Shropshire N Z News. Winter Edition July 2015

Transcription

1 Shropshire N Z News Winter Edition July 2015

2 DIRECTORY Patron John Green President Tom Burrows Secretary Greg Burgess, NZSBA Vice-President Matt Stiles Breed Committee Nan McDonald Helen McKenzie Keith Wratt NZSBA Councillor Editor Website: Tom Burrows Helen McKenzie Closing date for next newsletter is November 10 th, 2015 Cover: Shropshire rams in the snow recently at James Brown s Strathburn stud, Otautau, Southland. James is planning to show the ram in front this season Shropshire Sheep NZ accepts no responsibility for the accuracy of any published opinion or information supplied by individuals or reprinted from other sources. Items may be abridged or edited. 2

3 CONTENTS 02 Directory 03 Contents; Notice Board Royal & Wairarapa Show entry info! 04 President s Report new President Tom Burrows introduces himself 05 From the Editor 06 Patron; News from Fern Hill Stud 07 Oxford Show results 08 Previous President s Report to AGM Nan McDonald 09 Rosemarkie Report 10 Burrows Family Trip to UK Shropshires 14 Masterton Show Results 15 Rangitukia Report 16 A Bit of History 20 A Bit More History 21 Highley Stud Report 22 UK News 23 Obituary Dr Michael Ryder; photo captions back cover NOTICE BOARD For Sale Registered Shropshires: Ewes; $140 - $200 each depending on age. Also ewe lambs $130 each. Stud Rams $300 - $400 each. All plus GST. Contact: Helen or Warwick or rosemarkie@wise.net.nz Wairarapa A & P Show, Saturday 31 st October, 2015 Shropshire classes, entry fees about $8 per class. We hope to have 150 year display too. - office@waiaps.org.nz for further information Royal Show, Hastings, Wednesday 21 st October to Friday 23rd inclusive. Not sure when sheep are required to be penned. They will need to be used to eating dry feed; not sure if there will be green feed available. Sheep entry fees will be $15 per entry. For further info & schedule, - events@showgroundshb.co.nz 3

4 NEW PRESIDENT S REPORT I guess it was always on the cards that I would have stud sheep as a career path. Our family have been involved in stud breeding for generations. Our forebear John Burrows farmed at Highley in Shropshire and emigrated to New Zealand in1851 as part of the Canterbury settlement programme. Our family bred half bred sheep and then I moved into Corriedales in We have ventured into several breeds and at present have Corriedales and Perendales; John our eldest son has Dorset Downs (of which he is the breed representative on the N.Z.S.B.A. council) and Lucy is in charge of the Shropshires. I served on the council of the Corriedale Sheep Society from and then from 2008 to the present time; I was President from I believe that we, as stud breeders, need to focus on the commercial industry as this is where our income is generated. Without a strong commercial sector our whole industry will flounder. We have a unique breed that has survived to the present and we need to now promote its strengths - namely hogget mating and the ability to get up and get going as a newborn. I deem being elected as President of your society an honour and I look forward to serving you as breeders, and the breed as a whole, in the best way I can. Regards Tom 4

5 FROM THE EDITOR Thanks to those of you who have supplied material for this issue of the Shropshire News. I have had a good response to my request for an update on members flocks after ringing a few of you. Remember the magazine is for you! If you come across any articles that you think are of interest please send me the details and I will try and get permission to reprint it. I hope you ve all filled out your flock returns by now. Won t be long and the new flock book will be out (December, but at the rate time is passing it will be here before we know it). Soon the new season s lambs will be arriving and the results of the decisions made re sires and ewes at mating will be known how exciting! Retired breeders, Lorne Keuhn and Sidney McDonnell have both taken out Associate Membership. This class of membership is proving popular for non breeders with a continuing interest in the breed. Helen The 150 year display at Masterton A & P Show in February this year 5

