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