SCOTSHEEP 2010

As the Association are aware, Scotsheep 2010 took place at Mains of Burnbank Farm, Blairdrummond, Stirling on Wednesday 2nd June 2010. Having donated a shearling ram to Douglas Graham, courtesy of David Rossiter’s Huish Flock, it was an exciting prospect for all concerned.

The week prior to the event I visited the farm to make some final arrangements. Mr Graham informed me that the ram had produced some particularly good examples of Dorset cross Texel lambs and he agreed to place an example of this within a pen in the stock judging area where the majority of people would visit on the day. The one disappointing aspect was that the NSA informed me the week before the event that we were not allowed the meat display due to Health and Safety regulations. I found this hard to understand as the Lleyn Breed had something similar at the previous event. However, I decided it was better to concede the point rather than attract negative publicity!

Preparations for the stand went well and I picked out a pair of twin tup lambs (both within the top 5% terminal index and top 1% maternal index of the breed) and a ewe lamb for the display. I also commissioned some new artwork based on the feedback I received via the questionnaire circulated at the May Fair. This used some images of sheep within a country setting and technical points to reinforce the qualities of the Dorset breed. This was all brought together into a ‘pop up’ and ‘panel’, which took centre stage supplemented by the original photographs produced a few years ago.

The day of the event arrived and so did over 10,000 Scottish sheep producers! Our location was not perfect but we worked hard at attracting ‘customers’ and remained busy right until the end of the event. It would be fair to say that at previous events we may have had many visitors who were not sheep farmers but at Scotsheep 2010 this was not the case. All our visitors were sheep producers who were genuinely interested in the breed’s attributes, many of whom seemed keen to find out where they could purchase breeding stock. It was clear that the buoyancy of the sheep trade had brought a willingness to try different breeds.

Many of the visitors had already viewed the Texel ewe with Dorset cross lamb at foot and had clearly liked what they had seen. Mr Douglas also informed David Rossiter that he intended keeping the Dorset ram for future use over the coming years.

Having enjoyed such a successful event it is crucial that the Association ensures a high level of availability at the Carlisle Sale on Friday 27th August 2010. On that note I would like to make a plea to all members to attend the event as I am sure they will not be disappointed with the trade they will receive. Last year we saw over 70 sheep forward from 8 different vendors – I have a vision that we can achieve over 100 sheep forward from at least 10 vendors.

I believe 2010 is the year to make this happen!