Pirinoa ram breeders Richard Warren and Alan Jones have taken out second place in the biggest fleece competition in New Zealand, the Golden Fleece Awards, with just half a point holding them back from first place.
Having entered the competition every year since 1994, Mr Warren, owner of Rawahi in Pirinoa,
and Mr Jones, stock manager, have won first place six times and second place three times.
"Alan's been with me for 22 years now and he and Dave McPherson from Elders have made us a winning combination over the years," Mr Warren said.
"It's a bit disappointing when you lose first place by half a point - you always remember that, but each year is different and a lot of the time there's a seasonal factor to it. We had a very good fleece this year with all the key ingredients, including genetics and management."
Their romney hogget fleece had a greasy weight of 5.1kg, a clean weight of 4kg, a yield of 80 per cent and a micron of 35.7.
The event was held in Ranfurly last month with 136 entries in 39 categories received, representing the country's fine and strong wool industries.
Mr Warren said the farming industry's "swing back to wool" has been good to see.
"It's really good to have the focus back on quality.
