National Young Show Stars.
A new competition was launched this year in a bid to
encourage youngsters. This was a competition held
over two days at the Three Counties Showground in
April. The Society was proud to support our team
which consisted of Will Price & Max & Finlay Shone.
They had to prepare the trade stand area, with
promotional material etc., carry out a stock judging
competition, prepare their animals for a show &
complete an interview with the judging panel. Thanks
must go to Sally Shone for organising everything,
taking the sheep & the boys to Malvern & generally
managing everything!!
Christmas 2015 Newsletter
Well another great year for the Bleu! Even in a year
when the industry has seen low prices for lamb, the
breeding sheep trade has held up well & Bleu sales
continue to strengthen as flock masters continue to
recognise the great benefits of Bleu blood in their
flocks.
Review of 2015.
This year has seen a new chairperson elected, Sue
McInnes Skinner taking over from William Baillie at
the AGM in August, and Sally Shone has been elected
Vice-Chair. Stuart Goldie remains President for a
further 12 months. We were sad to lose both John
Davison & Samuel Small from Council, both had been
outstanding Chairmen during their terms on Council,
but both felt it would be good to have some new
faces on the Board!
A very smart trade area!
Final trim & prep
John Davison was awarded the Presidents Trophy in recognition of his
services to the Society
The boys did well!!!
Happy Christmas to everyone, a successful lambing & continued success for the Bleus in 2016
NSA Events.
Two NSA events were attended this year, Welsh
Sheep at Glanmiheli and Drefor Farms, Kerry,
Powys on Tuesday 19th May where we showed
Bleu x’s in the non MV section. Thanks to Sally
Shone, Richard Pilkington & Stan Kilby for all their
efforts on a very wet day!
This was followed a couple of weeks later by
North Sheep, hosted by Neil & Sally Marston at
their Millstone Moor Farm, Cockermouth, held on
June 4th. The picture below gives an indication of
the crowds that these events attract, so it is
vitally important we put on a good display. Sheep
at North Sheep were some outstanding Bleu x
Texel ewes with Texel lambs from John &
Kathleen Davison & thanks to everyone who
helped with the stand on the day.
The show season is always in full swing once the
sheep events are passed & this year the Great
Yorkshire hosted the first “National Show” for Bleus.
We will continue to promote the national show, for
2106 it will return to GYS, with a possible new venue
in 2017.
Some interested “judges” watching proceedings at the GYS 2015!
Percy Tait started the season as he was to continue at
the Shropshire Show, bringing out the champion, his
shearling ewe which went on to have an amazing
season. The Perdi gimmer is sired by Tighnahinch
Jumping Jack, the sire of so many prolific winners, out
of a Perdi ewe sired by Astley Argonaut & going back
to the late Gavin Shanks’s Masterpiece.
The first of the major shows was the Royal Three
Counties where our current chair, Sue McInnes
Skinner officiated. Her champion was Percy Taits’
gimmer, with Sally Shone’s senior ewe in Reserve.
Percy won the group of three & it was good to see
new breeders Rachel & Mark Nicolas having the
runner-up spot.
The Royal Highland Show followed on quickly
afterwards, with several exhibitors making the valiant
effort to do both shows. Once again this cracking
gimmer of Percy Taits came to the top of the line,
taking Female & Overall Champion. To add to the
Perdi flock success, the yearling ram PT14.839, sired
once again by the Tighnahinch ram & out of a flock
ewe by Astley Foreman, won the ram class & went on
to be Male Champion & reserve overall. Thank you to
our judge John Davison for taking the “hot seat” in the
ring. Congratulations to all the team at Percy Taits &
to all the exhibitors who made it such a great show
for the breed.
A jubilant Percy Tait with Bleu chairman William Baillie at the after show
party.
There were other winners at the show, Stuart Goldie
won the Senior Ram with EJG13.209, Laine Daff won
Happy Christmas to everyone, a successful lambing & continued success for the Bleus in 2016
the Senior Ewe with PJF10.21 and Sally Shone won the
Ewe Lamb with MMJ15.379 !
Another outstanding success for the Bleu breed was
to win the Any Other Continental Breed Championship
with a Millennium Bleu gimmer from Andrew Baillie.
This gimmer went on to repeat her success at the
Great Yorkshire, so a tremendous advert for what
the Bleu can do!
So to our first “National”. The GYS has always proved
a popular show for exhibitors and all concerned with
agricultural shows – it must rank as one of the best.