6 PATRON S PAGE Hello to you all, I trust you haven t been washed away in the recent heavy rain we had. I wish for you all to have a successful lambing this coming season. I may see some of you at the Royal Show in Hastings if I am able to attend. I m keeping a fairly low profile these days because of my health but am still managing to assist my son Peter with his farm chores - well, with advice at least! Regards to all breeders Cheers, John NEWS FROM FERN HILL, NORTH TARANAKI. We have had a very quiet year, last year s lambing was not so great, from 5 ewes 2 had twin lambs, in both cases one of the lambs died at birth. The 2 lambs (1 ram and 1 ewe lamb) did well although neither of them was breading material so they ended up in the freezer, so no additions to our flock last season. Our numbers had dropped early last year as we lost some of the Flock to Facial Eczema; we got this under control this year by treating early and continuing with capsules until the danger period had past. Another valuable lesson prevention is better than cure. I must say we have high hopes for this year s lambing, all the sheep are getting used to the happenings here and even got very friendly with our pigs earlier in the year. With Max s retirement coming at the end of August he is looking forward to having plenty of time to do all the jobs on his list and spending more time in our piece of paradise. Jacqui and Max Hale 6

7 OXFORD A & P SHOW RESULTS, Saturday 2 nd April, 2015 Ram Over 18 months 1 st Lucy Burrows, 2 nd Matt Stiles, 3 rd Matt Stiles Ram Lamb 1 st Lucy Burrows, 2 nd Lucy Burrows CHAMPION RAM: Lucy Burrows, ram lamb Ewe Over 18 months 1 st Lucy Burrows, 2 nd Matt Stiles, 3 rd Matt Stiles Ewe Lamb 1 st Lucy Burrows, 2 nd Lucy Burrows, 3 rd Matt Stiles CHAMPION EWE: Lucy Burrows, ewe lamb 7

8 CHAIRPERSON S REPORT FROM THE AGM Every year, as I have sat down to write this report, I read the report of the previous year. This is primarily to avoid repetition, but also to remind myself about what was going on last year and what we have done. When I was elected to this position five years ago, one of my personal goals was to widen the engagement between breeders throughout New Zealand by alternating the location of Annual General Meetings between the North and South Islands. While we have succeeded in having AGMs in both islands, my own attendance has been patchy. In 2011, the Canterbury earthquake forced a postponement of the scheduled AGM, and in 2013 a death in the family meant that I was unable to attend, so I am really excited in this, my final year as President, to be able to actually attend! In the broader environment for New Zealand sheep, slumps in demand from the key markets of China and Europe have seen prices down by 50c/kg this winter over last. The importance of the Chinese market to New Zealand can be seen in the following numbers. China last year bought an average 160,000 tonnes of New Zealand sheepmeat, up 20,000 tonnes on The UK is our second biggest market, last year buying an average 60,000 tonnes, and the US is third at 20,000 tonnes. From a numerical perspective, New Zealand Shropshires have no impact on these markets China is estimated to have 130 million sheep, while New Zealand's flock is about 30 million but the Breed offers many strengths, and the growing frequency of both enquiries and purchases, indicate that they are increasingly appreciated. Later this year, one of the leading Shropshire breeders in North America will be visiting New Zealand, and I am sure that any of you who have the opportunity to meet with him and compare notes will find it really interesting. I am confident that our new President and Committee will build on the strengths of the Breed and continue to develop its potential, and look forward to supporting them in their endeavours. Here's to another enjoyable year with Shropshire sheep. 8 Regards Nan McDonald

