Texel Sheep Society Members' Spring Bulletin

TEXEL The bulletin for all

Breeders A Texel Society Publication

APRIL 2021

Society sales go ahead as normal p6

Records tumble at in-lamb sales p18

Texelplus delivers commercial trait gains p26

Shearling trade dominates for Clun flock p34

In Touch with Texel #addtexeladdvalue

TEXEL

Breeders Bulletin texel.uk

Texel Bulletin is published by the Texel Sheep Society Ltd twice a year in Spring and Autumn.

While every effort is made to ensure accuracy of the information contained in this publication, no responsibility can be accepted by the Society for any errors or any reliance on the use of information by readers.

Membership Subscriptions are available by contacting the Society Office Advertising office@texel.co.uk Registrations, sales cataloguing and texelplus registrations@texel.co.uk cataloguing@texel.co.uk Accounts accounts@texel.co.uk Society Governance Chief Executive John Yates Chairman Roy Campbell Cowal and Royel flocks Vice Chairman Jeff Aiken Procters and Tatham Hall flocks Treasurer Andy Barr Parkhouse flock Contributors Jonathan Long and Society staff Photography Country Girl Media, MacGregor Photography, Tim Scrivener, Alfie Shaw, British Texel Sheep Society, Unit 74 - 4th Street, Stoneleigh Park, Kenilworth, Warwickshire, CV8 2LG Tel: 024 7669 6629 Email: office@texel.co.uk Website: texel.uk

In touch with Texel @BritishTexel #addtexeladdvalue Registered office – The Mechanics Workshop, New Lanark, Lanark, ML11 9DB Auditors – Dafferns LLP, One Eastwood, Harry Weston Road, Binley Business Park, Coventry, CV3 2UB Solicitors – Lodders Solicitors, 10 Elm Court, Arden Street, Stratford Upon Avon, CV37 6PA Bankers – RBS, The Royal Bank of Scotland, Coventry Branch, 15 Little Park Road, Coventry, CV1 2RN ‘British Texel Sheep Society Ltd (Texel Sheep Society) is a Scottish Charity, SC007271, regulated by the Scottish Charity Regulator (OSCR)’.

2

Spring 2021

Change is the only constant

W

elcome to the Spring 2021 Bulletin, as the Society looks ahead to a summer and autumn which it is hoped will be a little more normal than last year.

There is no doubt that 2021 will be another year of disruption, with many of the traditional summer shows once again falling victim to Covid-19 restrictions. I wish all show organisers the very best as they make difficult decisions while navigating these challenging times It remains to be seen which, if any, of the major shows will manage to host events later this summer to allow members to showcase the high quality available across the broad spectrum of the breed.

On a more positive note, the Society intends to run its National Sales along more usual lines than those which took place in 2020, with higher numbers of animals and the return of the traditional pre-sale show. This is of course, subject to social distancing regulations and members will be kept informed via the Society’s website and social media channels as the summer progresses.

So far the sheep industry has largely managed to dodge the main negative from Brexit in regard to the end of

the transition period on January 1st.

Unfortunately, it became apparent late in 2020 that livestock trading between GB and NI would be disrupted, due to EU livestock movement regulations and Export Heath Certification, as under the NI protocol NI remains bound by EU legislation for these matters.

Throughout the winter, the Society staff have been making further developments in streamlining the delivery of Society services, a refresh of the society website will be provided in late spring, while also adding further functionality to the Society’s iTexel database, including a much anticipated new tool to support members with predicting Inbreeding Coefficients.

Uptake of online services via iTexel is high among members, with 94% of members now registered to use iTexel.

It is expected that this will continue to be the case over the next 12 months as increasing numbers of sales make use of the sale entry and cataloguing function available.

Improved data management, combined with the investment in the iTexel database has provided further opportunity for data analysis, shining a light on current trends within the breed.

It is interesting to note that more than 2500 sires were used to breed the 51,696 lambs which were birth notified to the Society in 2020, with 28,645 dams responsible for those lambs.

In broad terms, this makes the pedigree Texel breed about five times larger than its nearest terminal sire breed society competitor and significantly larger than crossbred producers.

Pedigree Texels continue to dominate the supply of modern genetics into the sector, providing an abundance of added value to the supply chain. Through the iTexel cataloguing service more than 12,000 animals were catalogued for sale in 2020 alone, with the success of those sales clearly proven in both sales volume, clearance rates, averages and sales records broken during 2020.

This demonstrates the vast strength in depth which exists within the breed at the current time.

Texel breeders have never shied from investing in their flocks, be it for the top

texel.uk

genetics available or for the embracing of technology. Noteworthy, is that just shy of 20% of lambs birth notified in 2020 were the result of embryo transfer, with more than 400 flocks of all sizes now using ET as part of their breeding programme. At the current commercial cost of ET and the associated technology, this equates to several million pounds invested by Texel Society members each year.

The use of breeding technology has been at the heart of the Texel breed for many years and exploitation of the best genetics has helped drive the breed to the pinnacle of the UK sheep industry.

This is further endorsed by data from texelplus, confirming that there have been significant gains by breeders in the last 10 years, including a 1.8kg increase in average eight-week weights of texelplus animals, with data also proving that the average texelplus animal is now almost 4.5kg heavier at 20 weeks old than in 2011.

These are big gains which are being transferred to the commercial sector through use of Texel genetics in both terminal and maternal breeding programmes.

Fast growth and increased lean meat yield are paramount for efficient

commercial sheep production. These figures support the experience already being gained by commercial producers that confidently invest in Texel genetics up and down the UK, farming in tough environments, variable climates and numerous production systems.

With prime sheep trade once again enjoying bumper prices and Texel sired stock often among the top prices and always in volume the omens are positive for another successful year for Texels.

While we continue to navigate social distancing regulations, it was disappointing to have to postpone the Society’s 2020 AGM. Plans are afoot to hold the delayed event at end of May with a hope that the 2021 AGM will return at the normal late Autumn slot in November.

I look forward to seeing many of you when circumstances allow, either at the Society sales or at the Society AGM. I wish you all a healthy and successful summer and early autumn and encourage all members to utilise the excellent services provided by the society.

John

John Yates, Chief Executive

51,696 Lambs birth notified in 2020

28,645 Dams bred lambs in 2020

31%

of the 2518 sires are texelplus recorded

More than

12,000 animals catalogued in 2020

Investing in member services • iTexel is helping support data driven services and enhanced cataloguing support.

• Providing industry leading promotions to support flock and breed recognition.

• Streamlining of Society operations helping ensure costs savings and increased value for money.

• Supporting a sustainable breed development action plan to aid the provision of tools to measure and increase genetic improvement for commercially important traits.

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Texelplus lambs

4.5kg heavier at 20 weeks than in 2011

Spring 2021

3

April 2021 7

6

Society sales get the go ahead

9

Show plans unveiled

17

GB-NI trading update

New ways to trade online

NEWS

SALES

6

Society sales return to normal

18 Records tumble at in-lamb sales

7

Changes to GB-NI trading

8

Breeders raise money for Charity

9

RHS and GYS plan for summer events

10 Texel breeders are award winners 12 Regional Clubs support members 14 Sales move to online entries 16 Scrapie monitoring changes 17 New online sales opportunity

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Spring 2021

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26

36

Commercial trait gains with texelplus

34

18

Clun flock has commercial focus

Texel to the core at Tamnamoney

Sales set female records

TECHNICAL CORNER

LIFESTYLE

26 Texelplus delivers trait improvements

34 Dedicated to excellence at Tamnamoney

28 iTexel developments continue

36 Commercial trade dominates for Clun

30 New inbreeding calculator on the way

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Spring 2021

5

News This year’s National Sales at Lanark, Welshpool, Worcester and Ballymena are planned to go ahead as normal this year, with many of the restrictions put in place during 2020 being relaxed.

The intention is for entry numbers to return to normal levels and for pre-sale shows to take place as in previous years, explains Society chief executive John Yates.

“Last year’s National Sales saw entry numbers cut back further than usual to allow for social distancing in the penning areas at each sale and to reduce the number of people at venues.

“This year, provided lockdown relaxations follow the timetables outlined by the various governments, there should be no need to restrict entries as much and it should be possible to return to previous entry numbers at the four National Sales,” he explained.

It is also planned for pre-sale shows to take place as usual, although this will again be subject to relevant social distancing rules being relaxed enough to allow them to take place, said Mr Yates.

“The Society will work with auctioneers at each National sale venue to

National Sales set to return to normal ensure members are afforded the best opportunity to buy and sell this sales season. However, it should be remembered that all plans are subject to change due to the evolving nature of Covid-19 restrictions.”

As with last year all pre-entries and full entries for the Society’s National Sales will be online, with pre-entries completed via the Society’s website and full entries submitted via iTexel.

between GB and NI and the impact this will have on the movement of sheep from sales on the GB mainland to NI. For more information on this see P7.

National Sale Dates Scottish National Sale Lanark 25th-26th August 2021 Judge – Andrew Clark, Teiglum

Online bidding facilities, managed by the respective auctioneers, are expected to be in place once again for some of these sales.

Welsh National Sale

No matter what format the sales take and the restrictions that may or may not be in place, the Society’s staff and board of directors ask that members work with the Society and auctioneers to enable these sales to take place safely and efficiently.

English National Sale

The Society’s website and social media channels will contain the latest information regarding 2021 sales and will be updated as plans are progressed.

Members in Northern Ireland are reminded of the changes to the rules surrounding movements of animals

Welshpool 28th August 2021 Judge – Naomi O’Hare, Millburn

Worcester 30th-31st August 2021 Judge – James Draper, Claybury

Northern Irish National Sale Ballymena 4th September 2021 Judge – Geraint Williams, Dragon

Society Extra Special Sale Carlisle 30th July 2021 Judge – TBC

Obituaries The Society was informed of the loss of some dear members and friends.

T John Vaughan Vorn – VJV – December 2020 Ronnie Darling Birkwood – DXB – January 2021 Henry Ashley Lincs – AHL – February 2021 Mick Tumelty Castlecor/Aideshill – February 2021 Andrew Pajack Sheepwash – March 2021 Brian Meredith Hardwicke – March 2021 Joan Egerton Dunningswood – April 2021

News

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Spring 2021

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GB-NI trading update The end of the Brexit transition period on December 31 and the resulting implementation of the Northern Ireland Protocol has led to significant changes in the way livestock can be traded and moved between GB and NI. Fundamentally, animals moved from GB to NI will require a full EU Export Health Certificate (EHC) and will have to comply with the conditions attached to that certificate, explained Society chief executive John Yates.

“The most limiting restriction within the new arrangements is the requirement for animals to be resident in GB since birth, or for six months and to have been on one holding for 40 consecutive days before they can be moved to NI. “This includes stock moving from sales or shows and, therefore, will mean no animals can be moved direct from a mainland GB sale or show to NI, even if those animals originated in NI and only travelled to GB for attendance at the sale or show.”

Mr Yates said similar restrictions would be in place for semen and any animal having semen collected for use in NI would have to have been resident in GB since birth or for six months and been resident on a single GB holding for 40 consecutive days before entering a semen collection centre.

Additionally, all GB sheep moving to NI or any EU country will have to have a tag bearing the letters GB. This tag will replace the animal’s UK tags and as such will need to be notified to the Society to ensure pedigree records can be maintained.

To obtain the appropriate EHC, the exporter will need to apply on EHC Online (EHCO). EHCO is a new digital online application service for EHCs that has been developed by DEFRA and APHA. Mr Yates said that on a practical level the changes would mean that any GB-bred sheep purchased by NI members at a GB sale would need to move to a GB farm where they would have to stay for 40 days before being able to be exported to NI and to also have passed relevant blood tests.

“To obtain an EHC these animals would also have to be from scrapie monitored flocks with a minimum of three year’s membership of the scrapie monitoring scheme and be moving from a scrapie monitored scheme member farm or be ARR/ARR genotype, with this genotype ascertained from a blood sample taken by a vet and tested at an approved laboratory.

Animals with ARR/ARR genotype do not have to depart from a scrapie monitored farm.”

From a Society perspective Mr Yates said the Society board recognised the disruption these changes would cause for NI members who have previously bought and sold at mainland GB sales.

“Unfortunately, these rules will make life extremely difficult for many NI members and will mean that NI members entering mainland GB sales will not be able to return home with any unsold or purchased animals.

“The Society has considered the options available, including making all the Society’s National Sales EU export sales. However, due to the scrapie monitoring and genotyping requirements for sheep attending export sales, this

was considered to be too restrictive on breeders. Therefore, none of the Society’s mainland GB National Sales will be EU export sales in 2021.

“The NI National Sale at Ballymena will remain an EU export sale meaning sheep will be able to be moved from the sale directly to Eire or mainland GB,” he explained.

“I have no doubt that, sadly, these changes will severely disadvantage commercial trade in our nation, isolating NI members for no logical reason and adding cost to trade with GB. The Society is keeping in touch with many industry organisations to add its weight to efforts to obtain changes to these rules and free-up trade between GB and NI.

Main changes • Sheep have to be GB-born or GBresident for six months pre-export.

• Must have GB tag applied before export.

• 40-day standstill pre-export.

• All original tags replaced on arrival in NI and a new ID applied.

• Sheep must be ARR/ARR or from scrapie monitored flocks.

• Residency rules apply to semen collection too.

News texel.uk

Spring 2021

7

Breeders raise money for charities A trio of charity lots offered at Texel female sales at Lanark in early December raised more than £7000 for a range of charities.

how to videos Members are reminded that they can undertake a wide range of flock management tasks using the Society’s iTexel database.

Raising 3000gns for RSABI was this gimmer from Messrs MacGregor, Allanfauld.

Selling for 3000gns was a gimmer offered

by Archie and John MacGregor, Allanfauld, in aid of RSABI. This gimmer, XMM1917426, is

by Garngour Bullet and out of a dam by Knap You’re The Man. She sold in-lamb to Claybury Dunkirk and was bought by W Wilson, Ballymena, Co Antrim.

Meanwhile, a recipient carrying an embryo from Gordon Gray’s Ettrick flock sold for 1100gns in aid of The Royal Hospital for Sick Children, Edinburgh.

From birth notifying lambs through to naming rams and entering sales, iTexel provides a quick, simple and cost effective way of managing your flock and ensuring your records are up to date and accurate.

The embryo is by the 10,000gns Douganhill Desperado and out of a Clinterty Yuga Khan daughter which was first prize ewe at the Great Yorkshire in 2019 and third at the Royal Highland in the same year. This one sold to C Weir, Stow, Scottish Borders.

To help members make the most of iTexel and the facilities it offers, a number of ‘How To’ videos are available on the Society’s YouTube channel.

And the same buyer also paid 420gns/ straw for six straws of semen from Procters Chumba Wumba offered by Stuart Barclay of the Harestone flock,

Each video details, step-by-step, how to undertake certain actions using iTexel to manage your flock and ensure your flock data is up to date and accurate.

