'Well-balanced' Texel ram gives Mid North stud a dream return to Adelaide
After a more than 25-year hiatus from the Royal Adelaide Show, the Wirrilla Texel stud from Manoora made a triumphant return as an exhibitor.
Andrew Hall's parents, Roger and Janet, were among the first in the state to get into the breed in 1993, but later dispersed.
Five years ago, with Mr Hall's enthusiasm, they got back into Texels through the purchase of ewes from several leading studs including Newbold at Gawler River, two Vic studs Mertex and Tullamore Park, and some flock upgrades.
The stud is now 80 purebred ewes.
One of Wirrilla's ram, 241173, which won the August 2024 drop class, was awarded the title of grand champion ram.
Judge Steve Pederick, Gooberrum, Qld, described the 100.5kg ram as a "ram that stands and looks at you". It had a 48mm eye muscle depth and 9mm fat depth.
Mr Hall said he was "astounded" to take out the broad ribbon.
"He (the champion ram) has really come ahead in the past six weeks so we thought he was probably worth bringing down, and as the judge commented, he is a very balanced, correct animal," he said.
"That is the thing, you can get blown away with an animal that has massive figures, but you have to have an animal that can walk the distance and hold up for servicing the ewes and he will do that."
The champion ram - which has Tullamore Park bloodlines - will be on offer at the Australian Texel Stud Breeders Association national online sale late this month.
Mr Hall said a big catalyst for their return to showing in Adelaide and the Australian Sheep & Wool Show - where Wirrilla has exhibited for the past two years - was a desire to promote the breed, especially being vice president of the society.
"We have been really lucky in the past four to five years there has been a massive injection of youth who have started Texel studs and we are also seeing demand from overseas countries like Indonesia and Malaysia," he said.
"The breed really has something to offer - there are a lot of breeds that have used the Texels in their genetics to give them just a little extra."
Mr Hall is hopeful the breed will experience an even greater resurgence with the introduction of combined Lambplan research values, as well as objective measurement technology being installed in abattoirs.
"Texels are known for their lean meat yield and fantastic quality meat so hopefully we will be rewarded for this going forward," he said.
The Jorgensen family, Mertex stud, Antwerp, Vic, made a clean sweep of the ewe classes.
Mr Pederick couldn't go past their winner of the under 1.5-year-old in wool class for his champion.
The 106.5 kilogram ewe was a daughter of Mertex's champion ram from 2023 and had good scans with a 49mm EMD and 14.5mm fat depth.
The winner of the ewe under 1.5-year-old and born after August 1 was named the reserve champion.
"The champion ewe is a very balanced, carrying plenty of weight for age which was the deciding factor," Mr Pederick said.
"The reserve champion is six weeks younger and has a really defined muscling and is very soft, using the right ram she will still breed something very good."
Mertex also won the reserve champion ram with one of the members of their winning pair of rams.
The group classes were well spread with Mertex winning the sire's progeny pair, Wirrilla winning the breeders' pair and fellow SA exhibitor Dlorrah Park, Clare taking out the breeders group.
