SCOTTISH REGION
Regional Contact member – Melanie Harper
As I write this it’s still early February and we’ve had a bit of sleet and snow this morning. Most of my Jacobs have lambed, only waiting on shearling ewes who went to a ram lamb and two old ladies who had a bit of fun with a ram lamb who came through my electric fence and left his mark. It was the last time he did it as he ended up a freezer pack. Ewes have had fantastic colostrum along with vast amounts of milk thanks to the usual mineral buckets, high protein nuts, hay and lots of fresh water. Yes, they are eating me out of house and home but they are rearing their lambs well and I can’t ask for any more. The ewes and lambs run in and out of the shed, and they love to get out in the morning. They are still shut in at night and will do so until the weather eases a bit. As for any show champions let’s wait and see where horns go and whether they break them off. I’ve probably had about a 50/50 split with regards to ewe and ram lambs. My daughter Stephanie’s Ruberslaw flock has given her a good supply of ewe lambs… She only had two last year.
Young Gordon Connor helping with lambing at the Dun-Mor flock in West Lothian
The sad decision to cancel the National AGM Weekend was not one that was taken lightly, numbers were down and it wasn’t viable to run this. Maybe we need to rethink these weekends and look at a way that maybe we can encourage more people to attend and keep costs down. I’m always at the end of a phone or email if people have suggestions or thoughts. Can I take this opportunity to say thank you to Barbara along with the northern team who had put together a fun weekend. If you ever get the chance jump on a train and head north it is beautiful countryside in a very unspoilt part of Scotland.
The Royal Highland Show, June 19th – 22nd, will be with us before we know it, and it would be great to see a good turnout of Jacobs for our Welsh judge, Siwan Harris. I’m hopeful we will have a similar set up as in previous years with regards to pens and judging ring. We will have our usual after judging get together. The main judging day is on the Thursday, come along and say hello.
I can confirm our National Show will be held at Dalkeith Show on Saturday 12th July. Ady Hamilton from Ireland has kindly accepted the invite to judge, and we are very grateful to him for making the journey over to Scotland. I must thank Scott Brown, chief sheep steward, for his help as he is always at the end of a message and phone call. Many will know Scott as the voice of the RHS sheep rings. We are hoping for some good classes of Jacobs. A little change to the normal structure for the judging wil be that the Jacob championship will be judged in the main area, and Scott Brown will then give a brief explanation about the breed and why everyone should have them their fields. It’s a chance to showcase the breed and that can only be a good thing for us. If anyone needs a schedule or more information regarding the National, please drop me a message or a call and I will try to help.
A ewe and lamb at Melanie Harper’s Deanburn flock in the Scottish Borders
The Scottish Show and Sale will take place on Friday 1st August at H&H Carlisle and our 2025 judge is Scott Dalrymple, part of the successful Dunmor Team. We have spoken with H&H and given feedback about the 2024 sale, hopefully this will be looked at and actioned. We are still fairly new to selling at Carlisle and teething issues will hopefully get ironed out. The team at H&H are very good and always keen to help which is what we need on sale day. We will continue to work hard to hopefully get venders and buyer the best for them on sale day.
Due to the cancellation of the National AGM, we are all a bit “up in the air” but Scotland are already looking at events to compensate for the loss of the weekend. We are in the early stages of planning but we will get details out as soon as we can, and we hope to incorporate a judges’ seminar/flock visits along with a social night, Watch this space. A flock competition will hopefully go ahead in the autumn, more details to follow.
A feeling that has come from members is one that we need to be encouraging younger people into the Society, they are our future, none of us are getting any younger and we need young people to come along and bring fresh ideas. Please drop me a message if you have any ideas. Many thanks to the Scottish Committee for their continued support.