9 ROSEMARKIE REPORT The Wairarapa contingent put together a display celebrating 150 years of Shropshire sheep in NZ for Masterton A & P show in February. With thanks to Nan McDonald and Sue Kingsford for the setting up and use of their gazebo as well as some photographic material and ribbons, and to my brother in law, Wayne Mowbray, for the donation of most of the display boards. I already had a lot of material including photos and other information gathered over my 30 odd years owning the breed. We were situated immediately in front of the pens where the sheep were being shown. All in all it looked very well I thought. Rosemarkie Stud had a good number of ewe lambs in We have kept 30 odd for us, another 10 or so for possible sale and we culled 18. We only kept 16 ewe hoggets from the 2013 year so this will make up the numbers of younger ewes again. Plus there are a few of Alistair s. The ram lamb scanning results were not as good as last year as the scanner was later getting here and we were pretty dry, however there were still some animals that stood out and were comparable with the better individuals from last year. It is a worthwhile exercise although not cheap. We are planning to take some Shropshires and possibly Ryelands to the Royal Show and also a couple of young Red Poll cattle if they look like they won t embarrass us by not doing as they are told. Unfortunately the Wairarapa Show is the week after the Royal, not before, so no trial run before we hit the big time! We have about 100 Shropshire ewes to lamb, counting Alistair s. We used a couple of the spare older rams for the first time this year, as well as a ram hogget, and one sire we ve used previously. Helen & Warwick 9

10 BURROWS FAMILY TRIP TO UK By Tom Burrows Recently Fiona, Lucy, Robb (one of our sons) and myself were fortunate enough to have the privilege of travelling to Turkey to take part in the Gallipoli 100 th anniversary. At the conclusion of this, Robb left us for home (in Aussie!) and we made our way to Rome, Paris and London.We took the train from London-Cardiff where we picked up a rental car. We stayed at Fiona's Uncle and Aunty s in Penarth, a nice little seaside village not far from Cardiff. After staying overnight we took to the highways! Luckily we had a Navlady to guide us to Sue Farquhar's Piddington Shropshire stud. After a few stops (for coffee and to purchase gumboots - or Wellingtons as the salesman informed me) we finally arrived at Sue's late morning. A quick cuppa was followed by a very interesting tour around her property. We saw some very nice Shropshire maiden ewes for a start followed by a magnificent Red Devon bull (Sue also has a Red Devon cattle stud). From there we inspected her ewes and lambs. I was very impressed by the quality of the mob we saw; very well grown, true-to-type sheep, with lovely sappy lambs. Ewes and Lambs at Sue Farquhar s Photo: Burrows Family 10

11 We then went around the road to look at the older rams - nice quality they were too. I was very impressed with this operation - it has given us a better appreciation of what a genuine Shropshire is meant to look like. Some of the young rams at Sue Farqhuhar s Photo: Burrows Family From Sue s we went through Shropshire County, calling in at Highley (where my forebears came from and left to come to New Zealand in 1851) and then continued on to Chelmarsh for a pub lunch. On leaving Chelmarsh we headed to the Shrewsbury area to visit Pippa Geddes Alderton Shropshire stud. After the Navlady got us hopelessly lost, (thank goodness for modern communications) we found Pippa s property. A beautiful farm set in typical English country side green, deep, lush grass. It was blowing an awful gale when we were there - but we had a good look at all the Shropshires. A different operation here focusing more on records; sheep of a similar type, very well presented, but also heaps of quality grass. Pippa and her husband, Peter, were renovating their house, a wonderful old barn type building, very rustic and cosy - she also had some very fine horses that were also a hobby. The photos probably explain things better than a thousand words! 11

12 More rams at Sue Farqhuhar s Photo: Burrows Family Ewe with triplet lambs at Pippa Geddes Photo: Burrows Family 12

13 Tom wearing his Wellington boots at Pippa Geddes Photo: Burrows Family Rangitukia H30 bred by Nan McDonald & Sue Kingsford, 1 st in ewe lamb class at Masterton Show February,

