WALES REGION

Regional Contact member – Alison Ross

I am writing this report after a welcome dry spell of weather comes to an end and the first rain of a gathering storm begins. For those of you that have finished lambing, I hope you are pleased with your new crop of lambs. For those who will be lambing well into April, I wish you well.

We had a good turnout for the Christmas lunch and prize giving at Cradoc golf club, sadly low clouds obscured the magnificent views of the central Beacons. The flock competition was well supported with the judges kept busy over two days; our thanks to Jean Simmons and Richard Chapman. I had lovely reports from several members to say how helpful and encouraging they found the experience. I don’t think anyone came away without a ribbon but top spots went to:-

Best large flock and champion flock –  Samantha Matthews, Mashbury.

Best small flock – Gwenllian Evans, Gwenerin.

Best homebred shearling – James Leonard, Grove.

Best Group of ewe lambs – Gwenllian Evans, Gwenerin.

Best homebred ewe lamb – Gwenllian Evans, Gwenerin.

Best ram Samantha Matthews – Mashbury

Best ram lamb – Euan Edmunds, Sable

Young handlers awards:

Senior – Gwenllian Evans

Intermediate – Harri Morris

Junior – Griff Morris

It is encouraging to see the enthusiasm and knowledge of our young handlers in Wales.

Jackie and Gwyn Jones’ hoggets which weighed an average of 48.5 kilos and made £143 each at Welshpool Market

Plans for events in Wales are in hand with a trimming workshop at Grove Farm on May 10th that is open to all JSS members but numbers will be limited. If there is a demand, a second workshop may be held on May 11th. There will be a small charge to cover costs. My thanks to James and Hannah for hosting this.

The RWAS hold their spring show on 17th and 18th May and there will be a Jacob breed promotion stand. Please come along and support us.

An Open day will be held on June 8th in Ceredigion with two flocks represented. Thank you to Denise Doney and the Evans family.

The Royal Welsh Show dates are 21st-24th July.

The Regional Show and Sale is on Saturday 20th September.

There are plenty of local shows holding Jacob classes throughout our region, please see the website for more information.

WALES REGION

Regional Contact member – Alison Ross

Following on from the Wales hosted AGM in April, it has been a busy year in Wales but firstly, I would like to welcome new member Miss Jodie Thomas who is based in Carmarthenshire.

We are lucky to have so many small shows that have dedicated Jacob classes. Please continue to support these shows, I will endeavour to make sure that they are advertised on the website so let me know if there are any missing when I put up the list for 2025. The Brecon show has put in a request to see Jacob sheep entered next year, I will try and get there and it would be lovely to have some company. The show will be held on Saturday 2nd August.

Alison Ross with her champion ewe lamb and Angharad Griffiths with her reserve champion ram at Sennybridge Show with the judge, Rhodri Jones

The Royal Welsh Agricultural Show is possibly the highlight of showing in Wales and this year didn’t disappoint with some beautiful, quality Jacobs vying for top prizes. Congratulations to the Trumper Family for winning supreme champion with their stunning shearling ram and to the Harries family with their beautiful ewe lamb which took reserve championship. Full results can be seen in the show results at the back of the Journal.

The Wales show and sale was held at J.Straker, Chadwick and Sons, Monmouthshire, on 21st September. Many thanks to Lyndon Trumper, our very own auctioneer, Jean Simmons for adjudicating and Mark Wakelin and Jackie Jones for inspecting. These can be thankless tasks and we owe them our gratitude for their professionalism which means we can buy and sell our stock with confidence. We all know the highs and lows of keeping sheep and Samantha Matthews is no exception having had a lovely young ram injure himself at the beginning of the year and other minor events making her withdraw from some of the shows she had planned so it was wonderful to see her shearling ewe win supreme champion and go on to take top price in the sale. Well done Sam. Thank you to all those who came from near and far and good to see some of our new members attending.

By the time this Journal is printed, we will have had the Flock Competition. Thank you to Jean Simmons and Richard Chapman, our judges.

The Christmas lunch and prize giving is scheduled for 30th November and you should have received an invitation by email, please contact me if you would like to attend but haven’t seen the email. We will hold our regional AGM before the meal, this is your chance to have your say about events you would like to see run in Wales, all members are welcome.

The rams will have done their work and now we all “sit back” and dream of that show stopping lamb, delivered safely and growing well. Wishing you all a Happy Christmas and a fruitful New Year!

WALES REGION

Regional Contact member – Alison Ross

Firstly, I must introduce myself as your new Regional Contact Member for Wales. Please feel free to contact me anytime.

Welcome to our new members, Mr. Glynn Evans, Mrs. Anne-Marie Coffey and Robert Williams, Mr. John Martin and Miss Julie Gough, Mr. Nick Wileman and also Mrs. Denise Doney.

James Leonard’s champion ram at the Royal Welsh Smallholder Show

Gwenllian Evan’s reserve champion ewe at the Royal Welsh Smallholders Show

I would like to thank Siwan Harries who generously stood in as RCM for the AGM year hosted in Wales. I think we can all agree that the event was a huge success; we saw wonderful sheep from some of the leading flocks in Wales, had a chance to catch up with friends (and make new ones) and who knew we could have such fun from a wooden sheep and a piece of string. A big thank you to Lyndon Trumper for agreeing to auctioneer for us.

Every event we hold relies on a team of willing helpers and I feel very lucky to know I have a great bunch of kind and knowledgeable folk to steer me along in my new role.

The showing year in Wales commenced with the Royal Welsh Smallholding and Countryside Festival. A special mention and grateful thanks to our relatively new member who gamely stepped up and took on the Jacob sheep promotion stand (and imagine our horror when we discovered we had been given a stand twice the size we had requested!) but thank you Joanne Roberts and family for your hard work.

The Spring Show is a small friendly show and a good start for those of us new to showing or to give young stock show experience. Congratulations to James Leonard for winning the Jacob championship with his smart shearling ram and to Gwenllian Evans taking reserve championship with her aged ewe. After many successes in young handlers’ competitions, Gwenllian has qualified for the RBST Young Shepherd of the Year final at the English Winter Fair, well done, Gwenllian.

For more shows and results, please follow us on Facebook and I will try and make up a full list of results for inclusion in the winter Journal.

We are blessed with a strong contingent of young handlers competing in local shows. At the time of writing this report I am compiling a score chart for the coming year please message me if you would like one.

The AGM this spring feels like a distant memory and now we enter another year in the breeding calendar. Some of our members will have put the ram in with their ewes and others of us will be holding back to lamb in kinder weather next spring.

The Wales region show and sale will be held on the 21^st September at Monmouth Livestock Centre with grateful thanks to Lyndon and Straker Chadwick.

There will be a flock competition in early October, I would like to encourage our new members to enter this as it is a chance to have your sheep assessed by our own JSS judges, they will give you encouragement and advice. I have found this a huge benefit to improving my flock and have enjoyed their visits as no preparation of the flock is required!

We will have a Christmas meal in early December.

Ewes at the Greenmeadow Community Farm flock in Powys