Videos include; • Sale entries • How to use flock admin to amend records • How to register females • How to add birth notifications • How to view and download a pedigree certificate.

To see the videos click the YouTube link from the Society website homepage or scan here

Donald and Sarah McPherson of the Hexel flock, Alan Clark of the Garngour flock, David Clark of the Clarks flock and Andrew Clark of the Teiglum flock. This was sold in aid of the My Name’5 Doddie MND Foundation.

The three lots sold for a combined total of £7083, giving these three charities a welcome boost.

Meanwhile, at the January Gems Sale, Ballymena, Graham and Joanne McFarland’s Drewmar flock, Co Tyrone, sold a gimmer in aid of the Northern Ireland Children’s Hospice.

This gimmer, FQR1900551, by Tamnamoney Big Gun and out of a Ballyhivistock Unique dam raised 2800gns when sold in-lamb to Knock Yardsman and joins S R Glenn’s flock at Carryduff, Co Down.

Society responds to government consultations Over the winter months the Society has responded to a brace of important government consultations, one on proposed changes to animal transport regulations and the other on the legislation surrounding gene editing and genetically modified organisms.

Society chief executive John Yates said both these subjects had the potential to have significant impacts on members’ businesses. “Many of the proposals within the consultation on animal transport regulations would make sheep production

infinitely more difficult and expensive in the UK. The Society’s response was robust in rejecting many of these proposals.

“Likewise proposals to reduce the regulation surrounding gene editing have the potential to cause huge disruption in the livestock sector and place the future of sheep farming in the hands of a small number of people with the resources to access this novel technology,” added Mr Yates.

News

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Spring 2021

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Shows announce 2021 plans As members will recognise a large number of shows have been cancelled already this year in light of the ongoing restrictions in place due to Covid-19.

Notably three of the Society’s five feature shows for this year have either been cancelled or have cancelled sheep classes, said Society events and cataloguing manager Ailish Ross.

“The Royal Three Counties Show which was due to host the Society’s southern feature show has been cancelled in its entirety, as has the Royal Welsh Show.

Meanwhile, the Royal Ulster Show (Balmoral), has been postponed until September from its usual May dates and has cancelled sheep classes at the event.

“In addition, The Royal Highland Show has cancelled plans for a full show and is currently planning to host a livestock showcase. This event will take place behind closed doors and will be spread over two days in June. Details for this event are still being finalised, but it is understood it will feature MV Accredited breeds on one day and non-MV

Accredited breeds in the other day and will only be open to Scottish exhibitors “The Great Yorkshire Show is, at the current time, planning to go ahead with a full show, but staged over four days rather than the usual three. MV Accredited classes will be judged on the first two days and non-MV sections on the second two days,” she added.

“The Society is as disappointed as many members will be that these events won’t take place in their normal format or at all. However, these decisions are not easy for show organisers and it is an unenviable task at the current time.”

The Society is also organising an Extra Special National Show at Carlisle on Friday 30th July. The show will feature a full range of classes and will also include a sale of gimmers. More information on this event will be made available in early May. Most smaller shows have, sadly, either cancelled completely or are planning to run alternative events on different dates

or in different formats. Members are advised to contact individual shows or visit www.texel.uk/show-dates-reports for the latest information.

Show Dates Royal Highland Showcase 14th June 2021 Judge - TBC Great Yorkshire Show 13-16th July 2021 Judge - Steve Nesbitt, Alwent Society Extra Special Show 30th July 2021 Judge - TBC

News texel.uk

Spring 2021

9

South East Club gains insight to society research and technical services Ed Smith, the Society’s data and technical services manager recently spoke to an online meeting of the South East Texel Club, outlining the Society’s research and breed development work over the last few years, the ongoing projects and research exploitation efforts.

“It was great to engage with members in this way and provide them with more knowledge of the Society’s breed development vision, genomics and its role in the future of the breed and the Society’s work with the phenotyping farm network,” said Dr Smith.

“The Club members were keen to hear how this work on the hardto-measure traits of footrot and mastitis will lead to the development of genomic breeding values for disease resilience traits. The talk also covered the introduction of iTexel, with Club members keen to make most of the opportunities available through both texelplus and iTexel,” he added.

Texel breeders scoop top award Texel breeders Neil and Debbie McGowan of the Incheoch flock, Alyth, Perthshire, have been named as the Farmers Weekly Sheep Farmer of the Year 2020.

The couple who run a total of 1300 ewes, including more than 100 texelplus recorded Texels were announced as winners of the award during an online presentation ceremony.

Focussed on producing sheep with core maternal traits as well as the ability to produce premium price earning lambs, the McGowans were praised by the judges for their commitment to genetics and supplying their clients with superior breeding animals.

Aiming to run their sheep on a foragebased system with ewes wintered on swedes and lambs finished on red clover leys, the McGowans run a successful onfarm ram sale, selling 70-80 rams a year.

Society chief executive John Yates said the award was well deserved recognition of Neil and Debbie’s commitment to improving their flocks through the use of performance recording.

“Neil and Debbie are to be congratulated on this tremendous achievement and their hard work in ensuring their flocks are able to provide the genetics their customers are looking for,” he added.

Making flocks easier to manage on iTexel

Members are encouraged to make sure their flock lists are up to date. To help with this, the data within iTexel has been cleaned to remove ageing animals and make viewing your flock on your Flock Admin screen easier. Over 75,500 animals have been marked as dead and removed from members’ flock lists. This includes almost 23,500 male animals and over 52,000 females. Any male over four years old is now marked as dead, but will still be able to be used as a sire for your BNs; any female (pedigree or recipient ewe) that is over four years old and hasn’t lambed in the last three years has also been marked as dead. Members who have concerns with their flock data should, contact registrations@texel.co.uk

News

10 Spring 2021

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Nominations sought for YDP committee members from Scotland and Wales The YDP committee is an elected representative subcommittee which reflects the views of young Texel breeders from across the UK. The YDP Committee consists of five elected members under the age of 35 who are full members of the Society or are actively involved with a full member.

They meet during the year to discuss and develop new activities for the Society’s young members and coordinate members from regional clubs in developing youth activities.

The Society is requesting nominations for committee members for Scotland and Wales as David McKerrow Jnr, Nochnary and Kettle flocks, Scotland, and Will Davis, Usk Vale flock, Wales, will complete their terms this year. The terms for these areas will be until Autumn 2023 and both Will Davis and David McKerrow Jnr will be standing again.

If you wish to be considered for the post, for which only travel, and subsistence expenses are reimbursed as per Society policy. Nominations are open from Monday 3rd May until midnight on Wednesday 12th May 2021 Please complete a Nomination form; including a proposer and seconder from two full Members of the Society, a

Stripe Card Payments

300 word manifesto and photograph of yourself on the Society website at www.texel.uk/nominate If more than one nomination is received for each area, all relevant Society members will be notified and asked to vote for their preferred representative.

The successful nominee will be able to further develop and influence new initiatives and help progress the existing initiatives for the benefit of the Society.

With more projects being discussed and developed for 2021, it is an ideal opportunity to contribute to the Texel Youth Development Programme.

Five nations weekend postponed Sadly, due to Covid-19 the YDP Five Nations Weekend has once again been postponed and will now take place in the Welsh borders region in 2022. Further details will be announced in due course.

The Society has introduced Stripe to manage card payments. Members who pay by Cheque or BACS will now be able to pay their invoices by Credit Card following the link on their invoices.

The introduction of Stripe also allows Apple Pay to be used within the Texel Shop. Enabling frictionless card payments and eliminates the need to manually type card or shipping details, authorising payments with Touch ID.

Society gains Cyber Essentials accreditation As a result of its exceptional online security and data processing systems the Society has recently gained Cyber Essentials accreditation. This accreditation mark is recognition of the excellent systems the Society has in place to protect members when using the Society’s online systems.

Clive Roads steps back As some members may be aware Clive Roads, auctioneer at the Society’s English National Sale, Worcester, has recently stepped down as a partner with McCartneys, having reached an age at which the firm’s partnership agreement requires him to do so.

All at the Texel Society are grateful for the work Clive has done over the years to promote the breed and make the English National Sale the success it is today, particularly in the difficult circumstances of 2020.

However, Clive will still very much be a part of the fabric of McCartneys and Worcester market, taking on the title of Consultant while still undertaking his usual selling responsibilities at Worcester and across the wider McCartneys portfolio.

The Society looks forward to working with Clive, James Amphlett and the whole McCartneys team in the coming years to continue building on the success Texels have enjoyed at Worcester over many years.

News texel.uk

Spring 2021

11

Society Reminders Ram registrations Laryngeal chondritis The Society continues to engage with members and wider stakeholders to further the understanding of this e condition. Supporting the work of Kati ided prov has l gnel Stru Ben and Waine insights into the variation of the d anatomy of the Texel larynx compare p. shee r este to Bluefaced Leic

Members are reminded to register ram s as early as possible to avoid late fees. In all cases the Society must have the ID of the animal (flockbook number, or UK number) and the flock code of the member requesting the DNA kit.

For bought-in rams the Society need s to see proof of purchase before sending out a DNA kit.

For homebred animals, the member just needs to request a kit.

Birth notifications cannot be processe d without a sire DNA sample.

The Society continues to discuss approaches to progress this topic and is keen to support further research efforts. The Society maintains a confidential database of affected to animals, if any members have animals at h Smit Ed act cont se add to this plea the Society office in the first instance.

Shropshire and Borders Club secretary retires The Society offers its thanks and congratulations to Shirley Jones who has recently stepped down as secretary of the Shropshire and Borders Club after 16 years in the role.

A dedicated and consummate professio nal in her role Shirley has helped the Club grow its sales at Welshpool and Shrewsbury during her time as secretary, including both sales moving to new markets.

She has also worked tirelessly to help the Club committee and members orga nise social and entertaining events, flock visits and tours and the Society joins the Club in than king Shirley for all her work over the year s.

Go online for cheaper fees Members are reminded that significant savings can be made by using the Society’s online facilities to undertake birth notifications and registrations, with savings of about 30% compared with continuing to birth notify or register via the paper system.

On top of that, being a digital member and making full use of iTexel means members can have fingertip access to their latest flock information via their smartphone, tablet or desktop computer and make changes wherever they are.

News

12 Spring 2021

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Society fees to birth notify Members should aim ble to ensure ssi po lambs as soon as er fees low the on they capitalise year. Birth available earlier in the from 1st June for notification fees rise r submissions and both online and pape bs and ET lambs. for naturally born lam ty fees can be Full details of all Socie included in this et she found on the fee at www.texel.uk/ publication or online society-forms

Parentage testing lambs Members are reminded that when the parentage of animals is uncertain, parentage tests are requ ired to ensure that accurate data are entered into the flock book. Members should consider the extra cost impl ications of these tests when using more than one ram to mate a ewe.

It is possible to complete these tests through the Society and members should contact the office or email registrations@ texel.co.uk for further details. Any tests should be carried out as soon as possible after birth to prevent delays to birth notifications.

Go Cardless The Society now uses the ‘GoCardless’ service to manage Direct Debits. New members will have received an email generated by the Society using GoCardless to register their DD mandates. Existing members’ mandates will be transferred over to GoCardless over the coming months*.

Moving to GoCardless provides the Society with improved cybersecurity and GDPR protection, removing the need for the Society to store members’ bank details. It also provides a seamless integration into the Society finance software ‘Xero’ providing further efficiencies in member management. * Members who have existing Direct Debit mandates will receive an email from GoCardless, with details on how to convert their mandate. Please contact the Society if you are unsure what to do if you receive the request from GoCardless.

Accounts age their accounts Members using Xero to man as links can then be should let the Society know to be directly provided to enable any invoices em, simplifying syst ts oun embedded in their acc t. men accounts manage issued by email, Additionally, with all invoices inform the Society to er members should rememb s will ensure Thi s. nge cha ress if their email add d by the member. invoices continue to be receive s check that the ber It is also important that mem safe sender in a is ress Society’s Xero email add e. war soft members’ email When you think you should have received an invoice but haven’t, please check your junk email folders prior to contacting the Society.

News texel.uk

Spring 2021

13

Clubs form strong part of Society activities The Society is fortunate to have a strong and vibrant Club structure as its backbone. The Clubs and breeder groups provide an important marketing structure at local and regional levels and an active social structure for Society members.

There are 19 Clubs associated with the Society with a range of sale dates throughout the autumn and winter sale season. Eligibility for entry into club sales usually requires a separate direct membership with that Club, in addition to being a member of the Society. Contact details for all Club secretaries are listed here.

HIGHLAND

NORTH OF SCOTLAND

SCOTTISH

SOLWAY & TYNE NORTHERN IRELAND NORTH WEST

DUTCH

NORTHERN AREA

RUTHIN DERBYSHIRE NORTH WALES

MIDLAND

SHROPSHIRE & BORDERS GLOUCESTERSHIRE & BORDERS SOUTH WALES DYFED

SOUTH EASTERN

SOUTH WEST SOUTHERN CENTRAL

News

14 Spring 2021

texel.uk

DERBYSHIRE TEXEL BREEDERS CLUB Helen Lowe 07968 199 897 hllowe@yahoo.co.uk DUTCH TEXEL PRODUCERS GROUP Paula Barlow 01352 720 902 paulababell@btinternet.com DYFED TEXEL BREEDERS CLUB Dylan Jones 07971 688 521 steddfatexels@hotmail.com GLOUCESTER & BORDER COUNTIES TEXEL CLUB Paul King 07528 160 848 glosandbordercountiestexelclub@gmail.com HIGHLAND TEXEL SHEEP BREEDERS CLUB Amy Gunn 07836 236 208 amyb01@hotmail.co.uk MIDLANDS TEXEL SHEEP BREEDERS CLUB Mandy Kellett 07784 310 780 mandykellet@gmail.com NORTH OF SCOTLAND TEXEL CLUB Pat Imlah 07803 897 419 patricia.imlah@btinternet.com NORTH WALES TEXEL CLUB Alwyn Phillips 01286 673 519 alwyn.phillips@btconnect.com NORTH WEST TEXEL CLUB Catherine Parker 07899 961 660 secretary@northwesttexels.co.uk NORTHERN AREA TEXEL CLUB Sarah Beachell 01377 270 230 samsar39@hotmail.com

NORTHERN IRELAND TEXEL SHEEP BREEDERS CLUB Martin Warnock 07791 679 112 nitexelbreedersclub@live.co.uk RUTHIN TEXEL SHEEP BREEDERS CLUB Sion Owens 01824 702 025 rfa@ruthinfarmers.co.uk SCOTTISH TEXEL SHEEP BREEDERS CLUB Ms. Amy Haddow 07544 161 900 amy@lawrieandsymington.com SHROPSHIRE & BORDER COUNTIES TEXEL CLUB Cheryl & Caity Higgins 07811 057 858 ShropshireandBordersTexelClub@hotmail.com SOLWAY & TYNE TEXEL SHEEP BREEDERS CLUB Fiona Sloan 07803 171 007 info@solwayandtynetexels.co.uk SOUTH EASTERN TEXEL CLUB Kelsey Morton info@southeasterntexelgroup.co.uk SOUTH WALES TEXEL BREEDERS ASSOCIATION Derfel Harries 07966 841 304 derfel@ctf-uk.com SOUTH WEST TEXEL CLUB Rebecca Jordan 07786 088 372 robertjordan756@btinternet.com SOUTHERN CENTRAL TEXEL SHEEP BREEDERS CLUB Mike Vesey 07971 571 610 sca@auctionmarts.com

Full details of Club sales are available elsewhere in this publication and at texel.uk/sale-dates.