14 MASTERTON SHOW RESULTS, February 21 st, 2015 (Judge: John Green) Ram, over 21 months: (4 entries) 1 st Rosemarkie Partnership #F51 2 nd Rosemarkie Partnership #G55 3 rd Stirling Shropshires #G506 Ram, over 12 & under 21 months: (3 entries) 1 st Rangitukia #G5 2 nd Rosemarkie Partnership #H8 3 rd Rosemarkie Partnership #H42 Ram Lamb - Shorn (3 entries) 1 st Rangitukia #H3 2 nd Rosemarkie Partnership #J93 3 rd Rosemarkie Partnership #J102 Champion Shropshire Ram: Rosemarkie Partnership #F51 Reserve Champion Shropshire Ram: Rosemarkie Partnership #G55 Ewe, over 21 months (5 entries) 1 st Rosemarkie Partnership Mamaku #142 2 nd Rosemarkie Partnership #F29 3 rd Rangitukia #F27 Ewe, Over 12 & Under 21 months (5 entries) 1 st Rangitukia #G29 2 nd Stirling Shropshires #H506 3 rd Rangitukia #G18 Ewe lamb shorn (6 entries) 1 st Rangitukia #H30 2 nd Rangitukia #H25 3 rd Rosemarkie Partnership #J117 Champion Shropshire Ewe: Rosemarkie Partnership Mamaku #142 Reserve Champion Shropshire Ewe: Rosemarkie Partnership #F29 SUPREME CHAMPION SHROPSHIRE: Rosemarkie P/ship Mamaku #142 14

15 RANGITUKIA REPORT Snow is on the hills, with temperatures to match. Some of my older neighbours are telling me that they don t recall experiencing a winter like this one, with so little rain. For us, this has meant cutting back on cattle but not sheep! It has been pleasing to begin to see the results of our personal selection programme for the Shropshires. Rigorous selection against any animals with fly, hoof issues or, in the words of someone I once sat next to on a long plane journey p**s poor parenting has (mostly) resulted in greater resilience and easier care. Lambing is due to start at the end of July, with around 40 ewes this year. This is fewer than our target number, but with an ongoing high level of interest and sales, as well as a vigorous culling last season, the breeding flock is smaller (and on average younger) this year. It s always an exciting time to see what the results are from this year s breeding programme. For those of you at the AGM, and those of you reading the minutes, I put my hand up to co-ordinate the production of a New Zealand Shropshire calendar. So, please start looking out for any special photographic opportunities of your flock or any historical photographs - so that we can put together a fabulous calendar. I will send out another request in about three (3) months with the aim of having the calendar available in time for the Christmas season. Please also think about how many copies you d like! Obviously, the more we get printed, the cheaper each one is, and the greater the potential to contribute to Shropshire breed initiatives. I wish a fantastic lambing season for everyone, and a spring full of fabulous grass growth and warm weather. Nan McDonald 15

16 A Bit Of History LARGEST FLOCK OF SHROPSHIRES IN NEW ZEALAND Weekly Press and Referee 24 th October, 1898 (By our Agricultural Reporter) NZ National Library, Papers Past The Shropshire has a world-wide reputation for hardiness of constitution, early maturity, and quality of its meat, and of late years since more attention has been paid to the production of mutton, it has come into more general use in various countries, such as Canada, the United States, South America, Jamaica, South Africa, Germany, Sweden, Denmark, &c., as well as the Australian colonies and New Zealand. These countries differ greatly in soil and climate; and thus it is shown how the Shropshire will adapt itself to almost any conditions. On the drought-stricken plains of Australia it is rapidly coming to the front for crossing with the Merino to produce a better class of fat lamb and mutton sheep, not only for local consumption but for the export trade. In New Zealand, and especially in the province of Canterbury, we have seen how great the increase has been during the past few years in the number of Shropshire rams used both by large and small sheep farmers. It is a noticeable fact that this spring there are more than the usual number of lines of halfbred Shropshire hoggets in the market, which will form later on shipments of frozen mutton; and it is equally noticeable that there is a larger proportion of the popular blackfaces among the present season s crop of lambs, both on the plains and in the northern districts of the province. On the very lightest lands of the plains the Shropshire is said to do better than anything else; and farmers north of Waikari and at Cheviot assure me that the Shropshire lambs come out ready for the factory fully a fortnight ahead of anything else. This is also borne out by Mr A. W. Rutherford, of Mendip Hills, in his article on sheep breeding in the Amuri, published last week. The bulk of the early lambs that are being brought into the Addington Saleyards this season are of the Shropshire cross. Mr G. G. Stead was one of the first to recognise the important part the Shropshire was destined to play in the frozen lamb and mutton trade of the colony; and on the property known as Brown s Farm, at Dromore, owned by 16

