Stud claims win for the third time in four years at WA Sheep Expo & Ram Sale

The Rabobank trophy for the best group of five sheep again headed to Darkan after the King family's Rangeview stud, Darkan, claimed the trophy at this year's Rabobank WA Sheep Expo & Ram Sale at Katanning.

When the team from Rangeview was announced the winner, it marked the third time in four years the stud had been presented with the prestigious trophy from the Rabobank team.

Rangeview is in an elite group of six studs which has won the trophy multiple times since it was first presented in 1995.

As in the past, the class was open to a group of five sheep from the same stud/entity and of the same shearing.

This year the Rangeview team consisted of two August shorn rams (one Poll and one Merino) and three August shorn Poll Merino ewes which won in front of five other teams, and with a good number of entries in the class, it made for some hard choices for the judges.

Judge Benn Wilson, Wilgunya stud, Dirranbandi, Queensland, said it was really hard to get together a team of five sheep that matched, so credit must go to all the breeders for putting their teams out here for judging.

"Every team on the mat had one sheep that stood out that little bit more than the rest but in the end we went for the Rangeview team as they were the most evenly matched," Mr Wilson said.

"For a group of five they were a good uniform team in terms of their wool type and structures.

"They showed good evenness in their wools and had fault free constitutions.

"All five were a lovely type and displayed good wool production traits and all carried well-nourished, white fine wools from head to toe.

"They were very hard to go past as a team and all five sheep are a credit to the Rangeview breeding program."

The Rangeview team included the stud's grand champion August shorn Poll Merino ewe.