Jo en Harrie-Roekevisch-Lochem
Judge of the Annual Flock Competition Ireland 2006 and 2009.
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In 2017 the Annual flock competition of the entire UK and Ireland.
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Verslag keuring Hampshire down Annual Flock Competition.
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Annual Flock Competition Blij verrast was ik met de uitnodigingen de flock
- competition meerdere keren te mogen komen keuren. Verslag keuring: De kuddes werden per rubriek beoordeeld (see
picture 1).
In plaats van het keuren van 1 dier beoordeelde ik
de gehele kudde. De kwaliteit van de kuddes was van een bijzonder
hoog gehalte. Het zoeken naar de Het keuren op de vachten moest ik schrappen omdat
sommige fokkers de dieren hadden geschoren andere daarentegen niet. => Onderstaande artikel was geplaast op de middenpagina's van Farming Live welke in geheel Ierland wordt gelezen. ALL IRELAND HAMPSHIRE DOWN FLOCK COMPETITION RESULTS Mr. Harrie Roekevisch and his wife Jo from the Netherlands, Holland judged the recent All Ireland Hampshire Down Flock competition. They run a highly successful flock of 56 hampshire downs and are highly committed and involved in the purebred breeding and improvement of Hampshire Down Sheep. To achieve this result they have in recent years imported top animals from England and Ireland. Their primary goal is to improve the breed. Their flock has this year for the sixth time in succession won 'The General Dutch Champion Sheep'. Harrie was pleasantly surprised to be invited to judge the flock competition in Ireland for the second time, stating that he did not have to think too long before accepting the invitation to give his opinion on the Irish Hampshire Down Flocks. After a long car ride from Calais to Dover, Fishguard and then by ferry across the Irish Sea to Rosslare, he began the task of judging the Awbeg Flock of John Burke in County Cork and ended after a good number of miles driving, in Moira, County Down, where the award ceremony and dinner took place. Harrie was delighted that almost all the members who had entered the flock competition were present. The quality of the flocks entered was of a very high standard, and the search for differences was not easy. Instead of judging an individual animal, Harrie reviewed the entire flock, and was impressed with the quality of the flocks. The differences between flocks was often marginal. Choosing the best breeding ewe flocks was not difficult,but his decision on picking the winners of the stock ram and ewe lamb categories was not as easy. In the ewe lamb section, the quality of the late born ewe lambs from the winning flock were very impressive and well developed. Harrie and his wife Jo thanked the Club and all its members for the experience and fantastic hospitality shown to them throughout the trip. Trophies and Prizes Awarded:
Moybrick Cup - Champion Flock
Reserve Champion Flock - John and Michelle McCauley, Clough received 1.25kg Provita Colestrum and Provita Combat Foot Spray.
The Moybrick Shield - Large Flock
The Edenderry Shield - Medium Flock
The Moybrick Shield - Small Flock
The Rademon Cup - Best Breeding Ewes
The Southbourne Silver Plaque - Best Stock Rams
The Derryman Cup - Best Ewe Lambs
The Moneycarragh Trophy - Best Novice Flock (All prize winners received 1ltr of Provita Combat Foot Spray). The Champion Flock: Kevin and Anna McCarthy of Comber, were named overall winners after taking top honours in the large flock section and first place in all three categories - Breeding ewes, stock rams and ewe lambs. This is the ninth time the flock has been awarded the All Ireland Champion Flock in the last fifteen years. The Ballycreelly Flock was established in l987. The flock currently numbers about 40 breeding ewes plus followers, but Kevin intends to expand substantially in an effort to fulfil demand for crossing rams and breeding ewes. Flock sires used by Kevin in the early days that had a major influence were Fychan Legend - A Royal Show Champion, Fychan Leopard - A Royal Welsh Champion, Dunraven Journeyman and recently Tyning Faure and Ballyvester Appollo. Kevin is involved in the sire referencing scheme, from the beginning, performance recording played a substantial role in replacement ewe selection, although there has been a major emphasis on performance, this has been tempered so that adherence to conformation and breed type have also been major elements of the selection process. This has been illustrated by Kevin's success in the show ring. In more recent years stock from the flock have won Championships at the Royal Ulster and the Royal, in 2007 three lambs from the flock were awarded the prestigious interbreed group championship at The Royal. Kevin traditionally lambed in December, so that ram lambs were mature enough to be used commercially from July onwards for the earlier lambing commercial flocks. Now with the major shift away from early lambing to low cost production with March and April Lambing. The flock has adapted to the changing market place and has been divided with one third still lambing in December, and the rest lambing in March. These March born lambs are then run over for the next seasons shearling trade. Kevin for the third year running has made the trip to Kelso Ram Sales and has met with increasing demand from buyers throughout Scotland. In mid September the first Hampshire Down Sale was introduced at Carlisle and a consignment was sent from the Ballycreelly Flock with rams selling to £700 and ewes to £750. With strong growing demand for the breed to meet the change in sheep farming for low imput, low labour systems, the future of the breed looks very bright and the Ballycreelly flock, along with the rest of the Irish Breeders are positively committed to the development of the breed to meet market requirements and the opening up of new markets. The Reserve Champion winners were John and Michelle McCauleys Moneycarragh Flock which was established in l988 by the purchase of four in lamb shearling ewes from Jim Quail, Banbridge. Since then ewes from two of the leading English Flocks - Henry Derryman's Yarcombe Flock and H.J.W. Knights - Westland Flock have been added. Two previous stock rams which have had a major influence in the flock were Parkstock Marvel and Ballyvester Braveheart. The combination of these two bloodlines has produced numerous Show Champions including five Royal Ulster Breed Champions in the last eight years. Rams and ewes have also been exported to Belgium, France and United Kingdom. Since the flock's foundation careful selection has always been practised to ensure that only animals with growth, size, length and conformation are retained.
The Southern Region winner was Alymer Powers from Co. Limerick with his Powerpack Flock. Alymer established his flock of Hampshire Downs in l997 with bloodlines from Velvetstown, Ballyvester, Shapwick and Dunraven Flocks. In 2005 two rams were imported from England from the Pode Hole and Yarcombe Flocks. Current stock rams used in the Flock are Edenderry Obama and a Ballyvester ram.
The Novice Trophy winner was Rodger Laird from Strabane. Rodger has had a successful first show season with a ewe lamb which took 1st in her breed class, Reserve champion and third in the interbreed ewe lamb class at Ballymoney Show. This ewe lamb also went on to win lst place in her class at Omagh Show. Holden Agriculture and Smyths from Artigarvian, Strabane, donated 2.5 litres of Noromectin sheep drench and five bags of sheep feed which was later auctioned in aid of The Children's Hyperinsulinism Fund. The Club has raised £250 for the charity. Trevor Fegan, Club Chairman thanked Harrie and Jo for travelling the long distance from Holland to Ireland to judge our Flock Competition. He thanked Provita for their generous sponsorship, Holden Agriculture and Smyths for products donated and to all the members who supported the event and donated gifts to the raffle.
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