IRELAND REGION REPORT

Regional Contact member – Matthew Kehoe

I hope all of your lambing seasons are like my spring report, short and sweet. We’re in the midst of our first repeat ewes here at the moment which are a little later than usual on account of an infertile ram that was a few weeks on the job before his lack of lustre was detected. An unfortunate side effect of single sire mating, as is often the case in pedigree and rare breed flocks, is that without fertility testing by a veterinarian we leave ourselves open to losing weeks of the breeding season before we notice a problem. Without the use of coloured raddles the problem may not have been noticed until scanning time by which time it would be almost too late to remedy. While we have fertility tested rams on occasion before it has not been something that we have done regimentally, this is to change. For the benefit of our own flock, and our ram customers we have decided to fertility test all of our rams prior to the breeding and sale season for added peace of mind. It might be something to consider for your own flock later in the summer before the cycle starts all over again.

Across the region I see the WhatsApp group, Facebook pages and websites begin to fill with photographs of new born lambs and their carefully minded dams. It is now we begin to see the fruits of careful selections and pairings, wise purchases and good stockmanship over the winter period. There is a certain excitement associated with this kind of work that is like no other, bringing life into the world in one moment and then speculating on that animal’s future in the next, always wanting for that perfect Jacob. Some fall at the first hurdle, black faces, white ears and black legs…while others inspire hope and aspirations for the summer shows and sales. Every year those special few become readily apparent from an early stage, often disappearing again for weeks as they grow in all directions before finally returning at weaning to their original qualities that were first hinted at in the lambing shed.

I’d like to wish you all a successful lambing over the coming weeks and remind you all to try to take care of yourselves during this exhausting period. If this spring is anything like last year we will have a challenging few months ahead but here’s hoping for a mild spring, I think we deserve it after last year. Should we face another wet March and April let’s remember that the summer will come, the shed will empty and the long wet season will be a lost memory.

In more local news it’s worth mentioning our events that took place in the region between October and December. October saw the region flock to the Glenpark Estate for our annual general meeting and dinner where we reflected on a successful year and made plans for an even better one. A highlight of the evening during the interim between the AGM and dinner saw Derek Brown on behalf of our judge, James Leonard (Grove flock, Wales), announce the winners of the 2024 Ireland region flock competition. A massive thank you again to James for taking the time to travel all over the island in search of his winners. Full results listed below.

In late November we saw a modest entry of Jacob females at the Rare & Minority Breed Sale held in Cahir mart. It was encouraging to see a Jacob ewe lamb from Cathal Walsh’s Donadea flock take home first in its class before going on to take home the overall champion rosette for the breed with a smart Wensleydale ewe in reserve. A joint top price for the Jacob ewe lambs of €200 was secured by both the Donadea and Greenstar flocks. A top price of €270 was secured by the Hughes flock for the first place Jacob ewe.

Early December seen us return to the outskirts of Omagh for the Northern Ireland In-lamb and ewe lamb sale where our judge, Mr. Joseph Hughes, had three female classes to deliberate over. First place in the aged ewe class went to a Beltrim ewe by Sainfield Simba exhibited by Adrian Hamilton. Second place in the aged ewe class went to a Pard House Major sired ewe from the Colhoun family’s Kingarrow flock. Going on to top the trade at £660 guineas this ewe went across the water to George Fell. We look forward to welcoming George over again next year as he has kindly agreed to judge the 2025 In-lamb sale. Leading the shearling ewes in both the show and sales rings was an Eglish Dallas sired Rivendell shearling from Raymond & Jayne McCauley. This animal was tapped forward as the overall champion on the night and went on to sell for £580 guineas. Topping the ewe lamb trade at £560 guineas was the first place ewe lamb and reserve champion, a Kingarrow Colby sired ewe lamb from the Colhoun family’s Kingarrow flock.

Raymond and Jayne McCauley’s shearling ewe, champion at the unofficial in-lamb sale with the judge, Joseph Hughes

Finally a message to judges in all regions. We are always looking for Jacob judges from GB to travel over to shows all over the island of Ireland during the summer months. If you’re a panel or provisional judge and fancy a real challenge and a trip across the water please contact the Field Officer or me if you could spare a summer weekend.   Please note any travel or accommodation expenses should be arranged with the show beforehand.

A few key dates for the Jacob sheep calendar in Ireland are as follows:

RUAS Balmoral Show 14^th – 17^th May

Omagh Show 5^th July (Jacob National Show – Northern Ireland)

Clonmel Show 6^th July (Jacob National Show – Southern Ireland)

Tullamore Show 10^th August

Southern Ireland Show & Sale in Tullamore Mart 26^th July

Northern Ireland Show & Sale in Beattie’s Pedigree Centre 15^th August

The Beatty family, Tirelugan flock, winners of the large flock category

Lambing at the Fletcher family’s flock in Southern Ireland

A dramatic sunset over part of Trevor Kane’s Ballyworkan flock in Portadown

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.

