Romney Sheep Breeders Society. Spring Newsletter Issue Date

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1 NEWSLETTER Issue 1 Romney Sheep Breeders Society LOVEJOY PARTNERSHIP LAMBING OPEN DAY IN THIS ISSUE Spring Newsletter 2018 Shows and Events- Young Romney Breeders- New members welcome Romney Tweedmerchandise Lamb recipe- Facebook and website update- volunteering- AGM- Show preparation day-lambing open day- Congratulations AGM You are invited to the 121 st Romney Sheep Breeders Society - Annual General Meeting at The Orchard room, Conningbrook Hotel, Ashford, Kent TN24 9QR On 26 April 2018 at 8 pm Refreshments will be made available An opportunity to meet up with members socially and to find out what is happening within the society and discuss important matters of interest. Membership renewal Nomination forms will have been sent with this letter so don t forget to renew as you will miss out on all the Romney Society Activities Pre AGM Council meeting 26 April meeting 7pm With Lambing underway- Making wise choices for the Breed? By now for some of you lambing will be started and a new chapter begins with your new progeny. Selection of lambs for breeding can be earlier than you think? Birth weights and DLWG can be iinfluential in the choices of your progeny or is it the visual traits of tthe sheep giving the right traits tto carry on the selected bloodline. Has the ram you used clicked with the ewes? some do and some don t! Some breeders when making their choices keep everything and some breeders do not. I know as soon as the lambs are about a week or so old if I will keep them or not, but then I may get one that I will Umm! and Ahh! about-once in a while one will catch me out! We often forget the ewes importance and tend to focus on the rams, as we always pay through our wallet for them. Issue Date In a conversation with an traditonal breeder they explained the ewe is one of the most important tools you have. Her genetic traits past on to females and so what influence does the ram have? We have to think about what are our aims for the breed? Are our breeding rams and ewes for the commercial market or for the registered market. This can have an influence in what we breed and how our flocks image turns out. This is just food for thought Do we need to think about all heading in the same direction? Lets hope we do not have many cuckoo lambs in our flocks this year!

2 NEWSLETTER Issue 1 How to prepare your Romney for the show season Are you interested in learning the traditional skill of turning a Romney sheep out for the show ring? This is how they do it in the USA! - Not sure? We will be running a Showing workshop in May so check out the website and facebook for more details on how to book Events and shows Coming Up 2 for the sale of the breed- if you would like any leaflets to hand out contact the secretary All of the South East Region shows have Trophies and special prizes for the best Romneys These are the major shows 26 May 2018 Heathfield and District agricultural show (entries close 3rd April). 7/8/9 June 2018 South of England Show Ardingly Entries Close 13 April online) 6/7/8 July 2018 Kent county Show Detling Check website for Enties Our own special classes for Romneys West Country Members Show List17-19 May Devon County 30 May -2 June Bath and west 7-9 June Royal Cornwall One day Shows 14 July Liskeard 25 July Yealampton 26 July Launceston 28 July Mid devon 29 July Totnes 30 July woolsery 1 August North devon 2 August Honiton 9 August Okehampton 23 August Holsworthy Welsh and Border members Show list June Three Counties July Royal Welsh Show Your Society needs you? Is there anyone who would like to join me in talking to visitors about the breed at the NSA sheep events this year? Dates for your diary are NSA Sheep Event 18th July Worcester and NSA South Shows Sheep 8th September Ardingly Why don t you do some showing Sussex. this year and get your Romneys It is really interesting talking to out there! It s a great shop window visitors and expressing the merits of our breed to spark an interest and its great to network with likeminded people whether international or local visitors. Theres lots of opportunity to go and look around the event as well. If you would like to help please contact me and let me know by the 30th June-Please. Congratulations to Romney Marsh Wools Well done to the Boulden familykristina Boulden made the finals of The Taste of Kent AwardsDon t forget they have fine selection of Products available for tthat special gift Romney Tweed Do you know about Romney tweed? Follow the link to the website- it s amazing! Young Breeder lambs Robbie Woods first lambs of the year