News texel.uk

Spring 2021

15

Club and Private sales benefit from going digital

Members are strongly encouraged to submit their flocks’ birth notifications before the end of May fee increase.

To enter these sales online you must have a direct debit set up with the Society and have an activated iTexel log in.

For 2021 the Society has two new services to offer Texel Breeders Clubs and the general membership as part of its iTexel cataloguing service.

Online Pre-Entry Forms

Having invested heavily in the Society’s iTexel database and with incentives in place for reduced fees for online birth notification of lambs, members can make significant savings by using iTexel.

The Society has been using online PreEntry forms for the four National Sales, NSA Builth/Replacement sales and the Northern Irish Club sales for the past two years. Therefore, many members are familiar with the format and what they are required to do.

The Society reminds members that with the iTexel database now fully operational and linked to Society finance software, all birth notifications will be subject to fees at the prevailing rates at time of submission.

For clubs to utilise the fully online cataloguing system, pre-entries from members need to be collected. A small fee is charged to the sales organiser (club/Auctioneer) for setting up this form on the Society’s website.

iTexel is easy to use with instructions and ‘how-to’ videos available via the Society website.

Due to the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic and the requirement for Society staff to work remotely in-line with current guidance, the receiving and processing of paper forms is more challenging than in previous years and may be subject to delays.

Should you require any assistance with adding your lambs, please check the guidance available on the resources section of the website (https://texel.uk/societyforms/) and if you need any further advice, don’t hesitate to contact the Society on registrations@texel. co.uk.

Confirmation receipts for entries made by vendors will be sent to the sale organiser’s email address, to allow them to keep track of entries.

This service does not include Society staff administrating pre-entries, sale organisers are still responsible for this.

Entry Fee Collection Service To support Clubs and sales that operate under the Society’s auspices, the Society can now collect entry fees for these sales via its Direct Debit system and reimburse them in one transaction to the sales organiser/agent.

This reduces sales organisers’ administration by eliminating multi-invoicing, managing payments and reconciling, as well as chasing late payers etc.

A small fee of 2% of total sales entry fee is applied for this service and covers the DD charges incurred by the Society.

If this is something that your Club would be interested in to support your sales, please get in touch and complete the section on the catalogue request form.

Using iTexel and the Texel Sheep Society to administrate club sale entries and fee collections will save time inputting paper forms and reduce the workload associated with processing and reconciling of cheque and BACS payments.

For more information please contact Ailish, events and sales cataloguing manager, ailish@texel.co.uk

Texel Sales Under Society Auspices Texel Sheep Breeders Club sales must be run under the Society auspices.

The Society auspices protect both vendors and buyers with their purchases.

For example, all female sheep entered for these sales must be fully registered and all male sheep are required to be birth notified and therefore, eligible for full registration with the Society.

To improve clarity for buyers looking for sales on the Society’s website a stamp will now be placed on the front page of web catalogues for all sales run under the Society’s auspices.

The auspices are available to view at texel.uk/oursociety/societyrules/

EXEL T

D E I F I R VE AU

ES

Ensure birth notifications are provided on time

Cataloguing through iTexel is available to all Texel Breeders Clubs and auctioneers hosting pedigree Texel sheep sales. All catalogues are produced by the Society using its iTexel database, providing significant benefits including, reducing entry errors and avoiding the need for duplicating input.

S PIC

News

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texel.uk

Changes to GB Scrapie Monitoring Scheme Exports head to Europe While the impact of Brexit and the end of the withdrawal period is currently causing delays to exports to the continent. In 2020 a number of breeders enjoyed successful exports to mainland Europe and further afield, with Dutch and Belgian buyers among those sourcing new stock from the UK. Robert Laird and family’s Cambwell flock has sent a number of animals to The Netherlands, including a tup lamb and five ewe lambs to Dirk Kwantes, four ewe lambs to Mark Teeuw and a tup to Henk Berkvens, with the same buyer also taking a tup from Aubrey and Sue Andrews’ Miserden flock.

Meanwhile, Belgian buyers Pieter Vranckx and Maarten van Heinsbergen bought 10 in-lamb gimmers from a trio of flocks, namely the Laird family, Cambwell, Messrs McKerrow, Grougfoot and Kenny Johnstone, Boghouse.

The Laird family have also recently exported embryos sired by Cambwell Dynamite to New Zealand, following up on previous exports in 2017.

Updates to the rules for the GB Scrapie Monitored Scheme (SMS) managed by SRUC and increased enforcement of them mean that animals from SMS flocks attending either shows and/or sales will have to be segregated from other animals unless the SMS animals are of ARR/ARR scrapie genotype and the genotyping was undertaken by either SRUC or APHA, with samples taken by a vet.

Additionally, animals from Negligible Risk SMS flocks (those with seven years SMS membership) have to be kept separate from those from Controlled Risk SMS flocks (those with three years SMS membership).

Society chief executive John Yates said while it was the responsibility of each member to ensure they maintained their chosen flock health status, he also expected the impact of these updates on Society sales to mean that SMS animals would have to be penned, shown and sold separately to non-SMS animals and Negligible Risk animals would have to be kept apart from Controlled Risk animals.

Creating a very different dynamic to animal flow at each event.

“How this is implemented practically will be a matter for the auctioneers in discussion with the Society at each

of the respective national sales over the next few months and will be made clear before members enter sales,” he explained.

“The key point is that to maintain the status of SMS sheep there must be no nose-to-nose contact between SMS sheep and non-SMS sheep or between SMS animals of different risk levels. This includes during transport to and from shows and/or sales, in penning areas, show rings and sale rings.

“Members with SMS flocks will receive further information direct from SRUC and I would urge them to read these updates and consider how changes will impact their actions both this year and in future years on their flock health status.

It may be that the most sensible option for SMS flocks is to scrapie genotype in the correct manner any animals they are likely to enter for National Sales to ensure they can attend without any issues,” he added.

Members in Northern Ireland whose flocks are members of the DAERA Scrapie Monitored Flocks Register should refer to DAERA for guidance on how their attendance at shows and/or sales in GB will affect their flock’s scrapie status.

Changes to the GB Scrapie Monitoring Scheme will impact how sheep of different status can mix at Society events.

These exports demonstrate the ongoing demand for UK Texel genetics from across Europe and further afield, with recent Mexican importer Javia Lara reporting success with embryos imported in 2019 from the Ingram family’s Logie Durno flock.

These embryos resulted in lambs being born in April 2020 by Caereinion Ace and Elmscleugh Assasin, with Mr Lara reporting both good growth and confirmation in the lambs. “The lambs have grown really well and we are extremely pleased with them. We are likely to be wanting more British Texel genetics in future,” he added.

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texel.uk

Dedicated online Texel Sales with SellMyLivestock A new dedicated online sales portal for Texel Society members has been launched for sheep, semen and embryo sales in conjunction with leading online sales website www.sellmylivestock.com Members will be able to sell individual or groups of pedigree sheep via the new portal, linking to animal’s pedigrees and estimated breeding values on iTexel to ensure buyers have the most complete information when browsing adverts.

Livestock Sales on SellMyLivestock - How It Works

1

Seller creates a listing Simply register with SellMyLivestock, setup your account and click Post Listing.

The dedicated portal within the SellMyLivestock website will enable potential buyers to find Texel sheep more easily than if they are contained in the main listing.

Follow the steps through, stating the breed of stock, age of the animals and adding more detail with the tag numbers, photographs and description.

Additionally, Texel breeders will be able to take advantage of the ever-growing audience which SellMyLivestock has and showcase their stock to a UK audience at the click of a button.

Finally, click Post Listing at the end and your advert will automatically go live on the website.

SellMyLivestock services have recently expanded to include semen and embryos, allowing Society members to offer semen and embryos for sale on the site too.

Semen and embryo listings can be added via the upload forms that can be found on texel.uk via SML Forms on the Sell My Livestock menu.

Society events and cataloguing manager Ailish Ross said the new initiative would offer members another sales outlet and was being implemented as a long-term option to help members raise awareness of stock for sale. “This will make it much easier and quicker for members to offer semen for sale and increase awareness of available genetics both among breeders and those looking to start pedigree flocks.”

2

Buyer Enquires When buyers are logged in, they can see the sellers contact details on the listing, so they can contact the seller directly by message or phone.

3

Price Agreed The buyer and seller come to an agreement between themselves and arrange payment.

4

Secure Payment Say goodbye to ‘cheques and payment delays’ and hello to ‘quick, easy, safe and secure’. Once the price is agreed, you can choose to use the SellMyLivestock Secure Payments system which will send an invoice to the buyer via email, who can then pay by BACS. Once the buyer has paid, the goods can be collected or delivered as agreed and the seller can be assured the buyer has the funds.

SellMyLivestock also offer an instant haulage quote and booking service and can be booked through their website.

Please contact SellMyLivestock via support@ sellmylivestock.co.uk or 0800 689 1517 if should you require any assistance.

News texel.uk

Spring 2021

19

LEADING THE SHEEP INDUSTRY AND DELIVERING FOR MEMBERS

1412 2171 SOCIETY

MEMBERS

48

FLOCKS BIRTH NOTIFIED LAMBS IN 2020

SOCIETY AND REGIONAL CLUB

MORE THAN

SALES SCHEDULED FOR 2021 ACROSS THE UK CONTINUALLY INVESTING FOR THE BENEFIT OF MEMBERS

£

2500 RAMS

PRODUCED OFFSPRING IN 2020

ADDING VALUE FOR EVERYONE IN THE SUPPLY CHAIN

News

20 Spring 2021

texel.uk

NOTICE OF THE ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING

Notice is hereby given that the 2020 Annual General Meeting of the British Texel Sheep Society Limited will be held at Woodland Grange, Old Milverton Lane, Royal Leamington Spa CV32 6RN, on Wednesday 26th May 2021 at 17.30 for the following purposes.

1.

To Receive apologies for absence

2.

Minutes of the 2019 Annual General Meeting (circulated).

3.

To approve the minutes of the Annual General Meeting which took place on 8th November 2019, at the Dunadry Hotel, Co Antrim.

4.

Matters Arising from the 2019 Annual General Meeting.

5.

To receive the Chairman’s report

6.

To receive the Chief Executive’s report

7.

RESOLUTION: To receive, consider and adopt the income and expenditure account for the year ended 31 March 2020 and the balance sheet as at that date and; to receive, consider and adopt the reports of the Board of Directors and the Auditors for the year ended 31 March 2020.

8.

RESOLUTION: To confirm the appointment of Dafferns LLP as the Auditors for the Society and to authorise the Board of Directors to fix their remuneration.

*9.

SPECIAL RESOLUTION To approve, and if thought fit, pass the following as a Special Resolution: To approve the revised Articles of Association in the form produced to the meeting, and initialed by or on behalf of the Chairman for the purpose of identification, in substitution for the existing Articles of Association.

10.

Announcement of Board of Directors election results Area 3 - East of Scotland - John Elliot - Roxburgh - unopposed Area 5 - Northern England - Sam Beachell - Samsar - unopposed Area 7 - East & South East of England - Steve Martin - Broomhall - by ballot Area 11 - South Wales & Borders - Bridget Booker - Towy Texels - unopposed

10.

Any other business that has been approved by the Chairman for discussion.

By order of the board John Yates MBA Chief Executive & Company Secretary 14th April 2021 Registered office - The Mechanics Workshop, New Lanark, Lanark, ML11 9DB Company Number: SC055423 A member is entitled to attend and vote at the above meeting and is entitled to appoint a proxy to attend and vote on his behalf.

A proxy need not be a member of the Society.

2020 AGM – Wednesday 26th May 2021 If you are attending the AGM please email office@texel.co.uk or call on 02476 696 629 (option 4) so that arrangements can be made to ensure we comply with social distancing regulations.

As you will appreciate Government restrictions in place in 2020 and early 2021 required us to reschedule our AGM. As such

the present board of Directors remains unchanged with David McKerrow and Steve Richardson having a short extension to their terms. New Directors, Bridget Booker, Sam Beachell and John Elliot’s positions will begin at the AGM on the 26th May 2021

*9. Special Resolution To receive and, if thought fit, pass the following as a Special Resolution: To approve the revised Articles of Association in the form produced to the meeting, and initialled by or on behalf of the Chair for the purpose of identification, in substitution for the existing Articles of Association.

The Board of Directors propose that the Texel Sheep Society Articles of Association are amended to ensure they are as relevant and up to date as is necessary for management of the Society going forward.

A revised printed copy of the Articles of Association has been distributed via Royal Mail to all fully paid-up members of the Texel Sheep Society. To offer transparency and give confidence in this proposal, digital copies of the amended version and the ’tracked changes’ version are available to view on the Society website at texel.uk/agm

News texel.uk

Spring 2021

21

Sales

Records smashed at in-lamb sales High clearance rates, record prices and searing demand were the hallmarks of the winter in-lamb sales season.

Records set at Select Seven Sale

Setting a new 46,000gns record was PFD1903130 from Procters Farm.

December’s Select Seven Sale, Lanark, saw another flying trade for Texel females, with a new 46,000gns record price set for an in-lamb Texel.

Taking the day’s top call and setting this new mark was Procters Farm, Lancashire, when selling a daughter of the 100,000gns Sportsmans Batman which was carrying twins to the 350,000gns Sportsmans Double Diamond.

This gimmer, PFD1903130, is out of a dam

by Strathbogie Ya Belter and sold with an index in the top 10% of the breed.

She sold in a split deal to the Boden family’s Sportsmans flock, Cheshire and the Barclay family’s Harestone flock, Aberdeenshire.

Second best of the sale was a 32,000gns call for one from Hugh and Alan Blackwood’s Auldhouseburn flock. This was BYZ1922968, a Rhaeadr Best of the Best daughter out of a dam by Strathbogie Untouchable and again in-lamb to Double Diamond. Sold carrying twins, she also was knocked down to the Boden family.