17 Mr Stead and the Hon. J.T. Peacock, there is now being raised the largest flock of purebred Shropshires in the colony. It will be remembered, too, that when Mr Stead owned the Coringa farm at Yaldhurst, his early lambs used to top the market week after week at Addington, and real plums they were. The Shropshire flock at Brown s Farm consists of about 800 breeding ewes, 350 ewe hoggets, 100 ram hoggets, 90 wether hoggets, and several stud rams, and it is Mr Stead s intention to increase the flock to 2,000. The flock was started about 10 years ago, some of the first breeding ewes being obtained from Mr T.E Upton, Sherwood, Ashburton, while rams were purchased from Mr J. Grigg, Longbeach, and Messrs Rowley and Hamilton, Invercargill. Two rams were afterwards imported from Mr J Beach s flock, the Hattons, Wolverhampton, Staffordshire, and the annual drafts of rams from Mr Stead s flock during the last few years were by these imported rams. When Mr Stead was at Home last year he visited the Royal Show at Manchester, and bought two ram lambs from Mr Philo L. Mills, of Ruddington Hall, Nottingham. These lambs were by the celebrated ram Ruddington Eclipse (8718), sold for 370 guineas, and they formed part of the pen of three ram lambs, which in a class of nineteen entries at the Royal Show, were highly commended and reserved for second prize. Since their arrival in this colony these two young rams have thriven wonderfully well, and are now magnificent sheep. They have been named Gold Medallist and Conqueror, titles they will no doubt fully justify in the prize ring. The two rams, though shown together as lambs, at which time they must have been uniform in appearance, differ very considerably now that they are developed. Whereas Gold Medallist has an open fleece unusually long in the staple, Conqueror has the shorter dense wool characteristic of the breed, and will probably be judged by many as the purer type of sheep. There is no getting away, however, from the character and style of the bigger sheep; his carriage is magnificent and his marking true; and it has been said of him by a good judge that he is the finest sheep of any breed that has been brought to the colony. The sheep are now carrying about twenty month s wool, and will clip, it is expected, from lb each, and there will probably be little difference in the weight of the two fleeces, density in one case making up for length of staple in the other. These two rams when shown are sure to arouse a great deal of interest. 17

18 There will be a nice draft of shearling rams this coming season from Brown s Farm. With the exception of one or two that have not matured well, but have come out narrow and leggy, they are a capital lot, being low set and compact just what are required for producing lambs and sheep for the export trade. Their development is all the more satisfactory seeing that they have come through a very trying summer and autumn. The ewe flock contains a capital lot of good specimens of the breed, and there is a very promising lot of ewe hoggets. One hundred of the best ewes were selected from the flock and put to the two newly imported rams, and the lambs from them are turning out most satisfactorily as regards size, shape and marking. The only ram lambs to be kept this season will be those by Gold Medallist and Conqueror. The wether hoggets are a well-grown lot and it is intended to show a pen of them. A large line of such evenly made sheep could not fail to command the attention of export buyers. Complaint is frequently made that Down sheep clip so little wool; but it wioll be found that Mr Stead s Shropshires do not come far short of ordinary crossbreds in this respect, if they do not exceed them. The ewes average about 7 ¼ lb, and the hoggets from 10-11lb lb. Ten wether hoggets shorn a few days ago with a view to being shown, averaged 10lb of wool each. As I have pointed out the Shropshires do wonderfully well on the light land of the Canterbury Plains; and at Brown s Farm, where the soil is chiefly of this description, it is found that three black faces can be kept for two crossbreds, and especially has this been noticeable during the two dry seasons just experienced. A flock of halfbred ewes (English Leicester-Merino) is kept on the farm, and these are bred to Shropshire rams, the lambs being exported. So well do the lambs come on, that the season before last 50 per cent of them were got away by New Year s Day, and they averaged 38lb. The extreme dryness of the summer last year, and consequent shortness of feed, was against such a successful result being accomplished. 18

