IRELAND REGION
Regional Contact Member – Matthew Kehow
My family and I can finally breathe a sigh of relief as we reflect on a successful open day on the 24th of June hosted at our Macamore flock in Co. Wexford. We were delighted to welcome members, sheep breeders and neighbours onto our farm to see our stock and facilities. Our two sets of sheep for the judging competition were kindly placed by Clive Richardson and Jean Simmons who travelled from England to support the event. We picked a real mix of good and bad sheep for this and it had the desired effect – plenty of lively debate! Derek Brown led an interactive clipping demonstration while Alison Gogan gave classes in making fantastic wool sheep decorations using Jacob wool. Dr Nicola Fletcher provided a fascinating display of the gastrointestinal parasites that effect sheep. Our thanks to Ady Hamilton for holding the raffle and auction that raised over €1000 to cover the costs of the day. We would also like to thank Joseph Hughes who tirelessly sorted sheep into display pens for us all morning, before sitting his Judges’ Assessment Panel, and was then finally rewarded with a bill of €300 from Aidy for the shearling ewe donated to the region from the Macamore flock. We were humbled by the number of members who travelled the distance to support us. It was a day that was only possible thanks to the work of my Ireland region committee, my family and the generous donations from our members. The hunt now begins for our open day host farm for 2024.
Following the open day, a judge’s forum was led by the field officer with all of our Ireland region judges in attendance. This provided a fantastic opportunity to discuss the breed standard, the Society Bye-laws and our role as judges in protecting the integrity of the breed.
We have seen some fantastic animals exhibited on the show scene so far this year with the highlight being our two National Jacob sheep shows, Omagh in the North and Mullingar in the South. It has been fantastic to see our members enjoying success in the show ring as a result of some wise purchases at the official sales, diligent breeding and superb husbandry. The extra effort
is always worth it when turning out sheep and it has been greatly appreciated by myself and the general public. At Omagh Show we saw over 100 sheep brought out in front of our judge for the day, Mr Lyndon Trumper from Wales. After much deliberation Lyndon tapped forward a superb Kingarrow shearling ewe from the Colhoun family as champion. Reserve champion was awarded to a very smart ram lamb from Jonny Harkness. 2nd reserve was a powerful aged ram from the Colhoun family. A special mention has to go our fantastic young handlers in both the primary and secondary school classes who all showed their sheep with real skill and enthusiasm.
At Mullingar Show we saw over 50 sheep exhibited for our judge, Kay Carpenter from England, to deliberate over. Once the rain cleared, we saw Kay award the championship to a stylish Macamore shearling ewe from Matthew Kehoe closely followed by reserve champion to a powerful Stonecroft ewe from the Fletcher family. Again, we have to compliment our young handlers for their efforts in the show ring.
By the time the Journal reaches you we will hopefully be reflecting on two of our most successful sales to date in the Ireland region as at the time of going to print here in early July Paul Colhoun and I have been busily putting together sale entries and producing catalogues for the Northern Ireland and Southern Ireland official sales. It is hard to not notice some of the outstanding animals that have been offered for sale and I hope our vendors will be rewarded for their efforts in the show and sale rings. Our Northern In-Lamb & Ewe Lamb sale is to take place on Friday the 15th of December 2023 at Beattie’s Pedigree Centre while our Southern In-Lamb & Ewe Lamb sale is to take place in November 2023 (Date TBC) at Tullamore Mart. We will also be holding a Trimming & Young Handlers Workshop on Saturday 7th of October led by Scott Dalrymple and hosted by the Colhoun family at their farm near Omagh, Co. Tyrone.
Matthew Kehoe’s champion shearling ewe and the Fletcher Family’s reserve champion aged ewe at Mullingar Show with the judge, Kay Carpenter
At Omagh Show the Colhoun Family’s shearling ewe was champion with Jonny Harkness’ ram lamb reserve champion, and the Colhoun’s ram second reserve.
Our 2023 regional AGM is to be held on Saturday the 21st of October at a central location to be confirmed in the coming weeks. As always, we will be holding the AGM in the afternoon followed by dinner and drinks in the hotel. Further details and the minutes of the 2022 meeting will be circulated via email and WhatsApp to all members prior to the AGM. I would like to encourage all Ireland region members to attend, engage and enjoy the opportunity to meet up for a chat.