Northern Tablelands wool clips have come out on top at the National final of the New England Wool Ultimate Clip competition announced at a function in Manly on Tuesday night.
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The top three placegetters from the Northern Tablelands, which were announced in Armidale earlier this month, were also in the top three nationally.
Uralla husband and-wife team Chris Dunne and Linda Waters are this year’s national superfine champions with the Wood family, also from Uralla, second, and third place awarded jointly to Grahame and Wendy Baxter of Guyra, and Wiley, Roy and David Reeves and families of Grabben Gullen, near Goulburn.
New England Wool Managing Director Andrew Blanch said that Chris and Linda prepared an outstanding clip this year.
“They are two of the most passionate and dedicated wool growers I know,” he said. “Every year they seek feedback on their clip and then work to incorporate that feedback into what they’re doing. This season is the culmination of some serious hard work and some great improvements. They are truly deserving of this award.”
In many ways, Chris and Linda’s win absolutely sums up the spirit of the Ultimate Clip competition which has always been an avenue for providing valuable information to growers about the type of wool that New England Wool seeks to purchase on behalf of its shareholders.
The competition was originally started in 1993 (with the winner announced in 1994) to support producers of commercial quantities of superior superfine wool (judging the whole clip – not just a fleece or a bale) and backed up all the way to the auction room.
The five regions in the competition are: Northern Tablelands (NSW), Central Tablelands (NSW) and Southern Tablelands (NSW), Victoria and Tasmania.
Twenty finalists gathered at the gala dinner in the Sydney suburb of Manly for the highly anticipated announcement. The winners received a trophy and a trip to Italy to visit the spinning and weaving mills of Reda and Barberis.
In announcing this year’s national winners, New England Wool managing director Andrew Blanch said 2013 would be the last time the Ultimate Clip Competition was held, as new marketing initiatives were being formulated.
