In 2017 we entered both our Merino and Half Bred ewe hoggets in the National Ewe hogget competition.  Our Merino's won the Fine Wool Section and The Halfbred's won the Crossbred Section and the Overall Award.  We are thrilled to have won a national award with our commercial flock.

An Article written by NZ Farmer can be viewed by clicking the link below:

Merino Breeders Produce Top Ewe Hoggets

This year we entered the Otago Ballance Farm Environment Awards.  We were lucky enough to make the finals for this and although we didn't take out the top award we managed to win the Waterforce Water Integrated Management Award and the Massey University Innovation and Technology Award.

 The Armidale Merino Stud at Gimmerburn on the Maniototo Plain has an impressive collection of silverware and A&P show championship ribbons for its stud merino sheep and fine wool fleeces.

The stud has won the national Golden Fleece Award and Central Otago Merino Breeders Clip of The Year title more times than the Paterson family can remember.

They regularly exhibit merino stud stock and fine wool fleeces on the South Island A&P show circuit and have enjoyed extraordinary success with a wealth of awards and championship ribbons to show for their efforts in recent years.

Simon Paterson holds a polled merino ram, the supreme champion exhibit in the merino fine wool section of this year's ...
Rob Tipa
Simon Paterson holds a polled merino ram, the supreme champion exhibit in the merino fine wool section of this year's Wanaka show.

For Simon Paterson, who runs the farm in partnership with his wife Sarah and parents Allan and Eris Paterson, showing stock and fleeces is all about bench-marking themselves against others in the fine wool industry.

Winning the Central Otago Merino Breeders' Clip of the Year title four times in the last 10 years has been especially satisfying for the family because it was based on production per head of the farm's whole wool clip.

View the rest of the article by clicking the link: 

 Merino stud all about performance

• Supreme Champion Fleece of the show
• Champion Merino Fleece
• 1^St and 3^rd Merial Ancare Pair (Ewe & Ram 18 to 30 Months)
• 1^st Group of Three Rams (18 to 30 Months)
• Grand Champion Merino Ewe
• Reserve Grand Champion Merino Ram
• Champion Medium Poll Merino Ram
• Champion Medium Poll Merino Ewe
• Reserve Champion Medium Poll Merino Ewe
• Reserve Champion Fine Poll Merino Ram
• Reserve Champion Fine Poll Merino Ewe
• Reserve Champion Medium Horned Merino Ram
• Champion Medium Horned Merino Ewe
• Reserve Champion Medium Horned Merino Ewe
• Champion Fine Horned Ram
• Reserve Champion Fine Horned Ram
• Champion Fine Horned Ewe

Also:

• 1^st All Breeds Wool Breed Pair of the show (Armidale Ewe, Blairich Ram)
• 2^nd All Breeds Wool Breed Trifecta (Three Ram Hoggets, Armidale & Blairich)