IRELAND REGION

Regional Contact member – Matthew Kehoe

Following on from one of the worst springs on record for agriculture the fruits of our breeders’ efforts are beginning to be harvested in the show rings and I am hopeful for their success at the sales this summer. Our two National Shows here on the island of Ireland have just passed with the best of the breed rising to the top and competing in the interbreed line-ups, with one interbreed reserve champion rosette won by a Jacob on the island so far this year. With most of the Northern Ireland shows passed already we now look to the south of Ireland with a large number of shows still to go.

We were kindly invited to hold a stand at the KEPAK Shearfest2024: All Ireland & All

Nations Sheep Shearing & Woolhandling Championships in Mountbellew, Co. Galway where the Harney family (Greenstar flock) devoted a whole weekend to building and manning the JSS stand with plenty of interest in the sheep on display. It was the perfect opportunity to debut our new leaflets designed by Lucy Fletcher (Stonecroft flock) for the Ireland region. We also received a donation of two banners advertising our 2024 show and sale dates from the Colhoun family

(Kingarrow flock) which are making the rounds at our shows across the island and providing invaluable advertising for our two upcoming sales.

Athlone Agricultural Show on the 16th of June saw the champion Jacob, a 2-year-old

homebred ewe from Matthew Kehoe’s Macamore flock tapped forward as one of three reserve champion animals alongside a Suffolk and a Commercial with a Blue Texel taking interbreed champion. This is the second year in a row that this ewe has taken home reserve champion at this show in front of a team of judges – a fantastic day for our breed.

Matthew Kehoe’s champion aged ewe and Joseph Hughes’ reserve champion aged ram at Clonmel Show with the judge, Scott Dalrymple

As our region covers two countries with limited opportunity to show sheep either side

of the border we therefore run two National Shows over the course of one weekend. On Saturday 6th of July all roads led to the Omagh Show where we held the first of our two Nationals. Our judge, Mr Robert Price from Wales (Pentre flock), had the task of judging the 8 classes of Jacob sheep on display. With over 60 sheep exhibited and what you might call damp conditions at times credit must go to both judge and exhibitors for braving the conditions…with only a brief interim in proceedings as we called a halt to judging and hid in the JSS tent. As the rain cleared again, we saw some of the best Jacobs in Northern Ireland compete for the coveted JSS rosette at our National Show. After some deliberation the championship was awarded to the Colhoun

family’s 2 year old ewe ‘Kingarrow Lily’ with Adrian Hamilton’s very smart two horn Beltrim ram lamb in reserve. Flying the flag for the four horned animals was Anne Moore’s 1st place Dunbreen ewe lamb taking home the second reserve rosette. To finish off a fantastic morning of showing we saw our young handlers in great numbers compete at both primary and secondary school level. I’d also like to acknowledge our own Dabhan Harkin for volunteering to steward the Jacob section while still managing to exhibit his two ewe lambs on the day.

The Colhoun family’s champion aged ewe and the Jamieson family’s reserve champion ewe lamb with the judge, Wyn Harries, at the Balmoral Show

The following day at Clonmel Agricultural Show we saw another entry of over 60 sheep turned out for our judge, JSS vice-chairperson, Mr Scott Dalrymple who travelled from the Dunmor flock in Scotland. With the sun high in the sky a quilted canopy of tents sheltered us. We saw our judge deliberate over the 8 classes of Jacob sheep on display with Matthew Kehoe’s 2-year-old ewe ‘Macamore Black Beauty’ tapped forward as champion Jacob with Joseph Hughes’ 2-year-old ram ‘Beltrim Karter’ in reserve. It’s a testament to the breed to see the number and quality of animals on display at our National Shows and it is always encouraging to see breeders young and old, experienced and novice, helping each other and enjoying the craic in showing our breed. It was clear to see recently at the relatively urban Flavours of Fingal Show in Donabate, Co. Dublin, this month that our agricultural shows are our shop window and that the general public flock towards the Jacobs in the pens. From our own flock we brought a small number of Jacobs to the ‘Any Other Breed’ section and we were delighted to take home the champion ‘Any Other Breed’ rosette, much to the delight of the crowd who had spent the day petting, talking to and taking photographs with the Jacobs. Days like this highlight to me the importance of turning out our sheep to the best of our ability and being aware of how we handle our stock in the ring – all eyes are always on you and your stock at a show. I would appeal to breeders to recognise the social good in displaying our sheep to the general public and if you have time in the pens to engage, answer questions and give them a window into our world. It’s something that we often take for granted in the farming community but for many folk the opportunity to see, handle and photograph animals is not a day to day luxury. How people perceive agriculture and food production can be greatly influenced by their family day out at an agricultural show, lets show them livestock

production at it’s finest.

Ady Hamilton’s reserve champion ram lamb at Omagh Show

Paul Colhoun and I are currently putting together the remaining entries for inclusion in the Northern Ireland and Southern Ireland official sales respectively. By the time the Journal reaches you they will have passed and if the quality of stock is anything like what we saw last year I’m sure we will be looking back on another year of record prices for the region and good clearances. For many of us the sales are the one time of year where we see a financial return for our labours, buy new breeding stock and most importantly meet up for a chat with old friends. If you’ve missed the

official sales this year why not consider supporting one of our in-lamb sales in November and December (details to follow on the JSS website). In the mean time I’d like to wish you all a mild autumn and a successful breeding season.

Anne Moore’s ewe lamb which won its class at Omagh Show