3 NEWSLETTER Issue 1 3 Facebook Page Don t forget to access our Facebook page for Romney news and events! Romney sheep UK Website advertisements Many of you will have placed an advert on our website but it could be time to refresh and update your advertisement- the power of advertising is strong on the website with many recent enquires coming from it- If you send a advert to me with a cheque for 15 to the RSBS this will be sent to uploaded until you change your advert or update your advert Welcome to new members and old Welcome to the following new members we hope to see you at future events throughout the year Pat Alston and Jim Lukehurst Merchandise Don t forget your compulsory polo shirt to look good at this year s show season! Makes a perfect Birthday present Just contact me for prices and sizing to place an order YFC lambs Are there any members who would like to donate any lambs this year for YFC? Two lambs would be a good place for them to start and they can show them at the Kent show or perhaps at Ashford cattle show. If you would like to Donate please contact me so they can be allocated to a YFC even of your choice and you can get reports back on how they are doing. This would be a good place to start young people to obtain an interest in our breed for the future Spring Lamb Recipe Stuffed leg of lamb Ingredients Whole leg of Romney lamb- A bunch fresh flat-leaf parsley -1 farmers handful of fresh rosemary-a chunk of ciabatta torn into pieces-1 farmers handful pine nuts Same for green olives de-stoned and roughly chopped-1 lemon zest and juice -sea salt freshly ground black pepper olive oil -2 onions carrots celery peeled and roughly chopped -1 bottle of red wine- Large pinch of plain flour-1 litre chicken or vegetable stock Method Preheat your oven to 200ºC/400ºF/gas 6. Place lamb upside down on a board and slice carefully down the to the leg bone to make a pouch Stuffing-using a processor whizz, the parsley and rosemary leaves and place in a bowl then whizz the pine nuts and ciabatta add in a bowl containing the herbs, lemon, salt and pepper mingle with hands and then stuff the pouch tie with string drizzle with Olive oil. Prep your onion carrot and celery roughly chop and place the lamb on top of the veg. Roast for 30 minutes and then start to baste in red wine every 15 minutes or so till the meat is cooked to how you like it. Take the leg out to rest, take the fat off sieve the veg and juices into a pan of the stock, add a glass of red wine the flour simmer to make a gravy. Yummy! Useful Links and websites A great site for your Parasite forecasts A technically informative site Where from? Only in NZ!

4 NEWSLETTER Issue 1 Last Notes from the secretary 4 Thank you again to the generous offer of sponsorship this year from Barkers Animal Health It s been a busy over the last few months with lambing and the white fluffy stuff to hinder our jobs every day and now rain again will the Beast from the East stop us? Well! There has been plenty of big lambs for me this lambing season, with grass growing well -on into December. Ewes were in great condition throughout the gestation, rations were adapted to suit C/S, just two weeks prior to lambing and they were out all day and in at night until their due date. Lambing seemed to drag out and it was a real waiting game. Talking to other farmers it seems this has been the trend for the year. My only problems seem to be the number of ram lambs born (a sigh of relief and cheers went up when a ewe lamb is born. Dystocia reared its head literally a few times with a little bit of rope burn on two, but happy with the lambs. The white stuff threw out DLWGs for a week, but the lambs are really putting on condition now with a peep of grass coming through. No doubt you will all be in the middle of lambing and we need some sun to dry up the ground fed up with wellies and leggings and lambs up to their knees in mud Next Jobs- shear the show sheep and drench a few lambs! A family run business who caters for all livestock needs. Also at Ashford Market on a Tuesday Barkers Animal Health Ltd, Unit 6 Cedar Trade Park Wimborne BH21 7SD Events and trips Would any members be interested in a trip and tour of Shepherd Neame Brewery, Faversham this Summer? If you are interested there several options available for visitor such as Private Tours with tasting for around 12 per person for 8-14 people. I will send out information in the summer newsletter of a date and time so book early as spaces will be limited. Society forms A cry for help! Please can you use the official society forms for registration of your sheep. We receive so many pieces of paper it makes it difficult to translate when making up the flock book. We receive many different styles of paper work which is then like translating hieroglyphics and this can take time. We have received very interesting paperwork!. Not quite fag papers Well done to those who send in legible information it speeds up the process so much- Gripe over. The forms can be easily photocopied if you have larger numbers to be registered and these are also available on our web site too! I am looking forward to seeing more Romney sheep registered this year with new members coming on board creating different bloodlines Best wishes and good luck for the show season Julie Lukehurst Secretary mob julie.lukehurst@outlook.com

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