Then at 17,000gns was one from Gordon Gray’s Ettrick flock, GGH1909043. Sired by the privately purchased Midcombe Brigadier, she is out of a dam by the homebred Ettrick Yager Bomb and sold carrying to Claybury Dunkirk. Buying this one was Malcolm Coubrough, for the Hartside flock.

Following that came another from Auldhouseburn at 13,000gns, BYZ1922916. This ET-bred gimmer is by Rhaeadr Best of the Best and out of a dam by Clinterty Yuga Khan. Going back to the flock’s noted Cowal ewe, she is in-lamb to Bellefield Double Dutch and was taken by Rob Evans for the Hope Valley flock.

At 10,000gns was the best of the sale from George Howie’s Knock flock,

Selling for 32,000gns was this one from Auldhouseburn

HAK1901389. She’s by the homebred Knock Banker and out of a Cowal Vogue-sired dam. In-lamb to Castlecairn Diamond Vision, she is a full sister to the 30,000gns Crackerjack and found a new home with James Theyer for the Clanfield flock.

Two then followed at 9000gns, with both of these coming from the Procters pen.

First at this money was PFD1903234, a Batman daughter out of a dam by the 65,000gns Teiglum Younggun and in-lamb to Double Diamond. Carrying twins, she was the pick of Nick Gill, Keswick.

The other at this level was PFD1903139.

Again, by Batman and out of a Younggun daughter she headed to Aberdeenshire with the Knox family for their Haddo flock and is in-lamb to Llyfni Droog.

Ettrick’s topper at 17,000gns was GGH1909043

No fewer than four then sold at 8000gns, with the first of these coming from the Tima flock of David Gray. This was GCT1910414, a twin-born daughter of Batman out of a Younggun daughter.

She sold in-lamb to Hope Valley Dazzler and with an index in the top 10% of the breed when bought by previous buyer Rob Evans.

Second at 8000gns was George Howie’s HAK1901422 from the Knock pen. This Knock Banker daughter is out of a dam

by Glenside Razzle Dazzle and is in-lamb to Castlecairn Diamond Vision. She headed south to Co Durham with Jeffrey Teward, New View.

Next to make this money was a Garngour gimmer from Alan Clark, CJN1906243. This one is by the former sire of the year Knock Bantastic and out

Sales

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of a dam by Knock Yardsman which was first as a lamb at the Royal Highland and reserve champion at the Great Yorkshire.

Auldhouseburn led the way at Longtown with BYZ1923078 at 8000gns

She has an index in the top 10% and sold carrying to Procters Chumba Wumba when bought in a shared deal by Kerr Jarvie, Duncryne and Cammie Gauld, Cairnam.

And it was back to the Procters pen for the final 8000gns call in the form of PFD1903197. This Batman daughter is out of a Younggun dam and sold scanned a single to Llyfni Droog. Buying her was David Morrison, Dalwyne.

At 7500gns was a Teiglum gimmer from Andrew Clark, CFT1906388. She’s another by Bantastic and out of a Knock Yardsman daughter. Carrying to Chumba Wumba, she sold to Archie and John MacGregor, Allanfauld.

Close behind at 7000gns was GGH1909023 from Gordon Gray, with this Midcombe Brigadier daughter being out of an Ettrick Yager Bomb daughter and in-lamb to Claybury Dunkirk. She was bought by David Morrison, Dalwyne.

Averages; Auldhouseburn five gimmers £12,180, Garngour, Clarks and Teiglum 12 gimmers £3596.25, Craighead four gimmers £1299.37, Ettrick and Tima nine gimmers £5670, Knock seven gimmers £3697, Boghouse seven gimmers £945, Cambwell 13 gimmers £1768, Grougfoot 11 gimmers £1121.59, Procters six gimmers £13,685, Usk Vale five gimmers £2268, Watchknowe nine gimmers £519 (Lawrie and Symington).

Centre record at Longtown Ladies The seventh Longtown Ladies Sale saw a new centre record set for a Texel female when Alan Blackwood’s Auldhouseburn flock sold a gimmer at 8000gns.

Taking the day’s top call was BYZ1923078, a daughter of the 125,000gns Rhaeadr Best of the Best out of a Hullhouse-bred dam by Garngour Vodka and in-lamb to Bellefield Double Dutch. She sold carrying a single and was bought by Gordon Gray, Ettrick and Steven Renwick, Craig Douglas, both Selkirk.

Second best at 6400gns was another from the same home, BYZ192290, a daughter of the 125,000gns Rhaeadr

Best of the Best out of a dam by the 120,000gns Sportsmans A Star and inlamb to Bellefield Double Dutch. Scanned in lamb with a single, she sold to J Cubitt, Ballymena.

Following her at 4000gns was another of the Auldhouseburn consignment, BYZ1923071. This Sportsmans A Star daughter is out of a dam by Knap Vicious Sid and was again offered carrying to Double Dutch. Scanned with twins she found a new home with T Kenny, Ballinasloe, Galway.

And then at 3600gns was Alan Blackwood’s fourth of the pen, BYZ1922927. Again by Best of the Best, she is out of a Clinterty Yuga Khan daughter and sold in-lamb to Sportsmans Dazzler. Buying her was Barry Farrell, Skryne, Meath, for the Oberstown flock.

A trio then sold at 3200gns, with the first of these being a Knap gimmer from Robert Cockburn, CKP1903937. She’s by Auldhouseburn Billy The Kid and out of a dam by Tamnamoney Ultimate. From the same family as the 145,000gns Vicious Sid, she sold carrying to Sportsmans Cannon Ball and was bought by the Smith family for the Penparc flock, Welshpool.

Second at this level was one from Steven Renwick, Craig Douglas. This was XSR1920802, a twin-born daughter of Knock Bantastic out of a Haddo Whisky Galore daughter and in-lamb with triplets to Sportsmans Cannon Ball. She sold to J Pirie, Stirling.

The final 3200gns call came for a ewe hogg from Donald and Sarah MacPherson, Hexel. Selling at this money was MZH2000629, a Hexel Born To Be Wild daughter out of a dam by Clinterty You Cracker. She was knocked down to Evistones Farming, Otterburn.

Making 3000gns was another of Steven Renwick’s consignment, XSR1920754.

This one is a Knock Bantastic daughter out of a dam by Glenside Ring A Ding and in-lamb to Sportsmans Cannon Ball.

Buying her were T Douglas and Son, Yarrow.

Averages; 19 ewe hoggs £899.13, 85 gimmers £1124.98 (CD Auction Marts).

Rugley retiral sale sees high demand Performance genetics were in high demand at the final retiral sale for Alan and Lorna Jackson’s Rugley flock, with prices peaking at 4200gns.

Leading the way was JER1909287, an Allanfauld Archduke daughter out of a dam by Beeford Warrior and in-lamb to the 9000gns Mullan Chancellor. She sold with an index in the top 5% of the breed and was bought by Esmor Evans, Mold.

Then at 2200gns was JER1909348, a daughter of homebred sire Rugley Best Ever and out of a dam by Roxburgh Shotgun Willie. She sold with an index in the top 10% of the breed and again in lamb to Chancellor. This one found a new home with John Elliot, Roxburgh.

The same buyer then paid 2000gns for JER1909283, another by Best Ever and this time out of a Hightecs Yorick daughter. She sold carrying to Corriecravie Benchmark and with an index in the top 1% of the breed.

Handbank Best of the sale for the consignment from the Payne family’s Handbank flock was a 550gns call for PRH1900925, a

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Cambwell Arnie daughter out of a dam

by Stonebridge Stevie’s Wonder and inlamb to Stonebridge Charlie. She sold to William Moseley, Sheffield.

Averages; Rugley three aged ewes £682.50, 72 gimmers £875.73; Handbank 10 gimmers £456.75, nine ewe lambs £207.66 (Harrison and Hetherington).

Second best call at 3200gns was shared by two, the first of which was a Templepark gimmer from the Herdman family in the form of HKP1901711.

She’s by Far Hey Billy The Kid and out of a dam by Llangwm Vantastic. She was offered in-lamb to Sportsmans Dynamite and sold to Martin Moore, Coole, Co Westmeath.

Okehall lamb leads Derbyshire Dazzlers

The other at this price was another from the Milnbank consignment, LYM1903498.

Sired by Auldhouseburn Billy The Kid, she is out of a dam by Strathbogie Untouchable and sold carrying to Teiglum Dancing Brave. Taking this one home was Martin McGuiness, Kilcurry, Dundalk.

A ewe lamb from Mike Turner’s Okehall flock was the star performer at the Derbyshire Dazzlers sale, taking a 3100gns bid.

This was TMO2000140, a Strathbogie Boombastic daughter out of a ewe by the noted Garngour Alabama. She sold after spirited bidding and was bought in a two-way split by Ben Vernon, Charben and Robert Cockburn, Knap.

Next best at 2300gns was an in-lamb gimmer from Messrs Boden and Davies’ Sportsmans flock in the form of BGS1903765. She’s by Garngour Alabama and out of a dam by Pant Wolf. Selling with an index in the top 5% of the breed and in-lamb to Gargnour Detroit, she was the pick of Harley Turner.

Following her at 1100gns was another ewe lamb from Mike Turner, TMO2000145. She’s by Drumbreddan Centre of Attention and out of a Glenside Willie Winkie daughter and was sold to Eamonn Vaughan, Partridge Nest.

Averages; two aged ewes £399, 23 gimmers £600.60, 19 ewe lambs £651 (Leek Auctions).

Ballymena Babes hits 3800gns high Robbie Wilson’s Milnbank flock made a successful start to the New Year taking the top call of 3800gns at the Ballymena Babes Sale in early January.

Top call came for LYM1903577, a Cowal Bucking Bronco daughter out of a dam

by Aman Vyrnwy and in-lamb to the 30,000gns Teiglum Dancing Brave. She sold to Jonathan Rees, Abergele.

Following her at 2800gns was the best of the day from Stephen McNeilly, Drumadowney. This was SPF1900366, a Greenstar Alfie daughter out of a dam

by Halbeath VIP and in-lamb to Midlock Yorkie. She sold to Messrs Simpson and Calvin, Ballymoney.

Then came a 2400gns call for another from Robbie Wilson, LYM1903640. She’s

by Cowal Bucking Bronco and out of a Milnbank Van Wilder daughter. Again in-lamb to Teiglum Dancing Brave she sold to Mark McMenamin, Lifford, Co Donegal.

Averages; 57 gimmers £959.37 (Ballymena Livestock Market).

North West Sale hits 2200gns In-lamb gimmers peaked at 2200gns at the North West Texel Breeders Club Sale, J36, with the Procters flock taking the top call with a gimmer by Sportsmans Batman.

This was PFD1903189, with her dam being a Llangwm Wario daughter. Sold carrying to Llyfni Droog and with an index in the top 10% of the breed, she was knocked down in a split deal to R Watkins and D J Watkins.

Next best at 2000gns, was one from the Sportsmans flock of Messrs Boden and Davies, with this being BGS1903792.

She’s by Fordafourie Amalert and out of a dam by Strathbogie Whiplash. Sold carrying to Midlock De Niro and with an index in the top 10% of the breed, she was bought by A & M Skidmore, Tebay.

Following her at the same money was another from the same home, BGS1903785. Sired by Deveronvale Ace of Diamonds she is out of a Knock Will.I.Am daughter and was again offered carrying to De Niro. Buying this one was Chris Ball, Llantilio Crossenny.

Then making 1800gns was another of the Sportsmans pen, BGS1903749. She’s a Plasucha Big Gun daughter out of a dam

by Cairnam Talisman and sold in-lamb to the Sire of the Year, Garngour Craftsman.

Buying this one was J Slone, Dalton in Furness.

Averages; 77 gimmers £861.82, 13 ewe lambs £442.19 (North West Auctions).

Shropshire and Borders Sale hits 4500gns The Shropshire and Borders Club female sale at Welshpool saw Cefyn Pryce’s Caereinion flock lead the way, with a 4500gns sale.

This sale topper, PEC1900772, is by Langford Adder Again and out of a dam by the homebred Caereinion Number One. She sold carrying to Caereinion Diamond and was bought by D J Curran, Talgarth.

Then at 1900gns was the best from Robert Pierce’s Oldford flock, PRE1901164, a gimmer by Garngour Alabama out of an Eden Valley Warrior King daughter and in-lamb to Craig Douglas Dancer. She was knocked down to Rowlands Farming and Forestry, Howey.

Older ewes Topping a small entry of older ewes was one from the Draper family’s Claybury flock, DHL1801314 at 1500gns.

She’s by Strathbogie Youi and out of a Stainton Vantage II daughter. In-lamb to Strathbogie Cannonball she sold locally to Steve and Helen Smith, Penparc.

Ewe lambs The Claybury flock also lead the empty ewe lambs at 1600gns with DHL2001647, a Scholars Yahoo daughter out of a dam

by Stainton Vantage II. She sold to join J Foster, Northern Ireland.

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Another Claybury lamb, DHL2001660, then made 1500gns when selling to the same buyer. She’s by Strathbogie Cannonball and out of a dam by Scholars Yahoo.

Averages; aged ewes £800.63, shearling ewes £860.30, ewe lambs £688.23 (Welshpool Livestock Sales).

Procters on form at Skipton

Leading Skipton was this Sportsmans Batman daughter from Procters Farm.

Last week’s Northern Area Texel Breeders Club sale at Skipton saw the Procters flock take the top three prices, with in-lamb gimmers hitting a high of 3200gns.

Sale topper was a Sportsmans Batman daughter out of a Teiglum Younggun dam and a full sister to the Procters Farm 14,000gns sale topper at the January Gems sale in Ballymena the previous week. She sold carrying to Llyfni Droog and was the pick of Ben Lowe for the Rue Wood flock.

Taking second top call of 2600gns for Procters Farm was another Batman daughter from the same family as the 46,000gns gimmer sold at last year’s Select Seven sale. She is out of a Strathbogie Ya Belter dam and again sold in-lamb to Llyfni Droog carrying twins, she travelled north of the border when joining David Morrison, Dalwyne, Ayrshire.

Completing the leading price Procters Farm hat-trick at 1700gns was a gimmer by the 12,000gns Fordafourie Balvennie, again out of a Teiglum Younggun dam.

Scanned carrying twins to the Batman son, Procters Dingo Dollar, she found a new home in Wales with Dyfed Hedd Jones, Pwllheli.

Averages; gimmers £718.84, ewe lambs £931.87 (CCM).

Roxburgh flock takes top at Kelso Crackers

And making 2000gns was IJS1903648.

She’s again by Yes Sir and is out of an Untouchable dam. She sold in-lamb to Dance Monkey and was taken by E Hogg.

John Elliot’s Roxburgh flock took the top two prices at the Kelso Crackers in-lamb sale, Carlisle, when selling at 3800gns and 3500gns.

