SOUTH WEST REGION – Regional Contact Member – Richard Fenwick
Well, where is the year going? Lambing 2025 now seems a distant memory and our tupping and selling season is behind us as we start our preparations for winter 2025 and lambing 2026. Looking back over 2025, the south west members have had a tremendous show season. Within the region, we have 14 shows that hold Jacob classes which is a real bonus for us. Each show has been well attended by our members, and it’s been great to see such a high standard of Jacob sheep exhibited at each show. It has been a real pleasure to have some local judges to judge at our shows as well as few from away, all of whom have commented on the tremendous turn out and quality we’ve had on show. Championships have been spread out though our breeders. Since our last Journal, we’ve had a number of shows; Totnes Show saw Chris Fisher not only take championship with his aged ewe, but also reserve champion with his aged ram. From there it was on to Woolsery Show where we saw Steph Jasper take the championship with her aged ram, and Charlotte Slee taking reserve with her ewe lamb. Both these shows were blessed with lovely weather but it was a shame it wasn’t the same at the next show at Launceston. However the rain didn’t dampen the spirits and the championship went to Steph Jasper with her shearling ewe and reserve to Kayleigh Rennie with her aged ewe. Next up was North Devon show where Kayleigh Rennie took the championship with her aged ewe and Jessica Matravers, reserve with her ram.
Luckily the sun shone again at Honiton show where Josh Quant took the championship with his shearling ewe and Riley Marsh took the reserve with his ram lamb. Devon seemed to be a popular place as the next one was mid Devon show where we saw Jessica Matravers well within the rosettes taking the championship and reserve.
Back to Cornish sunshine after that, and the return of Camelford show saw Steph Jasper take the championship with her shearling ewe and Bethany Osborne taking reserve with her ram lamb. Okehampton Show saw a wonderful array of Jacobs, and congratulations went to Josh Quant on his championship, and also being part of the final selection in the interbreed with his shearling ewe, and Richard Fenwick taking reserve with his ram lamb. Kingsbridge show was second to last of the shows for the south west with Josh Quant taking the championship with his shearling ewe, and Chris Fisher taking reserve with his aged ewe. Our final show of the year was Dorset County Show, where Kayleigh Rennie’s aged ewe took the championship and Riley Marsh’s ram lamb took the reserve. A big success here too was Richard Fenwick winning the group of three class and going on to take reserve interbreed group in the Hill and Heath section.
It has been so encouraging to see the dedication of our breeders in the South West, turning out sheep to a very high standard in all weathers, and hearing the wonderful comments our judges have had to say about the sheep we have here in the south west.
A South West Diary
This edition’s diary takes us to South Devon to meet Josh Quant and his highly regarded Redlands Flock. Josh writes: “I started the Redlands flock in 2012 with the purchase of 8 in-lamb ewes. From there the flock has grown to 28, all homebred ewes. The flock is lambed indoors in January. I’ve bred the sheep to be as big and strong as possible in order to meet the prime lamb trade whilst still maintaining the breed characteristics. Any stock rams used have been used with the intention of introducing these specific qualities into the flock whether that be body condition, horns or markings. The lambs are creep fed from day one with the majority of the ram lambs finished and sent to Exeter prime market at around 45kg with a couple of the best kept back each year to be sold for breeding. The ewe lambs are either kept in the flock as replacements or sold as breeding ewe lambs. The teaser ram usually goes in 2 weeks before the rams however this year due to the heat and dry weather the teaser was put in for 4 weeks to give the ewes more time to start cycling before the ram goes in which I think it definitely helped this year. From the very start I have been very strict with culling out any sheep that have caused problems whether that be foot, lambing or worm problems or any other issues in order to create a sheep that is as hardy and as maintenance free as possible. It’s certainly paid off as we now have very little lameness or worm problems throughout the entire year.
I’ve shown them for a number of years and been lucky enough to pick up plenty of prizes with them at the local summer shows. This year our shearling ewe picked up breed champion at Honiton, Kingsbridge and Okehampton and was pulled forward in the final line-up for the interbreed at Okehampton which was certainly an added surprise. Going forward i hope to carry on improving the breed and taking it from strength to strength.”
On a personal note, my own flock has clearly benefitted from using Redlands Haribo for the last couple of years and I have replaced him this year with Redlands Jagger. I also borrowed Josh’s ideas about using a teaser ram and headed off to the vet with a halter trained shearling ram who was not needed for breeding. What followed wasn’t really anticipated!