Simon Norman, have dispersed his flock the previous
year was the appointed judge with some very strong
classes. So by this time there are no prizes for
guessing our breed champion! Once again the Perdi
flock would collect the spoils, but this time it was the
Senior Ewe PT12.004 and it was good to see other
people having a look in! Stuart Goldie won the Male
Championship with his senior ram & Johny Stables
won with his ewe lamb. Percy Tait won the Group
with Jonathan McInnes Skinner runner-up.
GYS Champion PT12.004, sired by Tighnahinch Jumping Jack & out a flock
ewe by Astley Argonaut.
Sadly in recent years the Royal Welsh Show has
been a victim of its own success as far as the Bleus are
concerned. Limitations on the number of pens you
can book have meant our breeders have been unable
to bring a full team & this has seen our numbers fall,
however the quality has been excellent so
competition is still very strong. Percy Tait won the
championship with his ewe & his shearling ram
standing reserve. Iwan Davies won both the Ram
Lamb & Ewe lamb classes & Sally Shone the Senior
Ram Class. Stuart Goldie was our judge.
Carlisle Premier Sale
Heading up the show and sale held at Borderway,
Carlisle was the pre-sale Male and Supreme
Champion, an aged ram selling for 1,400gns shown by
William Baillie. Artnagullion Lightning, a 2 shear ram
sired by Randalstown Hunter and out of a Haydon
bred mother, was purchased by Richard Pilkington for
his Aintree flock. A shearling ram shown by JW & KM
Davison, sold for 1300gns. This was a son of Calla Live
Wire and out of a homebred Langley sired daughter of
a Tighnahinch ram. He was sold to Rachel & Calum
Cruden of Dyce, Aberdeen. Leading the lamb ram
classes was the first entry to the ring selling for
1,100gns. Offered by Percy Tait of Worcester, his
January born lamb is a son of the noted show winning
stock ram Perdi PT12 003 and goes back to Astley
Argonaut on his mother’s pedigree. He now heads to
Aberdeenshire, for enthusiasts CG Mair & Ptrs of
Turriff. Also reaching the 1,000gn mark was a
shearling ram consigned by Percy Tait of the Perdi
flock. This ram is a son of Tighnahinch Jumping Jack
and is no stranger to the show ring having won 1st
prize at this year’s Royal Highland Show and Great
Yorkshire Show, also the Reserve Breed Champion
ticket at the Royal Welsh Show early this year. He also
collected at the pre-sale judging the Reserve Male and
Reserve Supreme Championship prizes. He sold to G
Morrison of Banff, Aberdeenshire. In the Millennium
Bleu section, the leading price tag was 1,300gns for
the Millennium show Champion a Calla bred shearling
ram shown by William Baillie. This April 2014 born
entry is by a homebred sire and out of a Maximum
Hawkeye bred mother. Another Millennium shearling
ram from the Calla pen sold for 1,100gns. This entry is
another ram by the homebred Calla ram and goes
back to Maximum Hawk Eye from his mothers
pedigree. The days Female Champion secured the top
price of 950gns in the female classes with a shearling
gimmer consigned by D Johnson & Sons of
Northallerton. Winholme Marigold, a daughter of
Rumwell Jonas and out of Winholme Go-Go a
Churchbridge Commander sired daughter. She sold to
Glenn Baird of Armagh. Mr Baird also took home the
Reserve Female Champion entry at 700gns shown by
William Baillie . This ewe lamb, Calla Novelle a 2nd
prize winner that the Great Yorkshire Show this year,
is a daughter of the Artnagullion Lightning who had
Happy Christmas to everyone, a successful lambing & continued success for the Bleus in 2016
sold earlier in the day. A shearling gimmer also sold
for 700gns shown by Peter Fraser . Tighnahinch
Mabel, a February born daughter of Maximum
Lawman and out of a Calla Finlay ewe, sold to WF
Neilson of Argyll. Averages 2 Aged Rams £971.25 1
Aged Ewe £262.50 20 Shearling Rams £481.16 12
Shearling Gimmers £517.13 13 Lamb Rams £369.92 30
Ewe Lambs £346.50 21 Millennium Shearling Rams
£571.00 16 Millennium Shearling Gimmers £310.41 1
Millennium Lamb Ram £210.00
The line of Millennium Bleu rams on the left, with William Baillie’s
Champion ram on the right
Robin Johnson’s top priced female
Chelford Sale.