Solway and Tyne sale hits 2200gns

First away at 3800gns was EJR1904326, a Haymount Arnott daughter out of a dam

by Craig Farm Yazza. She sold in-lamb to Canllefaes Bright Spark and was knocked down to Greenarch Texels, Cheshire.

Robbie Wilson’s Milnbank flock enjoyed strong trading at the Solway and Tyne Club’s in-lamb sale, taking three of the top four prices, including the sale topper at 2200gns.

The same buyer then paid 3500gns for the next in the ring, EJR1904066, a Midlock Youre The One daughter out of a dam by Craig Farm Yazza and again served by Bright Spark.

Leading the way was LYM1903164, a Cowal Bucking Bronco daughter out of a dam by Glenside Willy Nilly and in-lamb with twins to Sportsmans Dirty Harry. She was bought by Messrs Roots, Dumfries.

Next best at 1700gns was one from the Priestley family’s Brontemoor flock, PSR1903328. This Brijon Warlord daughter is out of a dam by Glenway Upper Class and sold carrying triplets to Logie Durno Braveheart. Taking her were Messrs Smith and Son, Alford, Aberdeenshire.

Averages; eight Roxburgh gimmers £2021.25, six Duhonw gimmers £962.50, 13 Haymount gimmers £730.96, 10 Brijon gimmers £981.75, six Brontemoor gimmers £918.75 (Harrison and Hetherington).

Strathbogie tops Northern Lights The Northern Lights Sale, Hilltown, saw a top call of 2300gns, with Aberdeenshirebased James Innes’ Strathbogie flock taking many of the leading prices.

Topping the sale list was IJS1903570 from the Strathbogie offering, with this one being by Sportsmans Benchmark and out of a dam by Glenside Wild Boy. She sold carrying to Knap Don Diablo.

Then at 2200gns was IJS1903576, another by Benchmark and out of a Wild Boy dam. In-lamb to Milnbank Dance Monkey, she sold to Joseph Breen.

Close behind at 2100gns was IJS1903678, again from the Innes family. This is a Strathbogie Yes Sir daughter out of a dam

by Strathbogie Untouchable and in-lamb to Knap Don Diablo.

(Hilltown Livestock Mart).

Then at 2000gns was LYM1903647, a Garngour Alabama daughter out of a dam by Strathbogie Untouchable and inlamb to Teiglum Dancing Brave. She sold to Messrs Cochran, Darwen, Lancashire.

Averages; 30 gimmers £1118.25, one ewe lamb £210 (Harrison and Hetherington).

Records tumble at Northern Stars sale The Northern Stars in-lamb sale at Ballymena saw a brace of records set, with separate records set for the record price for a female sold in Northern Ireland and the record price for a Northern Irish bred female.

Setting the first new mark at 40,000gns was a gimmer from Muirkirk, Ayrshirebased vendor Alan Blackwood with BYZ1922921 from the Auldhouseburn flock.

This daughter of the 125,000gns Rhaeadr Best of the Best is out of a dam by Clinterty Yuga Khan and sold carrying twins to the world record priced 350,000gns Sportsmans Double Diamond. She was bought in a two-way split by Boden and Davies, Sportsmans and Stuart Barclay, Harestone.

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Selling at 40,000gns at the Northern Stars was this Auldhouseburn gimmer.

Selling at 26,000gns was Alastair Gault’s GAF1902486

Sportsmans gimmer shines at Christmas Stars The Boden family continued their tremendous year in Texels, when taking the top call of 20,000gns at the Christmas Stars Sale, Carlisle.

Taking the second top price of the day at 26,000gns and setting a new record for a female bred in Northern Ireland was Alastair Gault, Forkins, with GAF1902486.

Sired by Clarks Bolt and out of a Teiglum Vigilante daughter, she scanned carrying to Lakeview Dirty Dancer and was knocked down to Boden and Davies, Sportsmans.

Alan Blackwood was back in the money when selling BYZ1922929, a full sister to the 40,000gns gimmer, at 12,000gns.

In-lamb to Bellefield Double Dutch, a Harestone Crackerjack son she joins Craig Campbell for his Highfield Flock, Cumbria.

Guest consignors the Boden family then took 9500gns for a Garngour Alabama daughter BGS1903684 out of a 16,000gns Strathbogie ewe, sired

by Glenside Wild Boy, purchased at the Christmas Stars in 2017. She sold in-lamb to new service sire, Garngour Detroit a Procters Chumba Wumba son and was bought by Alan Blackwood, Auldhouseburn.

Getting the sale off to a flying start was another from the same home with the first lot from this consignment, attracting a flurry of bids for a Plasucha Big Gun daughter, BGS190368. She’s out of a Teiglum Younggun dam and sold scanned in-lamb with twins to the 65,000gns Garngour Craftsman. She saw the hammer drop at 9000gns and heads back across the Irish Sea to John Sherratt, Wem, Shropshire.

The Sportsmans and Mellor Vale pen saw another Alabama daughter BGS1903672 hit 8000gns. Out of a Knap Vicious Sid sired dam she is a full sister to the 100,000gns Sportsmans Batman. In-lamb again to Detroit she joins Stuart Barclay’s Harestone flock, Aberdeenshire.

Alastair Gault then took the same money for GAF1902477, a Clarks Bolt daughter out of a dam sired by Duncryne Uber Cool. She sold in-lamb with twins to Procters Cocktail and was another to join Alan Blackwood’s Auldhouseburn flock.

Richard Henderson’s Ballynahone flock saw his pen leader sell for 4800gns.

This was HBR1901235, a Scotsman Ace daughter out of a Tamnamoney bred dam sired by Tophill Yankee Boy. She sold with twins in her by Tullagh Dragon to John Foster for the Springhill flock.

Roger Strawbridge then saw his topper from Tamnamoney sell at 4500gns. Taking this price was SRY1901916 which sold to Alastair Gault for his Forkins flock. She is a Scotsman Avicii daughter out of a dam by Tophill Yankee Boy. She sold inlamb with a single pregnancy to Procters Cocktail.

Averages; Sportsmans and Mellor Vale 12 gimmers £4241.66, Forkins 17 gimmers £3114.70, Auldhouseburn eight gimmers £9625, Clougher and Bushmills eight gimmers £637.50, Ballynahone 15 gimmers £1033.33, Tamnamoney 18 gimmers £2094.44 (Ballymena Livestock Mart).

Their sale topper, BGS1903668, is

by Garngour Alabama and out of a dam by Knap Vicious Sid and is a full sister to the 100,000gns Sportmans Batman. Sold in-lamb with twins to the 65,000gns Garngour Craftsman, sire of the 350,000gns Sportsmans Double Diamond, this gimmer has an index in the top 5% of the breed and sold to the Barclay family for the Harestone flock, Aberdeenshire.

Next best and the only other five figure sale of the day was an 18,000gns bid for a Cowal gimmer from the Campbell family.

This was CKC1911042, a daughter of Plasucha All Star and out of a dam again

by Vicious Sid. She was sold in-lamb to Hexel Django and was bought by the Boden family.

Then making 8000gns was the best from the sale of the adult portion of Keith Jamieson’s Annan flock. This was the first gimmer from Annan, JKA1900866, a daughter of the 70,000gns Teiglum Younggun out of a dam by Knock Yardsman and sold carrying to Procters Crackerjack. Buying this one was Willy Davis for the Usk Vale flock, Pontypool.

And making the same money was another from the Boden family, BGS1903716, a Deveronvale Ace of Diamonds daughter out of a dam

by Knock Will.I.Am and in-lamb to Garngour Craftsman. She sold carrying twins and was taken by P Castle for the Ulmus flock, Peterborough.

At 6000gns was Robert Cockburn’s best of the sale from the Knap pen,

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ONH1900794, a twin born daughter of the 23,000gns Peacehay Ya Belter out of a dam by Hartside Volt and sold in-lamb to the 5000gns Claddagh Dynamite. She was bought by A P Prince, Little Stretton, Shropshire.

Leading trade at the Christmas Stars was this Sportsmans gimmer at 20,000gns

Halbeath’s topper at Worcester sold for 2000gns

And a final 5000gns call came late in the day for a Strathbogie gimmer from the Innes family. This was IJS1903668, a Sportsmans Benchmark daughter out of a dam by Strathbogie Untouchable and in-lamb to Knap Don Diablo. This one was the pick of Rob Evans for the Hope Valley flock.

Second top at 18,000gns was CKC1911042 from the Campbells.

CKP1903930. She’s by Sportsmans Unbeatable and out of a Milnbank Sound Investment-sired dam. Selling in-lamb to Sportsmans Cannonball, she was knocked down to Stephen Cobbald, Acton, Suffolk.

Close behind at 5500gns was another from Keith Jamieson, this time a two-crop ewe, JKA1700626. She’s by Teiglum Wiseguy and out of a Procters Vagabond daughter. In-lamb to Procters Crackerjack, she found a new home with J Pritchard, Rochester, Tyne and Wear.

Three then traded at 5000gns, with the first of these being from Graham Morrison’s Deveronvale flock in the form of MGV1901495. She’s by the homebred Deveronvale Aftershock and out of a Deveronvale Youre On Top daughter.

In-lamb to Knap Don Diablo, she was bought by Lee Beacon, Fivemiletown, Co Tyrone.

The next at this money was from Robbie Wilson’s Milnbank flock, LYM1903477.

Sired by Auldhouseburn Billy The Kid, she’s out of a Strathbogie Untouchable dam and sold carrying to Sportsmans Dirty Harry. Buying her was David Moir, Fraserburgh, Aberdeenshire.

Averages; Annan 17 flock ewes £1575, nine gimmers £2671.66, Cowal eight gimmers £4948.12, Knap 14 gimmers £2295, Fordafourie five gimmers £1806, Glenside eight gimmers £1043.75, Midlock eight gimmers £2303.44, Deveronvale 11 gimmers £1407.95, Hilltop six gimmers £1487.50, Milnbank nine gimmers £2496.66, Sportsmans and Mellor Vale nine gimmers £5086.66, Strathbogie 10 gimmers £2142, Clinterty six gimmers £586.25 (Harrison and Hetherington).

Halbeath lead Christmas Present sale at 2000gns The long journey from Fife to Worcester proved worthwhile for the Orr family’s consignment of gimmers from the Halbeath flock at the Christmas Present Sale for the Gloucester and Borders Club.

Taking five of the top six prices on the day the flock lead the way with a 2000gns call for their gimmer

Second best of the day at 1900gns was a ewe lamb from James Theyer’s Clanfield flock, THE2000631. This one is by Usk Vale Cloud 9 and out of a dam by Strathbogie Yabba Dabba Doo. With an index in the top 25% of the breed she was bought by the Mutch family, Witney, Oxfordshire.

Two from Halbeath then sold at 1600gns with the first of these being ONH1900773, another by Ya Belter and this time out of Teiglum Topper daughter.

She again sold carrying to Dynamite and was knocked down to Monnow Marquees, Monmouth.

Second at this level was ONH1900821, a daughter of the homebred Halbeath BMX and out of a Hartside Volt-sired dam. This one was offered carrying twins to Townhead Farm Czar and was bought

by P and K Barnes, Tamworth, Staffs.

Then at 1550gns was ONH1900772.

Again, by Ya Belter, she is out of a Volt daughter and sold in-lamb to Fordafourie Drambuie. Buying her was Paul Rowlands, Llandrindod Wells, Powys.

Also making this money was another from Halbeath, ONH1900832. She’s by Ya Belter and out of a dam by Halbeath VIP. This one was also in-lamb to Townhead Farm Czar and was also the pick of Paul Rowlands.

Next best at 1200gns was the best of the day from Jim and Nicky Hartwright’s Whitehart pen, HWN1904467, a Sportsmans Bulletproof daughter out of a dam by Cherryvale Shergar and in-lamb to Blackadder Weaver. She was again bought by Paul Rowlands.

Averages; two flock ewes £327.75, 65 gimmers £703.66, seven ewe lambs £552 (McCartneys).

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Ballygroogan gimmer tops Friday Night Lights

The MacPhersons’ ewe lamb led the Lanark Crackers at 20,000gns

Selling at 6000gns was James Wilkinson’s gimmer WVB1900690

The inaugural Friday Night Lights sale of Texel females saw James Wilkinson’s Ballygroogan lead the trade at 6000gns for a gimmer, WVB1900690.

This ET-bred daughter of Strathbogie Best Bet is out of a dam by Garngour Vertigo and sold carrying to Hexel Diamond and having been successfully shown in the flesh and online. Buying this one was the Teward family, Darlington.

Second top call of 4800gns came for the pick of the Corskie pen of Jemma Green. This was GJN1900416, a Holylee Acrobat daughter out of a dam by Glenside Valhalla and in-lamb to Ellen Valley Caesar. She sold in a three-way split to Gary Beacom, Fivemiletown, Adrian Liggett, Seskinore and John Fleck, Fivemiletown, all Northern Ireland.

3200gns came for an Auldhouseburn Bobby Dazzler daughter from Cyril and Martin Millar. This was VMG1902052, a gimmer out of a dam by Knap Vital Spark and sold with two recipients each carrying a single embryo to Hexel Diamond Joe. She herself is in-lamb to Millars Dakota and was bought by E J Green, Keith, Moray.

Then at 2600gns was one from the Orchilmore flock of Thomas Muirhead.

This was MZU1901675, a Claybury Bad Ass daughter out of a dam by Knap Vicious Sid and in-lamb to Sportsmans Deal Breaker. She was knocked down to D McKay, Rathkenny, Ballymena.

Averages; Plasucha eight gimmers £1561.87, Halbeath three gimmers £840, Penparc four gimmers £813.75,

Ballygroogan five gimmers £2625, Millars five gimmers £1869, Far Hey four gimmers £853.10, Haymount four gimmers £616.87, Corskie five gimmers £1932, Orchilmore four gimmers £1916.25, Aldan five gimmers £1113, Stainton six gimmers £1163.75, Thornbury three gimmers £665, Chedworth four ewe lambs £761.25, Charben four ewe lambs £1732.50, Clanfield four ewe lambs £1207.50 (Harrison andf Hetherington).

Hexel sets record at Lanark Crackers

Garngour Bullet daughter out of a dam

by Knap You’re The Man and in-lamb to Dunkirk again. She was knocked down to E Jones.

And at 5200gns was another Allanfauld gimmer XMM1917419. She’s by Bullet again and also out of a You’re the Man daughter. In-lamb to Douganhill Desperado she was bought by S McNeilly, Drumadowney.

The Knox family then sold their best from the Haddo flock at 4800gns, with this being KWJ1901855. She’s by Hexel Born To Be Wild and out of a dam by Garngour Vintage. Sold carrying to the 65,000gns Hexel Django, this one headed to Northern Ireland with Cyril and Martin Millar.

Donald MacPherson and family saw their ewe lamb sell with a bang when setting a new Texel ewe lamb record at 20,000gns at the Lanark Crackers sale.

