SOUTH WEST REGION
Regional Contact Member – Richard Fenwick
2026 has brought us a very wet start to the year in the South West so lots of our lambs are still waiting for their first experience of grass. Lambing reports from around the region have thrown up a couple of surprises. New members recently started their Somerset Withy flock with three in-lamb ewes and you can imagine their surprise when one of their first lambing experiences presented them with quads, four ewe lambs.
Perhaps an even bigger surprise presented itself to Josh Quant of the Redlands flock. A completely white lamb was born to a ewe that had been home bred for three or four generations and was by a ram with similar credentials, albeit from a different line. Theories abound on a South West WhatsApp group to explain this genetic anomaly – is it indicative of cross breeding in a distant generation or simply two recessive ‘white’ genes carried by both parents? Or even that all the rain had washed the black away. We look forward to an informed explanation.
We are looking forward to the many shows in the South West with Jacob classes. Sadly, we may lose breed classes from some of these shows if we don’t keep up the numbers. We encourage members to support our agricultural shows to ensure that the farming and livestock sections continue to thrive. If you are new to showing there’s lots of information and support around.
* Check out the show dates on the JSS website which helpfully has links to the show websites.
* If you have not shown before, start with lambs as you just need to halter train and wash them.
* Go to the JSS website and search ‘Showing’ for a helpful guide if you are new to this.
Here are some of the early shows in the region:
North Somerset 4 May – closing date for entries 4 April
Devon County 21-23 May – closing date for entries 20 March
Royal Bath and West 28-30 May – closing date for entries 16 April
Royal Cornwall 4-6 June – closing date for entries13 April
If you have any questions or need help and support, get in contact and we’ll put you touch with a member who lives nearby. We’ll keep you informed about dates for regional meetings and a flock competition later in the year.
