THE winners in the Pen of Five and Three at Sheepvention on Monday had good reason to celebrate, with selections of sheep that represented amongst the best Merinos in the country.

Langdene Merino Stud of Dunedoo in Central Western NSW won the Pen of Five, and director Garry Cox said he was extremely pleased with the result, given that he would have been happy with a more modest outcome.

“It’s always nice to get a place,” he said.

“The judges commented how even they were – quality wool and really sound confirmation on them.”

The stud has been in operation since 1981 and Mr Cox said it was a great endorsement of how they looked “towards a balanced approach”.

“(We’re) looking for that dual-purpose animal,” he said.

“The wool must be right to handle the wetter conditions. Since the drought broke in 2020, it just hasn’t stopped raining and it’s been a good test on sheep.”

At the presentation with the other place getters, judge Tom Silcock went through a list of criteria that guided the final decision.

“Interesting (and) different mix of rams in front of us here,” he said.

“We’ve got some … I guess what I would call true dual-purpose (sheep). But let’s face it, the Merino is the biggest mongrel ever bred and the reason they’re so great and so good is because there’s so much diverse background in them all.

“I guess we’ve seen a bit of the difference in the background coming out here today (Monday).

“But the winning team – for fleece weight, quality, micron, frame – they’ve certainly got it all.”

Mr Silcock went on to praise the Pen of Five teams for representing “some of the best genetics probably we have in Australia, and what we’re all striving for”.

Second place went to Forest Springs and third to Pendarra Merino & Poll Merino Stud.

With the Pen of Three competition, Mr Silcock had equally positive things to say about the high quality on display and said the awarding of the first prize to Yarrawonga Merino and Poll Merino Stud was a “tough gig” given how close a call it was with the second-place getters, Kerrilyn from Dunluce, having “exactly what we want” in terms of their square frames.

“But the first-place getters, I think, just have that little bit more quality,” he said.

“Perhaps not as the same robustness as the second-place getters, but they’ve got a really good all-round package.”

Yarrawonga is also from NSW, and stud principal, Steve Phillips, said making the long journey from ‘Cunningham Plain’, just east of Harden, made it all worthwhile.

“They were three we were very happy with – three young rams,” he said.

He acknowledged the judges’ appreciation of their wool quality and said it was “what we pride ourselves in”.

Yarrawonga went on to great success at the Ram Sale, topping the sale at $26,000, sold to the King family from Warralea Poll Merino in Gairdnair, WA, and second top price sold for $16,000 to the Weeding Family of Oatlands, Tasmania.