Averages; 57 gimmers £1920.12, 11 ewe lambs £2787.27 (Lawrie and Symington).

Their new record holder and sale topper was MZH2000651. An ET-bred daughter of Procters Chumba Wumba out of a dam by Castlecairn Vavavoom. After spirited bidding, this one found a new home with Bruce Renwick, Castlecairn.

Ewe lamb leads Northern Diamonds

Second best of the sale at 10,000gns was a gimmer from Archie and John MacGregor’s Allanfauld flock XMM1917493. This Hilltop Brigadier daughter is out of a Tullylagan Tonka dam and sold carrying to Claybury Dunkirk when bought by James Draper, Claybury.

Trade hit 3000gns at the Northern Diamond’s in-lamb sale at Ballymena, with this price paid for an empty ewe lamb from Stewart Ferris’ Bellefield flock.

Another from the same home then made 8200gns, with this being XMM1917459, a

Taking the top call was a Harestone Crackerjack daughter, AFB2000643. She is ET bred out of a Tamnamoney dam by Knap Wot A Nut. Buying this one were Bushvalley Texels, Ballymoney.

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Following her at 2300gns was the best of the day from Cyril and Martin Millar, VMG1902039, an ET bred gimmer by Auldhouseburn Bobby Dazzler out of a dam by Knap Vital Spark and in-lamb to Hexel Diamond Joe. She sold with an ET pregnancy alongside her and was bought

by Andrew Cox, Pettigo, Co Donegal.

Making 2200gns was sale leader from the Maineview flock of Andrew Kennedy, KMR1901043. She’s by Auldhouseburn Bobby Dazzler and out of an Allanfauld Warlord daughter. Sold carrying to Tamnamoney Decimus, she was the pick of Mark Patterson, Alderview.

Also making 2200gns was Mark Patterson’s gimmer from his Alderview consignment, PTT1900281. She’s by the homebred Alderview Barrister out of a dam by Baltier Thunderbird and sold carrying to Kingspark Dynamite. She found a new home with Andrew Kennedy, Maineview.

Usk Vale tops Dyfed Sale A ewe lamb from Willy Davis’ Usk Vale flock came out on top at the recent Dyfed Texel Club Sale at Brecon, finally getting knocked down at 2900gns, the lamb sired by the 25,000gns Hope Valley C The Stars and out of one of the flock’s best breeding lines was knocked down to Shae Price’s Gereafon flock.

Next was another lamb from the same pen, she was sold for 1800gns to John Neville, Ireland, this one is by Hexel Born To Be Wild and out of the flock’s great Knock line.

Best of the yearling ewes came from the Davies family’s Teilo flock. She is sired by the 52,000gns Clinterty Yogi Bear and scanned carrying twins to the new stock sire Aman Difrifol.

After plenty of competition she sold for 1000gns to Rowlands Farming, who also took several other lots on the night. The Teilo flock also sold an Arkle Captain Flash sired ewe lamb, for 900gns to Charlie Asher.

Averages; three flock ewes £441, 23 gimmers £556.50, 13 ewe lambs £751.80 (McCartneys).

January Gems to 14,000gns Guest consignor Procters Farm enjoyed the best of the trade at the January Gems sale, Ballymena, with the Lancashire-based flock taking bids of 14,000gns and 11,000gns.

The sale leader, PFD1903220, a twin-born daughter of the 100,000gns Sportsmans Batman is out of a dam by the 70,000gns Teiglum Younggun and is from the same family as the 12,000gns Procters Cheeky Monkey. This one headed back across the Irish sea again to join Carl Bellis, Denbigh, carrying twins to the 350,000gns Sportsmans Double Diamond.

Second best of the sale at 11,000gns was PFD1903137 from the same pen and again by Batman. She was another offered in-lamb to Double Diamond and sold to the McCollam family, Crumlin, for the Carmavy flock.

Claiming the third highest price of the day at 6000gns were Adrian Liggett and Brian Williamson, Corbo and Farmhill flocks with their Strathbogie Best Bet daughter, WBO1900193. She sold in lamb to the 3000gns Tullagh Dragon and moves South to join Donna Vidal’s Flock in Trim, Co Meath.

Selling at 5000gns was another from the Procters consignment. PFD1903467 is a daughter of Fordafourie Balvenie out of a Tophill Union Jack dam which is a full sister to the 8000gns Procters Vagabond.

Scanned with a single pregnancy to Procters Dingo Dollar, a Batman son, she joins Ashley Dickson’s Lonicera flock, Castlederg.

From the Corbo and Farmhill pen WBO1900199 changed hands for 4200gns to Limavady breeder Martin Warnock for his Straidarran Flock. She is another Best Bet daughter out of a Springwell Viera dam in lamb to the 17,000gns Sportsmans Cannon Ball.

Averages; 18 Blue Gates gimmers £938.88, 13 Curley gimmers £1361.53, 11 Corbo and Farmhill females £2181.90, eight Straidarran gimmers £900, eight Procters gimmers £4750 (Ballymena Livestock Mart).

Topping the January Gems at 14,000gns for Procters Farm was PFD1903220

Second best for Procters at 11,000gns was PFD1903137

Kitrob sale sees 1800gns peak Leading the prices at 1800gns at the Kitrob production sale for the Jones family was a one-crop ewe by Deveronvale Warrior, JOK1801214.

She is out of a Baltier Panther-sired dam and sold carrying to Auldhouseburn Dam-Buster and with an index in the top 25% of the breed. She sold to A D Jack, Muir of Ord. Then making 1400gns and also heading to the north of Scotland was JOK1801229, another by Deveronvale Warrior and out of a dam by Carran Upper Class. She sold carrying to Teiglum Dream Dragon and with an index in the top 1% when bought by W J Jack and Sons, Muir of Ord. Next up at 1100gns was JOK1801227, another Warrior sired one-crop ewe inlamb to Auldhouseburn Dam-Buster. She is out of an Upper Class-sired dam and sold with a single embryo by Dam-Buster and out of a full sister. Buying this one was previous buyer A D Jack.

Averages; 13 aged ewes £827.88, 18 gimmers £346.50, 10 ewe lambs £253.11 (Harrison and Hetherington).

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Texelplus delivers commercially valuable gains

T

exelplus is the Society’s genetic improvement service, providing members with an objective way to assess the genetic potential of animals selected for breeding.

Performance recording in Texel flocks forms the backbone of improving genetic progress in the UK sheep industry, explains Society data and technical services manager, Ed Smith. “With 29% of sires used in the UK being Texels and Texel genetics present within more than 12% of the national maternal flock, the impact of improvements within the breed is vast across the wider industry.”

In 2020, 145 flocks recorded performance data on more than 7500 lambs, these were sired by 418 males out of more than 4000 genetic dams. The texelplus flocks bred 782 (30.7%) of the 2548 sires used to produce birthnotified lambs in 2020 and these animals sired 17,651 (33.9%) of the 52,048 lambs, he says “Over the past 10 years, breeding values for early measures of growth: eight-week weights and scan weights have steadily increased in the recorded population. For animals born in 2020 that had data recorded, the average eight-week weight breeding value was 2.45 compared to 0.66 in 2011.

“This means that the average animal weighed 1.8kg more at eight weeks in 2020 compared to 2011 and would pass on half of this potential to its offspring.

The figures for scan weights are similarly increased with 2020-born animals predicted to weigh almost 4.5 kg more at scanning compared to those born in 2011 (Fig. 1).”

For commercial lamb producers this genetic progress means that lambs by texelplus sires now have the potential to be 2.25kg heavier at 20 weeks old. “This extra gain is commercially valuable in a number of ways. Firstly, lambs are ready for slaughter quicker. This saves costs on-farm and often means lambs are sold when prices are better, meaning they are worth more too.

“In addition, lambs which are sold sooner help reduce a farm’s carbon footprint and give farmers the chance to better manage grass for ewes later in the year.”

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Crossbred lambs sired by texelplus sires born in 2020 have the potential to be 2.25kg heavier at 20 weeks old than lambs by texelplus sires born in 2011.

decade ago, significantly increasing the prices they can achieve,” believes Dr Smith.

Individual texelplus member flocks can see the corresponding genetic trends figures for their own flocks through the reports page on iTexel, under the links for ‘Texelplus - My Flock Genetic Trends’.

“Here members will also find reports on individual male and female animals, with all their current breeding values listed; and whole breed reports including the top stock males and ram lambs reports,” he adds.

What is the Society’s Phenotype Farm initiative?

A proportion of texelplus members also form the Society’s Phenotype Farm Initiative that underpins the only genomic reference population in the UK sheep industry.

This initiative comprises 27 flocks that have their female population genotyped and phenotyped for the hard-tomeasure traits of footrot and mastitis. Each year between 500 – 1000 new animals are genotyped and their scores are added to the research data. To date more than 4000 pedigree ewes have been genotyped and phenotyped.

When coupled with the Society-funded ram registration genotypes, the Society now has access to genotypic data on more than 12,000 individual animals. While this is an excellent research resource, the Society’s aim is to publish genomic information on health traits, further supporting texelplus and the breed’s genetic progress.

Further information on the Society breed development strategy can be found at https://texel.uk/breeddevelopment-15/

Commercial flocks

Fig. 1. Trend in numbers of animals with a recorded scan weight and average scan weight EBV over ten years.

texelplus flocks also provide sires for the Society’s commercial phenotyping activity and for ongoing research activities. Each year a small number of sires are provided by the Society to commercial lamb producers, these are mated in single-sire groups to produce lambs of known sire. The lambs are reared and selected for slaughter onfarm with no input from the Society.

Average muscle depth breeding values have fluctuated over the last 10 years, but have been steadily increasing since 2013, says Dr Smith. “On average, animals that were scanned last year had a muscle depth EBV of 0.31, compared to 0.05 in 2011, indicating that animals born in 2020 had 0.25mm more muscle than those born 10 years earlier.

All lambs are sent to ABP for slaughter and the collection of VIA (video image analysis) data on their carcasses, continuing the data collection that was started in the Society’s VIA project completed in collaboration with ABP and SRUC. These data are stored by the Society to grow its VIA database.

“Over the same period, the average breeding values [in scanned animals] for fat depth have decreased by the same margin: from -0.18 to -0.43, indicating that animals born in 2020 have 0.25mm less fat than those born in 2011.

The ultimate aim is to produce robust breeding values for Texel animals that will predict slaughter traits in commercial crossbred offspring. The VIA project developed the genetic parameters required to produce EBVs and demonstrated that Texel-sired lambs perform extremely well in the abattoir with 86.0% of more than 3000 lambs sired by 80 sires over two years classed as inspec. The VIA scanner is also able to accurately estimate levels of muscle, fat and bone in each carcass.

“Collectively these changes in breeding values of recorded animals suggest that Texels born in 2020 grew faster and produced more muscle and less fat than the animals born a

Technical Corner texel.uk

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developments continue apace

U

sing feedback from members, the Society continues to develop the functionality available to all members through iTexel, to improve the user experience and make flock viewing and management simpler.

Over the winter there have been several improvements to the site that directly benefit members and enable Society staff to better support them.

The Flock List report has been improved so that sire and dam details for animals are now presented along with birth and registration details for all animals in your flock, explains Ed Smith, Society data and technical services manager.

iTexel users can now send themselves a confirmation email of changes made when using the Flock Admin page of iTexel

“The Flock Admin page has been improved so that animal information pages can be directly accessed through hyperlinks from the animal list.

“Clicking on an animal’s flock book number in Flock Admin will now open a new page with the animal’s iTexel information page showing pedigree and registration details with links to owner / breeder information and breeding values where available,” says Dr Smith.

“The Flock Admin page has also been further improved by the addition of an email function, located next to the save button.

Now any changes made by members in Flock Admin are stored by the database and a summary can be requested by clicking on the envelope icon. This will email the flock’s registered email address with all changes made since the last email was sent.”

The Society has also marked any unproductive animals as dead in the database, this has the effect of removing them from active flock lists and makes managing your flock online simpler, says Dr Smith.

“Any ewe that has not had a lamb recorded against it for three years and sires over four years old have been marked as dead.

This resulted in more than 75,000 animals being updated to benefit members’ online experiences.

Clicking an animal within the Flock Admin page now opens the animal’s details on a separate screen, including registration and pedigree details

“The Flock Admin screen will be improved further with the addition of filters to enable members to view different sections of their flock more easily. Proposed filters include sex, registration status, year of birth and combinations thereof,” he explains The Society will also develop a new inbreeding calculator function within iTexel that will allow all members to predict the inbreeding coefficient (F value) of lambs born from the mating of any sire with any ewe in the member’s flock. This function will work on all of the latest devices and help all members to make more informed purchasing and breeding decisions. In conjunction with this the Society also plan to make the F figure more visible on screens throughout iTexel.

“Brexit has also resulted in some changes to the certification rules for overseas members as the Society are now not able to produce Zootechnical certificates for animals that are not in UK flocks. The certification functionality of iTexel has been updated to ensure the Society do not breach these new regulations.”

“A new development will also allow members to transfer purchased fully registered male and female animals into their own flocks without the need to contact the Society office or provide a proof of purchase,” says Dr Smith.

The Society has also contracted its software developers, Rezare Systems, to develop more online tools for members over the coming months, with the aim of maximising the impact of the available budget.

“This function will be initiated by the purchaser requesting transfer of animals and may require confirmation from the vendor to complete the transfer. The Society will still need to be involved in the registration (and transfer) of birth notified male animals due to the requirement of a DNA sample as part of the male registration process.”

“Initial developments will include adding more information to ewe cards on the Record Lambs screen post lambing, to make it clear to members the IDs of lambs that have been added to each ewe. This should help members check that they have added animals correctly.

Other proposed developments include enabling members to request email confirmation of their entries into a particular sale; and giving members the ability to edit the sex of any unregistered animals in their flocks, he adds.

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texelplus ram lambs averaged

2020-born texelplus lambs are

36% more than

4.5kg heavier

texelplus ram lambs achieved

2020-born texelplus lambs had

non-recorded lambs at 2020 English National Sale

8% higher

clearance rate at 2020 Welsh National Sale

at 20 weeks than texelplus lambs in 2011

0.25mm more loin muscle than texelplus lambs born in 2011

34%

of all texel lambs born in 2020 were sired by texelplus rams

Getting involved with texelplus is as easy as 1, 2, 3

1

Record birth weight and lambing ease along with pedigree data at lambing

2

Record lamb weights at eight weeks of age

3

Ultrasound scan lambs at 35-40kg

Sign up today by visiting texel.uk/texelplus or emailing registrations@texel.co.uk

Inbreeding within the national pedigree Texel flock

I

nbreeding is something which concerns some breeders more than others, but which, arguably, all breeders should be paying attention to at some level.

As Society technical and data services manager Ed Smith explains: “Inbreeding is essentially the mating of related individuals or of individuals with shared ancestors.

