A WEEKEND TO REMEMBER

An early start and some considerable amounts of travelling did not put off many breeders attending the Association’s AGM and flock visit in Northern Ireland. For the Welsh club the journey had started on the Friday, but we all met up at Greenmount College on the Saturday to kick off events with a fascinating talk on the sheep enterprises at the college. (A summary of this talk is published later in the newsletter).

After a brief tea and coffee break we attended the AGM, chaired by the outgoing President, Mr Andrew Robinson. This was followed by a fantastic lunch of soup and some of the best cake tasted in a long time!

For many of us the weekend was all about taking the opportunity to see this year’s champion flock belonging to William and Karen Carson. Our first stop was a group of in lamb yearlings – it soon became evident why the Downkillybegs flock had won – the uniformity and consistency was there for all to see. We went on to inspect various ewe and lamb groups with William pointing out ram mothers from past seasons. This was extremely interesting for those of us who have Downkillybegs rams working in our own flocks. The visit was concluded with the stud rams and a chance for us to inspect the Kiwi sired sons from ewes purchased from Adrian and Brenda Hall last summer.

The day finished on another high with the Northern Ireland Club’s annual dinner celebrating their 50th year. This gave everyone a chance to unwind and meet up with fellow breeders from all across the UK. A comedian provided after dinner entertainment rounding off a thoroughly brilliant day.

Sunday did not start off quite so early but after a huge cooked breakfast we set off for Raymond, David and Julie Hill’s. More fantastic cake and refreshments awaited us before walking a short distance to look at the flock with lambs at foot and 2 stud rams. Although the weather was awful the sheep looked well with some eye catching lambs.

We would like to take this chance to thank all our Irish friends for all their incredible hard work in organising this weekend and providing transport for us. It will be remembered for a very long time.