It’s expected to be the wedding of the year in England but the pairing of Jolly Jumbuck Harry and Jolly Jumbuck Meghan on the Queensland wool stage isn’t quite as romantic.
Twelve years after making their first public appearance as a poll Merino stud, at the state sheep show at Blackall in 2007, the three Brumpton children have made a clean sweep of the Queensland awards, once again at at a state sheep show at Blackall.
Their Jolly Jumbuck junior medium wool poll ram and junior medium wool poll ewe, named after Prince Harry and his bride-to-be, claimed the sheep industry royalty titles of Queensland Ram of the Year, Queensland Ewe of the Year and Queensland Pair of the Year, on Saturday afternoon.
Both were by Willandra Desmond.
As a result, the stud’s owners, Felicity, Charlie and Lachie Brumpton, and their sheep, will for the first time go head to head with other state pairs winners at the national competition in Bendigo in July.
Speaking on their behalf, their father, Nigel Brumpton, said it was exciting news for the young stud owners, and a great experience, with the national Ram of the Year competition at Dubbo a month later, in August.
Felicity took part in a young woolgrower delegation to China in March, hosted by AWI, visiting a number of manufacturing plants.
Nigel said the weekend state sheep show in Blackall had been the most successful show ever for the Brumpton operation, consisting of the Jolly Jumbuck Poll Merino Stud and Mt Ascot Merino Stud.
“What was important for me was that our sheep were always in the top three or four places in the subjective measurement classes and won every class in the objective measurement categories.
“It shows our breeding objectives, of trying for a dual purpose sheep in Queensland conditions, is working.
“We need low suint levels in our wool, plus a big sheep that gets out and walks, and cuts wool.
“We’ve won the Ram of the Year for a number of years now so it’s working, but you can’t be complacent.”
On Friday afternoon, Jolly Jumbuck Harry was named the Grand Champion All-Purpose Merino of the state sheep show after eye muscle scans were made on all sheep on the judging floor, in front of the crowd.
Mt Ascot showed the grand champion Merino ewe, Mt Ascot Milly, a two-tooth that had earlier been judged the champion medium wool Merino ewe and junior champion Merino ewe, and collected broad ribbons for champion strong wool Merino ewe and champion fine wool Merino ram.
Mt Ascot Milly was the champion all-purpose ewe of the show as well.
The accolades for the Jolly Jumbuck stud included junior champion poll ewe, champion strong wool poll ewe, champion medium wool poll ewe, champion medium wool poll ram, champion fine wool poll ram, grand champion poll Merino ewe, champion poll breeders group, and champion three ewes.
Mt Ascot won the Merino aggregate and Jolly Jumbuck won the poll Merino aggregate, which Nigel described as a big feat for the family.
“There’s always hope going into a state sheep show,” he said. “We knew we had a good team but you never know about the competition.”
NSW stud, Towalba, was their main competition in both Merino and poll classes, and ended up with the supreme ribbons in both, plus the supreme exhibit.
Peter and Linda Hacker, Roselea Poll Merinos at Muckadilla, showed the champion fine wool poll Merino ewe of the state sheep show.
After returning to Mitchell on Sunday with all ribbons flying, the Brumptons were straight back on the tools at their Cunnamulla properties, Woodstock and Waratah, where they are building a new shearing shed, but will take their sheep to Roma, Mitchell, Charleville and Cunnamulla shows.