.

"That was just amazing and something I wasn't expecting.

"I've never gotten all three in a row like that."

She said in the longwool classes, the Border Leicesters always presented tough competition.

"If you know you've beaten the Border, then that's exciting," she said.

The stud's win this year marks its fifth consecutive supreme sash at Sheepvention.

Last year, Sweetfield claimed the supreme longwool ram and ewe titles but missed out on the group of three.

All three winning Corriedale sheep, which included the supreme ram, ewe and the second ewe that made up the supreme group of three, were half-siblings by the same sire.

The grandfather of the sheep, Sweetfield Arch, is a renowned sire in the stud who won the longwool interbreed championship at Sheepvention in 2017.

"He also won at the Australian Sheep & Wool Show in the same year," Ms Ellis said.

The supreme ram and ewe were both just over one-year-old and praised for their length and depth at such a young age.

Ms Ellis said she saw the potential in them as lambs to be good dual-purpose sheep.

"I looked at him as a lamb and thought 'gosh he's good, I hope he's just as good in the wool'," she said.

"The wool does alter, and between March and July, their wool goes stronger because you are [supplementary] feeding them.

"And with the particularly hard year we've had this year, I was quite pleased with how all my sheep came up in their wool quality."

Judge Nick Cole, Stanbury Corriedales, West Cloven Hills, Bookaar, praised the supreme ram and ewe for being "very even".

"They were very true to type and slightly better than the other sheep in their correctness," Mr Cole said.

"When you get to this level, you're splitting hairs, and they were just that little bit more correct.

"The top three were very, very good sheep."