The sale resulted in a good trade throughout, as many
sheep exceeded their breeder’s price expectations.
Paul Farmer, from Ashover, Derbyshire, put forward a
smart pen of Millennium Bleu shearling rams which
peaked at 460 gns, others making to 440 and 420 gns.
Ram lambs sold for 280 gns, also for a Millennium
Bleu from Trystan Bevan, Caernarfon. Females also
met a lively trade, with the best of the shearling
gimmers from Alan Fearnley making 300 gns ; The
ewe lambs peaked at 240 gns for an entry from the
Aintree flock of Richard Pilkington.
Averages:
Shearling Rams
£319.20
Ram Lambs
£259.00
Shearling Gimmers
£266.00
Ewe Lambs
£252.00
Show Flock Competition
No surprises here, after the Perdi flocks’ outstanding
year Percy Tait was the clear winner. Runner up was
Sally Shone & Laine Daff in third place.
Grassroots Flock Management.
With the farming industry becoming more
computerised & everyone benefitting from the
technology available we would ask you to make much
more use of Grassroots. It is very easy to manage your
flock keeping the details of your sheep up to date,
identify sheep that are for sale when other members
view your flock details & so much more….
No more writing out sheets of registration forms, your
lambs are just a click away! If you have any issues &
think you cant find something just give me a ring, but
always remember LESS is MORE. So when you are
searching for a sheep enter the minimum amount of
detail, the last three numbers of it’s registration
number, it’s name without the prefix or it’s prefix &
you will then come up with all the possibilities. Most
of my calls are from folk saying ”I’ve put everything in,
prefix, name, reg no, EID & my sheep is not there”.
What has probably happened is a zero has either been
added or excluded or just a little anomaly & then
when you remove most of the search criteria hey
presto that sheep is there!!
Another issue I have is sometimes members kill off
the wrong sheep & then when they come to register
it’s lambs (it didn’t die after all!!) they cant find the
sheep. Always worth ticking the box for search Dead
if you are having problems!!
PLEASE REMEMBER IF YOU ARE STUCK, GIVE ME
A RING
The Council was re-elected at the AGM in August.
Full details below:
President
Stuart Goldie
Chairman
Sue McInnes Skinner
Vice-Chairman
Sally Shone
William Baillie
Laine Daff
July Bury
Stan Kilby
Alice Mullen-Shanks
Simon Norman
Richard Pilkington
Sally Shone
Damien Tumelty
Johny Stables
Dates for your 2016 diary
June 1st
ScotSheep, West Linton
June 17th – 19th Three Counties Show
June 23rd- 26th Royal Highland Show
July 12th – 14th Great Yorkshire Show
July 18th -21st
Royal Welsh Show
July 27th
NSA Sheep Event,
Malvern
th
August 11
Annual General Meeting
August 12th
Premier Show & Sale
Happy Christmas to everyone, a successful lambing & continued success for the Bleus in 2016
Fees for 2016.
Some memories of 2015
The Membership rates will remain unchanged as does
the Block Booking system introduced last year which
entitles you to a free registration, depending on the
number of ewe lambs you register!
Registrations & Block Booking
We have run the block booking system for a number
of years but realise that some members have been
unaware or forgotten about it. This is how it
works……
Prior to April 30th the member pays the Society the
equivalent of a minimum of 10 registrations & for
every 10 paid for registrations the member will be
entitled to one free. This will only apply to females,
males will continue to be registered in the usual way
although they can of course be part of the block
booking. After the initial purchase of 10 block
bookings, bookings of 5 are acceptable.
Any discounts could not be carried forward to the
following year & the cut-off date for lambs to be
registered would remain at 31st October in their year
of birth. This applies to pedigree sheep only.
A £10 penalty would be levied if a sheep was not
registered in it’s year of birth, but this would only be
allowed for animals up to 12 months old.
All sheep at shows & sales must be fully registered &
display society tags. Replacement tags will continue to
be invoiced to breeders.
Some serious faces here!
Our lady chair doing the family thing! With husband
Michael & son Jonathan at GYS
And finally…………………….
LiveScot 2015
William Baillie & Laine Daff kindly put some MB’s on a
stand at LiveScot last week and they were used for the
YFC stock judging.
Talented Bleus!! Happy Christmas everyone
Happy Christmas to everyone, a successful lambing & continued success for the Bleus in 2016