“And while linebreeding can be used to establish desirable traits within a family or flock, it is a form of inbreeding and the offspring should be carefully monitored for any undesirable characteristics.

“A balance needs to be maintained between selecting animals to optimise rates of genetic gain and minimise levels of inbreeding,” he says.

While some level of inbreeding cannot be avoided for most pedigree breeds and inbreeding risk should not be the only selection consideration, reducing the inbreeding load in a population is a valuable goal, says Dr Smith.

An individual animal’s level of inbreeding is reported as a percentage and presented in iTexel as the Inbreeding coefficient (or F) value. A minimum of five generations are required to give confidence in the calculated inbreeding coefficients.

“This is one of the benefits of the pedigree flock book and iTexel registry service provided by the Society and another reason to maintain accurate records.

Understanding the risks associated with inbreeding and knowing how breeding decisions will impact future generations is being made easier with the Society’s new inbreeding decision calculator.

“Increasing levels of inbreeding can result in inbreeding depression, where performance can suffer. Studies in other sheep breeds have demonstrated that as inbreeding increases ewe breeding weights and fertility are reduced and lamb birth and weaning weights are lower.

“It can be argued that any animal is only one mating away from being outbred and there are examples of this in iTexel from well-managed outbred matings, such as the ram lamb below from the Incheoch flock (Fig. 1). The lamb’s sire and dam both had F values higher than that determined in the lamb itself.

Indeed, two unrelated animals, each with a high F value could be mated to each other to produce outbred offspring with a low inbreeding coefficient,” adds Dr Smith.

“In general, the lower the level of inbreeding the better, though a threshold value of 7% has been determined to be an acceptable level of inbreeding within a breeding programme,” he explains.

The percentage estimate of inbreeding is based on the relatedness of individuals in a pedigree and examples of percentage inbreeding values for different matings are presented in Table 1.

Table 1. Expected level of inbreeding from example matings Relationship Father x daughter or mother x son Brother x sister Grandfather x granddaughter or grandmother x grandson Half-brother x half-sister Uncle x niece or aunt x nephew Great-grandfather x great-granddaughter or great-grandmother x great-grandson Half-uncle x niece or half-aunt x nephew First cousins

Inbreeding coefficient (F) 25.0 % 25.0 % 12.5 %

Fig.1. Example of an outbred lamb birth-notified in 2020.

Analysis of the average level of inbreeding in birth-notified Texels over the past ten years (Fig. 2) indicates that at the breed level, the level of inbreeding is increasing and was just below 5.5%, on average, for 2020-born animals.

6.25 %

“The overall rate of increase in inbreeding has remained unchanged over the past 10 years. For individual flocks that birth-notified five or more lambs, average flock-level inbreeding coefficients ranged from zero to more than 18%.

6.25 % 6.25 %

“Over the past 10 years the number of flocks that have an average inbreeding coefficient over 7% has risen from 59 (4.2%

12.5 % 12.5 %

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of flocks) in 2011 to 229 (16.2 %) in 2020 (Fig 3). Collectively this indicates that inbreeding should be closely monitored both at the breed level and within individual flocks; and is the responsibility of all breeders,” warns Dr Smith.

published on iTexel earlier than in previous seasons, now making this important information available prior to the sales season. This helps to inform any purchasing decisions breeders have to make.

“The Society will also release a new style inbreeding calculator/ predictor through iTexel for this breeding season. This will be simple to use on smartphones / tablets and PCs and will predict the inbreeding coefficient of lambs sired by any sire in the Society pedigree database mated to any ewe within a member’s flock,” he explains.

Members who have logins to iTexel will be able to use this software to export a report of predicted inbreeding values for different matings and make informed breeding decisions about their flocks.

Fig. 2. Numbers of birth-notified lambs with inbreeding coefficients above and below 7 % each year and the average level of inbreeding in the national pedigree Texel flock

“Keep an eye on your iTexel page and inbox for further information on this software release and how to use it.

“While the current effective population size and levels of inbreeding are acceptable at the pedigree breed level, the trends need to be monitored. Actions of breeders individually and collectively over the coming years will be better informed because of the resources the Society is making available. This will make managing animal, flock and breed levels of inbreeding simpler,” adds Dr Smith.

Fig. 3. Number of flocks with an average inbreeding coefficient above and below the 7 % threshold over time “In addition to levels of inbreeding, the pedigree breed Effective Population Size must also be considered. This is a measure that estimates the minimum number of animals that would be required to produce the lamb crop of a given year while maintaining the same level of genetic diversity; and is calculated from the number of sires and dams that produce offspring.

“This differs from the pedigree Texel census population size of all sires and dams. Over the past 10 years the effective population size of the Texel breed has been reduced by almost 900 animals (Fig. 4) indicating a reduction in genetic diversity in this time. Coupled with the increase in levels of inbreeding, this reduction means there is a greater chance of the risk of inbreeding increasing at a faster rate. A smaller effective population makes it more difficult for breeders to find suitable animals to create outbred crosses,” says Dr Smith.

The number of animals birth notified with an inbreeding value above 7% has also increased in recent years (Fig. 3) causing approximately one in six animals (16%) of all birth notifications in 2020 to have an F value above 7%. This increase appears to be driven by the increase in the use of embryo transfer (ET) technology with one in three ET lambs having an inbreeding coefficient higher than 7% in 2020 compared to one in eight non-ET lambs.

“To help Texel breeders actively manage levels of inbreeding within their flocks the Society has developed tools and resources that can be used to assist in making breeding decisions. As a result of moving to iTexel in 2020, the Society ensured that inbreeding values for individual animals were

Fig. 4. Number of lambs with an inbreeding coefficient (F) over 7 % that are birth-notified each year, proportion that are ET lambs, and pedigree Texel effective population size

Glossary Inbreeding coefficient (F) – a measure, expressed as a percentage, of the level of inbreeding within an animal Inbreeding depression – a reduction in the level of performance of an individual or population caused by increasing levels of inbreeding Effective population size – the minimum number of animals required to produce one generation whilst maintaining levels of genetic diversity Helping members to manage inbreeding • Inbreeding coefficient values available earlier in the season à make informed purchasing decisions • Inbreeding prediction calculator on iTexel later this year à make informed breeding decisions • Increasing the visibility of the F value across iTexel à be more aware of levels of inbreeding in your flock Technical Corner

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Computerised semen analysis aims to boost ET success rates

A

move to Computer Assisted Semen Analysis (CASA) is enabling Shropshire-based embryo transfer specialists Farmgene to increase the accuracy of semen assessment and build a better picture of the reasons for success or failure in ET programmes.

Farmgene founder Ian McDougall says the introduction of CASA was driven by a desire to better serve the company’s customers and achieve better results with ET work across a range of breeds.

“Texels are by far and away the most numerous breed we work with and there are many factors which affect semen quality which we can’t always fully analyse with a standard microscope and the naked eye.

“Using CASA enables us to get a far better picture of semen quality and give much better assessments of likely success,” he explains.

“Essentially CASA, which is used by all the major bovine and porcine semen companies, allows us to make far better assessments of the morphology of motile semen.

“Using a standard microscope is great for analysing morphology of non-motile semen, but when it comes to motile semen you simply can’t analyse it well enough with your own eyes. Issues such as proximal droplets are hard to pick out in motile semen, but can have a huge impact on AI and ET success rates, reducing fertilisation efficiency to below 50%.”

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Farmgene semen laboratory manager Ana Christensen says the use of CASA has meant that all frozen semen deemed suitable for use have met strict quality criteria and can then be allocated to three groups; Gold, Silver and Bronze. “Gold is the very best combination of high progressive motility and high normal morphology and will be the best choice for ET work, followed by Silver and Bronze.

“Using CASA means we can better inform clients of the chances of success. However, this is only the first step in predicting fertilisation potential.

“The next step is to look into advanced semen analysis and sperm functional tests which will allow us to determine if the sperm is capable of undergoing the changes needed in the uterus and oviduct to allow successful fertilisation and that will further enhance the service we can offer and the chances of success,” says Dr Christensen.

Mr McDougall says the company is driven by a desire to always do better and not simply repeat the same process and hope for better results the next time. “If we do all we can to better understand what has caused success or failure we can hopefully improve the results the next time around.

“There are a huge number of variables in AI and ET programmes and we record every animal we work with in a bespoke database which allows us to interrogate the data and see where we can improve or try a different tweak to the programme.”

CASA also enables Farmgene to offer reassurance when exporting semen due the higher quality of the analysis. “We can provide an accurate analysis of both semen quality and the number of sperm within a dose. For example when exporting to Scandinavia for use in cervical AI programmes we can provide a guarantee that the doses contain the required number of normal progressive sperm per dose that the buyer desires.

“We are also able to freeze semen in a variety of forms and in different extenders which is helping achieve better freezing results than have been previously achieved. In particular we are finding we are now able to freeze semen from some rams whose semen has been difficult to freeze historically.

“Semen is generally frozen in one or two dose pellets or in 0.25ml straws.

However, we’re now freezing some in 0.5ml straws in our bespoke extender and that has enabled us to freeze from rams which have previously been problematic.

“There are lots of different reasons why semen will and won’t freeze well and freezing medium and dose concentration are just the tip of the iceberg. Crucially, the 0.5ml straws have a different freezing curve to smaller sizes due to the different surface area:volume ratio and that is one factor which appears to be helping,” adds Mr McDougall.

Study finds recorded genetics offer greatest gains

I

ncreased use of progressive maternal genetics from performance recorded flocks has been shown in a desktop study to have the potential to result in a four-fold increase in monetary gain compared to the status quo.

The study, conducted as part of the Smarter project of which the Society is a partner, investigated whether the Irish sheep population would benefit from elite maternal genetics sourced from Irish or New Zealand flocks and if so how best to use those genetics to maximise gain.

In the study the genetic improvement across future generations of commercial sheep in monetary terms of alternative breeding strategies, was quantified, with a number of subpopulations modelled too, reflecting the current structure of the Irish sheep industry.

The base scenario assumed no change in current breeding strategies, while a progressive Irish scenario looked at the impact of an increased market share for performance recorded genetics.

Meanwhile, a New Zealand scenario investigated the impact of importing New Zealand rams every five years that were elite for maternal genetic merit.

The greatest monetary gain was achieved by the progressive Irish scenario, which had the potential for a four-fold increase in monetary gain compared to the base scenario.

For the strategy that imported elite New Zealand germplasm, the benefit was almost three times greater than the base scenario. The long-term impact of importing elite New Zealand germplasm was hampered by the foreign population having a poor long-term genetic trend and, therefore, benefits quickly plateau.

The researchers say the results demonstrate the potential to accelerate the benefit to the Irish sheep industry without the use of imported genetics, but through the strategic use of progressive genetics.

Society data and technical services manager Ed Smith said the study had yielded similar results to the Society’s own study which was completed by AbacusBio in 2015. “Both of these studies have shown that using performance recorded maternal genetics can have a significant impact on industry output and income.

“The growing influence of Texels as a maternal breed across the UK means there is a significant opportunity to accelerate gains by using higher genetic merit texelplus sires to breed female replacements in commercial flocks, which will be further supported by the adoption of measuring hard to measure traits such as footrot and mastitis as part of the Society’s genomic porgramme.” he added.

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Dedicated to the best of Texels at Tamnamoney Roger Strawbridge - Coleraine, Co Londonderry

C

ut Roger Strawbridge in two and like a stick of rock he’d read Texel across the centre. A dedicated and successful breeder for 30 years, this Northern Irishman shows no sign of resting on his laurels just yet.

“Neither of these have done the flock any harm at all and it’s always pleasing to see our genetics performing for other breeders,” adds Roger who farms with help from his wife, Barbara, and daughter, Ivanna.

Founded off the back of four ewe lambs, three of which were gifts for his 21st birthday and the fourth purchased by himself at the same time, the Tamnamoney flock is without doubt one of the province’s leading outfits, being behind three Scottish National Sale top prices since 2010.

However, success for Tamnamoney stock isn’t restricted to recent years, with Roger making his first trip to Lanark back in 1997 when, on the advice of fellow breeder Victor Chestnutt, he headed across the water with Tamnamoney Dollar. “Victor told me he was good enough for Lanark. I wasn’t sure myself, but when Victor told me I got him entered and away we went.

“I’ve not yet got to the top of the tree at Lanark myself yet and don’t know if I ever will, but breeding the sires of two sale toppers is a pretty satisfying feeling,” says Roger who has also bred the dam of a Lanark topper.

The first of these sale leaders with a Tamnamoney sire was Forkins Rocksolid at 65,000gns, with this one being a Tamnamoney Ned son, while the second was until last year the second highest priced Texel ever sold, Knap Vicious Sid. This 145,000gns sale leader was by Tamnamoney Tuborg Gold.

“He went on to sell for 1200gns which at the time was good money and I was over the moon. When I came out of the sale ring I rang my dad who was in Australia visiting my sister to tell him as it was his idea to start the flock initially.

“I went back again in 1999, selling Tamnamoney Finegan at 2800gns to John Forsyth at Glenside. That was a fantastic feeling and really set me on my way. I went back again the following year and sold Tamnamoney Guinness at 2200gns.”

Roger has been back to Lanark with lambs almost every year since then, hitting 22,000gns in 2005 with Tamnamoney Lynbrook with this Castlecairn Kennedy son being the flock’s top price to date.

“Recent years have been equally as successful with Tamnamoney Bushtown at 10,000gns in 2018, Tamnamoney Colt 45 at 10,000gns in 2019, and two at 8000gns in 2020 in the form of Tamnamoney Dodger and Decimus. Prior to that came Tamnamoney Ultimate at 8000gns in 2013, with Tamnamoney Young Willie McBride at 9000gns in 2016.”

Alongside this strong tup trade Roger also targets the inlamb gimmer trade, being a founding flock for the successful Northern Stars Sale, Ballymena. “This has grown in to a great sale for all vendors and has really helped put Northern Irish Texels on the map. We sell between 15 and 20 in-lamb gimmers a year at Northern Stars and it’s a great way to increase income for the flock, with gimmers selling to a top of 11,000gns.”

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Indeed, so successful has the flock been in selling in-lamb gimmers that this trade has dictated a change of flock management, with pedigree ewe numbers significantly reduced in favour of ET-work on the best ewes.

“At one time the flock would have had over 100 pedigree ewes, but now we’ve cut back to between 25 and 30 ewes and would flush 10-12 of those each year. It means we are able to offer gimmers every year from our best lines and that really helps boost the average price we can achieve for them.

“A lot of folk think we’re flushing to produce the Lanark ram lambs, but our ewes are milky enough that we can get naturally reared lambs as big for Lanark as we can from ET work. The benefit of ET work comes from the increased number of ewe lambs on the ground and, hence, the higher number of gimmers we can sell,” he explains.

