IRELAND REGION REPORT
Regional Contact member – Matthew Kehoe
With the shows and sales behind us for another year we can now reflect on another successful year for the breed in Ireland with a new record breed price, a few interbreed reserve champion rosettes won and two successful official shows and sales done and dusted. At the time of writing preparations are underway for the 2024 regional AGM to be held at the Glenpark Estate, Omagh, Co. Tyrone. By the time this Journal reaches you I’m sure we will be looking back with fond memories of another fantastic regional AGM weekend and will have learned the results of the 2024 Ireland Region Flock Competition, kindly judged by James Leonard of the Grove flock in Wales. As I write, James is half-way through a four day expedition around the island in search of a worthy winner in both the small and large flock categories.
James Maybin’s champion ram and the Colhoun family’s reserve champion ewe at Limvady Show with the judge, Gary Freeburn
Full reports of both official sales are kindly penned by Howard Walsh, our press officer, in this edition so I won’t spoil your reading by repeating them but I would like to express my gratitude to our judges, inspection teams, photographers and my committee for your work on sale day. A special thank you to my mother, Naomi, for her tireless work behind the scenes in the lead up to sales. While Paul Colhoun and I take the lead in organising each sale we would be lost without the extra expertise and muscle required from you all to help pull it all together. Please find further details in Howard’s reports of both sales. This is not only an achievement for the individual flocks involved in the sales but also a reflection of how our breed is continuing to improve in both quality and demand.
The National Ploughing Championships, held in County Laois this year, saw Society members, both new and established, come together over the course of the three day event to man the Jacob Sheep Society stand in the National Sheep Breeders Association polytunnel. As always this is a challenging feat to build a stand and provide for the animals over the course of the event but I feel it is a worthwhile exercise to be a part of such a huge event. Thanks to the NSBA we have exposure to nearly a quarter of a million people over the course of the week alongside many of the other sheep breed societies in Ireland. This was our second year back at the NPC after a few years of an absence and plans are already underway for our 2025 stand – more sheep, more breed promotion material and some generous new sponsors have offered their support.
The annual Ireland Region show competition results are in. In the Northern Ireland section the Colhoun family’s Kingarrow flock took 1st place. The Colhouns consistently turned out a strong team of sheep, with their aged ewe and group of shearling ewes dominating the adult female classes throughout the season. Kingarrow Lily, a two year old ewe sired by Pard House Apache and out of a Beiliau ewe took home seven Jacob champion rosettes over the course of the season. Their team of three shearling ewes took turns in taking top honours in the shearling ewe classes with one of the shearlings being put forward for sale at the end of the season. Kingarrow Shazza went on to take champion at the Northern Ireland show and sale. Adrian Hamilton’s Beltrim flock took 2nd place with his lambs consistently performing well for him in the show ring. Notable ram lambs included Beltrim Montana that made a strong start to the season but was later beaten by his comrade, Beltrim Moonlight, on his first outing at Omagh show where the animal went on to take home reserve champion Jacob. While Montana has been retained for breeding this year Moonlight went on to take home best male and top price male at the Northern Ireland show and sale weeks later for export to England. A close 3rd place in the show competition was awarded to the Maybin family’s Tullymore flock in only their second year on the show scene in Northern Ireland. Making a strong start to the season at Balmoral with a 1st place rosette in the shearling ram class the father-son duo and their pair of shearling rams were consistent winners throughout the season with Tullymore Cain winning his class and selling at the Northern Ireland show and sale while Tullymore Dougal will be retained for future use. Taking home 4th place was David Postin’s Termeil flock led by his very smart homebred ram lamb, Broxi, that was consistently placed all season and has been retained for breeding this year. In 5th was the flock of Ann, Aimee & Sarah Moore who exhibited Dunbreen Tiger Lily all season, a fantastic four horn ewe lamb that went on to take home the reserve champion rosette at the Northern Ireland show and sale.
Matthew, Mark and Naomi Kehoe with their champion ewe at Tullow Show with the judge, Derek Brown
Joseph Hughes’ ram, Beltrim Karter, reserve champion at Clonmel Show
In the Southern Ireland section our own Macamore flock took home 1st place largely on the back of our two year old ewe, Macamore Black Beauty, and a homebred ewe lamb by Macamore Morgan. Black Beauty, sired by Pard House Apache and out of a Dunmor ewe, managed to go all season unbeaten collecting nine Jacob champion rosettes, one Any Other Breed champion rosette, and ywo reserve interbreed rosettes. A tight competition for 2nd place was won by the Harney family who made their presence known all season with a large team of sheep including a powerful Tally-Ho shearling ewe, Mary. It wouldn’t be unheard of to see a Greenstar sheep at both Limerick and Moate agricultural shows on the same day, and managing to win top awards – albeit with different sheep and handlers. Joseph Hughes took home 3rd place in the show competition with a strong entry of homebred ewe lambs throughout the season and his stock ram, Beltrim Karter, taking home a number of reserve champion rosettes. Bringing the heat to the ram lamb classes this year and coming in 4th place was the Fanning family, a relatively new team to the show circuit but definitely another one to watch. Their homebred ram lamb, Gorabeth Freddie, took home a number of 1st and 2nd places throughout the season and I look forward to seeing him out again as a shearling ram next year. 5th place was awarded to the Leck flock run by the Gogan family who consistently turned out a powerful aged ewe and some very smart ewe lambs in their team all season.
To all members I’d like to wish you a successful scanning result and an easy lambing season.