Yorke Peninsula stud, Orrie Cowie has taken home the trophy for the highest valued fleece at the Karoonda Farm Fair and Show for the fifth year in a row.
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A 13.6 kilogram Poll Merino ram's fleece exhibited by John and Heather Dalla, which was valued at an impressive $138.92, trumped more than 50 entries.
The 21.8 micron fleece's tests included a standard deviation of 3.3, coefficient of variation of 15.3pc and 98.7pc comfort factor.
It was off of a ram the stud sold at the Australian Sheep & Wool Show sale in Bendigo, Vic, in July last year to Rowe Pastoral, Sherlock.
The highest group of three fleeces was also won by Orrie Cowie and valued at $130.09.
For the first time Orrie Cowie also entered short wools with less than six months growth. These won that category too with a $92.05 average.
Mr Dalla said he was a strong supporter of the competition as it was the most commercially relevant one he knew of in SA.
"All the fleeces are weighed and micron tested and as it should be so the highest value fleece wins," he said.
"We have shown some magnificent fleeces at the Royal Adelaide Show including one that was valued at $300 at Karoonda and won there but then we put it in Adelaide and it was beaten by a fleece which was five kilograms lighter."
Nutrien Wool's Trevor James who was the judge in the stud section said it would have been good to see some fleeces from local Mallee Merino studs but commended the "excellent standard" of the winners.
"They were very high yielding and showed great nourishment and style, they were up there with the best you would see in any fleece competition," he said.
Elders' Highest Commercial Fleece was won by local Andrew Schulz with a 21.7 micron ewe's fleece which was 9.5kg and valued at $79.22.
Mr Schulz also had the runner-up in the category with a $76.99 fleece.
Elders district wool manager and commercial section judge Trevor Smith said there were some "pretty wools" among the 29 commercial fleeces" but at the end of the day "it was the big fleeces which fill bales that pay the bills".
He said it was good to be able to give Farm Fair visitors, especially those who did not have a background in sheep and wool, a chance to gain a greater appreciation of the natural fibre.
Karoonda Area School and Unity College, Murray Bridge, went head to head in the school's wether fleece class with Karoonda having the winning fleece valued at $59.35.
Wade Boughen - who has been convening the Fleece Competition since 2017 - says he wants to give stud and commercial woolgrowers a chance to benchmark their wool against others and recognise their market values.
He thanked all of the exhibitors who entered fleeces this year with the numbers almost identical to 2023. There were plenty of new exhibitors as well as those who have supported the competition for years.
"Hopefully the wool market is strong in 2024 and we will see plenty of entries in our 2025 competition," he said.
Seventeen of the fleeces in this year's competition have been donated to charity.
They will be sold by Elders with the proceeds going to Foodbank's Murraylands Food Hub.