And it is one of those gimmers, SRY07045, herself a daughter of the noted Douganhill McFly, which was the dam of the Lanark topping 46,000gns Foyle View Superstar for Michael Smyth in 2011.

Looking back at past sires McFly is one Roger immediately mentions when it comes to those which have helped push the flock forward. “Castlecairn Ion Rocket and Castlecairn Kennedy did well for us back in their time, with Knock Travis another which did a tremendous job.

“Sportsmans Scania, Duncryne Uber Cool and most recently Procters Cocktail have all left super ram lambs and females too, with the McFly and Uber Cool daughters really noteworthy in the stamp they have left on the flock and their progeny.”

But, with changes to movement rules between Northern Ireland and Great Britain coming in to force as a result of the Northern Ireland Protocol under Brexit, Roger says breeders in the province face uncertain times.

“I’m quite certain that I’ll be back at Lanark this August with lambs, but what we’ll do about sourcing new stock rams this year I haven’t a clue on. There’s a lot of Northern Irish breeders come to Lanark to buy their tups every year as it is where the best Texels are.

“Indeed, I’ve sold plenty of tups at Lanark back to Northern Irish breeders and we generally buy new stock tups there

ourselves. But if we have to wait for 40 days after Lanark to get tups back home it will mean we either have to lamb later or not use them in the first year, putting us a year behind the rest of the breed genetically.

“The situation will be even worse for our own rams as they will need to be resident in GB for six months before they can come back to Northern Ireland. It’s a perverse situation and one I desperately hope can be sorted out before the sales season,” explains Roger.

Currently lambing in mid-February, lambing any later isn’t something Roger wants to be forced in to, with the flock’s management tailored to its current system. “We aim to get ewes and lambs out to grass as soon as possible after birth and then put creep in front of them at about a month old.

“We used to stop feeding them for a few weeks after weaning, but we’ve switched that around now and don’t feed them for a few weeks pre-weaning and only feed the tup lambs postweaning, with this moving to twice a day trough feeding from ad-lib pre-weaning,” he says.

Ewe lambs are then not fed until they start getting fed again as gimmers ahead of lambing. “This lets them grow on naturally at grass, with feed blocks offered over winter if required to keep them moving forwards.”

It’s a system which is tried and tested to work for the Tamnamoney flock, but not one which Roger says won’t be changed in future if he feels it needs it. “I do worry about the level of feeding some lambs are receiving and am always cautious of overfeeding at any stage of the lambs’ lives.

“The level of ET being undertaken is another area which is a concern too. I’ve always been a big believer in going the opposite way to the crowd, so maybe we should be easing back of the ET work a little. The trouble is that would mean having fewer gimmers for sale and that would make a hole in our income.

“It’s always something to consider and I’m not adverse to doing something different if I think it is the right thing to do for the future of the flock.”

And looking to the future Roger says his daughter Ivanna is a key driving force behind the flock these days, encouraging him to get back to local shows in recent years. “She’s recently founded her own Lynbrooke flock and is a real help with the sheep work these days,” he adds.

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Shearling trade drives Clun flock Roger and Antony Williams - Craven Arms, Shropshire

F

irmly focussed on producing top quality commercial rams for Welsh borders customers, Roger and Antony Williams’ Clun flock has to be hardy, with the home farm set 1300ft above sea level and extending to 350 acres of severely disadvantaged land, with a further 200 acres rented locally.

And it is this combination of factors which dictates much of the flock’s management policy, with lambing beginning in the second week of March, with ewes not cycling fully until October, making earlier lambing unachievable.

“It suits the ground as we don’t get much grass before early April, so lambing earlier would be a costly exercise, meaning ewes and lambs would have to be housed for an extended period of time. We’re not set up for that and much prefer ewes and lambs to be out at grass within 24-48 hours of birth,” explains Antony who farms with his father Roger and with help from his wife Claire.

“Ever since we started with Texels in 1988 our focus has always been on producing shearling rams, it suits our farm and it’s what most commercial customers want to buy. The great thing is that we can be assured if the rams have thrived here they’ll go on and do well pretty much anywhere,” he adds.

Initially looking for Texel rams to go across the family’s flock of Clun Forest ewes, the family found the type of ram they wanted to buy was at the dearer end of the spectrum. “As a result, dad bought a few Texel ewes with the intention of breeding rams for our own use. It has grown from there,” says Antony.

As Roger explains the farm used to sell 70-80 Clun rams a year along with 200 Clun ewes too. “Then as the Clun lost favour we started selling a few Texel rams. I thought if we could sell 30-40 Texel shearlings a year it would be good sideline, now we’re selling 150 shearlings every year, it has become a bit more than a sideline!”

Today the flock of 400 Texel ewes runs alongside 100 pedigree Clun Forest ewes, 200 Clun Mules and 200 Texel cross ewes, all of which are homebred and MV Accredited. “These ewes have been raised in a tough environment, meaning we know they’ll thrive in our system.You can’t put a value on that when labour is limited,” says Antony.

Roger (left) and Antony Williams focus firmly on the commercial market with their 400-ewe Clun flock.

“The same is true of the rams we produce. They have to survive and thrive in a harsh climate and are never housed, spending all winter grazing root crops in one large mob. If they can’t cope or have any issue they are sold as prime sheep through Ludlow Market.”

Looking back over the flock’s history Antony and Roger pick out their foundation females as having set them on the right road from early on. “We bought a ewe from Bob Lamb’s Wootton flock and then several females from Derek Goodwin at Corse and from William Redman’s Newark flock.

“Those provided a strong foundation for the flock and indeed a son of the Wootton ewe by Cambwell Supreme, Clun V.I.P, sold for 3500gns at the Main NSA Ram Sale 1992, a high price which stood for a number of years.

“Latterly the flock has been closed, with the only female addition of recent years being a ewe from the dispersal of David Orrell’s flock in 2015. All replacements for the pedigree and commercial flocks are homebred these days and it shows in their ability to cope in this environment.”

When it comes to lambing, ewes are only housed at night, running out by day to allow them exercise and access to grass.

“It’s a system that works well for us and means we don’t need as much shed space as we would if they were housed all the time. Ewes are fed in the run up to lambing, with twins and Lifestyle

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singles run together until about a fortnight before lambing and then split out to be fed according to litter size.

“Shearling ewes are tupped a couple of weeks later than the older ewes, with the aim being to lamb them as grass really starts to get going. This helps with their milk production and avoids putting too much pressure on their udders as young sheep.

“We don’t suffer excessively with mastitis, but we try and do everything we can to avoid any problems and have found lambing the shearlings that bit later really helps them maximise milk from grass and reduces the risk of things going wrong,” explains Anthony.

Creep feed is then introduced to twin lambs at about two to three weeks old and is offered until shearing in early June.

“After that creep is removed and they won’t see feed again until the winter, with only the ewe lambs offered a little cake then as they run at grass all winter, unlike the ram lambs which are on roots. We tend to wean lambs in early August and split them by sex at that point.

“Anything which doesn’t make the grade at this point will be sold as prime lambs, with regular draws taken through the autumn months to cull out anything not suitable for breeding.”

Aiming to keep a young flock to maintain genetic progress, the family bring in about 130 shearling ewes a year, with no females offered for sale. “We have sold a few in-lamb shearlings in the past, sometimes up to 40, but we felt we were missing out on their genetics within our own flock. We’re particularly hard on culling, so wouldn’t want to sell anything we wouldn’t think was good enough to retain ourselves. That would mean selling females that we should be keeping and that reduces the pool we have to keep ourselves.”

When it comes to selling tups Antony says the market has shifted over the last 30 years, with more and more tups being sold from home and less at sales than ever before. “Our main outlet used to be the Main NSA Ram Sale at Builth. We’d take 60 tups every year, but these days we only sell about 60 rams at sales altogether, including pens of 20 at each of the Shropshire and Borders Club Sales at Shrewsbury and Welshpool.

“Increasingly customers want to come and buy off farm and that’s great although you do sometimes wonder if the tups would have made more if they’d been at a sale. We’re careful to pick out our pens for the Club sales early in the season and put them aside to ensure we have strong sheep for those sales.”

It’s a policy which pays off, with the Clun pen of 20 at Welshpool last October returning a healthy average of £1005 despite being the last pen of shearlings in the sale. “Overall, the 60 rams we sold at sales last year levelled at £920. This helps give us a good benchmark for pricing rams at home and customers have come to recognise that and appreciate that they’ll need to pay well for good sheep,” he adds.

“Several of these off-farm customers are repeat buyers who have been having our rams for the last 30 years many simply ask us to put rams aside for them and then only see them when they come to collect them. There can’t be any better endorsement of the flock than that,” believes Antony.

Craig Douglas Ya Belter was bought for £9000 and has bred rams to 4000gns with Clun Big Boy.

To ensure the flock continues to be able to earn these premium prices the family invest heavily in stock sires, paying up to £9000 in past years, with this paid for Craig Douglas Ya Belter in 2017, a ram which has gone on to sire sons to 4000gns for Clun Big Boy at the 2019 NSA Ram Sale, Builth Wells.

“One of the most influential sires of recent years has been Blore View Winger, a Brackenridge Strongbow son. We’d seen Strongbow when he was sold and wanted a son from him. Winger has done well, breeding power, character and conformation, with sons to 3900gns.

“Another ram which has done well is Glenside Uri, with his influence coming through in the female side of the flock and his daughters proving to be good, consistent breeders. Meanwhile, the 5000gns Tatham Hall Ur The One has bred progeny with tremendous carcass and fleshing,” he explains.

“We’re always looking for correct tups with level toplines, shape and good skins to produce the type of ram our customers expect from us. They have to be easy fleshing and have breed character too. Homebred sires play a part too, with these selected from proven ewes which are sound in mouth and udder after several crops of lambs.”

And to keep track of the performance of each ram’s progeny all lambs are ear notched at birth according to sire. “That enables us to quickly and easily spot if any particular sire is breeding well or, unfortunately, leaving problems in the flock. This is particularly useful when it comes to hereditary issues such as mastitis, mothering ability or lameness,” adds Antony.

“It is a simple system, but it works for us and means we can identify lambs by their sire easily and quickly at any point in the year.”

With loyal repeat customers both Antony and Roger feel the flock has a strong future, particularly off the back of the strong prime and cull sheep trade seen over the last 12 months.

“Texels have been sought after in all sections of the trade and that bodes well for the future,” concludes Antony.

Lifestyle

texel.uk

Spring 2021

41

Texel Beanie Black or Grey £7.00

Polo Shirt Navy or black £15.00

Microfleece Navy or black £32.00

Jacket (made to order) Navy or black £45.00

Rugby Shirt Navy or black £25.00

Body Warmer Soft Shell Navy or black £40.00

Baseball Cap £6.00

Texel Mug/ Travel Mug £6.00

Navy Texel Tie £15.00

Face Masks £3.50

SHOP NOW texel.uk/shop

42 Spring 2021

texel.uk

Member Fees This Notice supersedes all previous notices of costs and overrides ANY printed material which you may have in your possession.

Go Online

by using and save costs on Society fees

All fees take effect from 1st April 2021.

Male and Female Birth Notifications 1st Jan – 31st May in Year of Birth

Import Registrations 1st June - 31st Dec in Year of Birth

1st January following year of Birth Onwards

Method

Online

Paper

Online

Paper

Paper

Standard BN fees

£2.10

£3.10

£10.75

£16.00

£120.00

ET BN fees

(£2.52 Inc VAT)

(£3.72 Inc VAT)

(£12.90 Inc VAT)

(£19.20 Inc VAT)

£8.00

£12.00

£16.00

£24.00

(£9.60 Inc VAT)

(£14.40 Inc VAT)

(£19.20 Inc VAT)

(£144.00 Inc VAT)

16th June YOB - 31st October in year following YOB

Online

Paper

Online

Paper

Online

Paper

£9.50

£7.50

£10.50

£10.00

£13.00

(£7.80 Inc VAT)

(£11.40 Inc VAT)

(£9.00 Inc VAT)

Male

£35.10

(£42.12 Inc VAT)

£13.60

(£16.32 Inc VAT)

(£28.80 Inc VAT)

By 15th June in Year of Birth (YOB)

£6.50

Paper

Female

Female Registrations (having previously been birth notified)

Method

Method

(£12.60 Inc VAT)

1st November year following YOB onwards

(£12.00 Inc VAT)

(£15.40 Inc VAT)

Transfers (Females must be registered by the breeder before transfer.

Males can be transferred prior to registration by the new owner.)

Paper £11.75

(£14.10 Inc VAT)

Male Registrations (having previously been birth notified) 1st July - 31st Oct

Method

1st Nov - 31st Jan

1st Feb – 30th June

Paper £32.00

(£38.40 Inc VAT)

£48.00

(£57.60 Inc VAT)

£100.00

(£120.00 Inc VAT)

Male registration will only be permitted once a DNA profile has been issued by the laboratory and has been received by the Society office. For purchased rams that require male registration, the Society requires “proof of purchase” in the form of a “ram docket” or a copy of the “invoice of sale”.

Failure to provide a DNA sample for your ram may prevent your ram from being registered along with their resultant progeny.

Genetic Improvement Service Fees (Online only) Flock Fee

Fees £97.00 (£116.40 inc VAT) Additional £/ewe

First 50 ewes

£2.60 (£3.12 inc VAT)

51 -150 ewes

£2.10 (£2.52 inc VAT)

151 – 400 ewes

£1.00 (£1.20 inc VAT)

> 401 ewes

Speak to the society office

Flock size is based on the total number of ewes (including recipients) that have a lambing event recorded on the Society database that year.

Terms of Membership relating to fees Please note ALL new members are required to set up a Direct Debit payment and use our online services. New members pay a joining fee and a subscription fee. Thereafter an annual subscription on the anniversary date each year.

Adult Joining Fee - £75.00 inc VAT Annual subscription fee £63.08 incl VAT Junior (up to age 21) Joining Fee - £37.50 inc VAT Annual subscription fee £31.55 inc VAT The VAT inclusive prices include VAT at 20%, and may be adjusted at any time.

Female and Male Registrations certificates will not be printed and posted to members.

Members are able to print certificates from iTexel if they require them.

Proven, Pedigree, Performance

TEXEL

Proven premiums and performance

• Texel lambs regularly earn 45p/kg to 60p/kg premiums over live market averages* • Texelplus lambs are 4.5kg heavier at 20 weeks than in 2011 ** • Texelplus lambs have 0.25mm more loin muscle than in 2011 ** • 85% of Texel sired lambs are ‘in spec’ *** • Nine out of top 10 carcass merit EBV sires in RamCompare at Texels ****

For the latest sales information see www.texel.uk/sales Sources

* Carlisle, Kirkby Stephen and Lanark Market reports w/c 4th January 2021 ** texelplus data 2021 *** Texel Sheep Society Taste vs Waste and VIA trials 2019 **** AHDB RamCompare project 2016-2019