19 The Shropshires are noted for their prolificness [sic]; and whether purebreds or half-breds a good percentage of lambs can be relied upon. In Mr Stead s flock the purebreds have given as high as 130 per cent and they are never below 96 or 97 percent. Last year, which was a very bad season, 97 percent of lambs were marked. In Mr J. W. Roger, Mr Stead has a capital farm manager, and one who is enthusiastic in the management of the Shropshires, a breed of sheep he has been identified with from his youth; for though not born in the county, he lived for many years in Shropshire. The success of the flock is largely due to Mr Rogers s intimate knowledge of the breed, and to his careful management. To him, and to Mr W.G. Stead, I am indebted for a very pleasant day spent on the farm. Photo below from UK Shropshire Society Studbook Reprinted with permission 19

20 NZ Flock Book North Island New Series Vol VII Year ending Dec 1907 In this book, the largest Shropshire flock is that of Mr Thomas Coates, Remuera, Auckland, flock number 111. I quote from the book: - The flock was established in 1868 by the importation of five ewes descended from the flock of Mr James Hand of Ludlow. Fresh blood was introduced by rams from the flocks of Mr John Grigg, of Christchurch, and Every McLean, of Auckland. In 1893 four rams were imported from England, two of which were bred by Mr Phillip Turner, of Fernbridge, one by Mr Aaron Rogers, and another by Mr George Edwards, all of Herefordshire. Rams were also obtained from Captain Parker, Messrs. Ballard and Burnett, and two rams from Mr A P Turner, Pembridge, England. In 1905 the flock consisted of one hundred and fifty two tooth ewes and two hundred and fifty over 2 tooth. In the return for 1907 the flock had Five Hundred and twenty ewes. 200 lambs were kept as rams and there were 287 ewe lambs. Among the sires listed was Moses Imp. And Moses 2 nd, 3 rd and 4 th, Aaron 2 nd & 3 rd, Quality and Quality 2 nd ; Malakoff and Malakoff 2 nd ; Shenstone and Cooper s Record. I have long held the notion that if a vet can t catch his patient there s nothing much to worry about. James Herriot Vet In Harness 20

21 HIGHLEY STUD REPORT The year started off very dry and has continued to be so for the rest of the time. The ewes went to the ram in lighter condition than last year - they have been on barley since early February, and are still at the time of writing, on supplements. We mated 81 ewes this year, using three rams. We had a good show season, with the highlight being the Hawarden show where we were placed second in the All Breeds ram lamb class. Oxford show was the first one day show in Canterbury to offer Shropshire classes for a long time and was well supported - results are reported elsewhere. We had a reasonable ram selling season - selling twenty ram lambs to a big commercial farmer for hogget mating; leased six ram lambs to a local prime lamb producer (just to try them out!) for hogget mating and sold seven 2th rams to Mexico. We have just pregnancy scanned the ewes and they came in at 147% - which we are quite pleased with - given the drought. We enjoyed catching up at the AGM Regards All at Highley Stud The Highley ewe flock during the dry weather. Photo: Burrows family 21

22 UK NEWS (Information from the UK newsletter, Shroptalk, Spring 2015 The UK Shropshire Sheep Society has a new President, Mr Les Newman. He was previously president from He and his wife, Tricia, own a flock of 40 Shropshire ewes along with a flock of 20 Southdown ewes and a few crossbreds. Their daughter, Lorie and her husband, Charles Saffell, have their own flock of Shropshires. Lorie is the minute secretary for the Shropshire Sheep Breeders Association. According to Les the UK flock is now up to around 5,000 breeding ewes and no longer considered a rare breed. Sheep Exports 2015 The council is pleased to report that the SSBA has received export orders from France and Germany, for, collectively, 112 females and 8 males. The sheep will be leaving the UK in one consignment in early September. Shropshire Quintuplets Sue and Mark Shimwell were presented with Shropshire quintuplets on 16 th January this year. The ewe had scanned as carrying quadruplets so the fifth one was a bit of a surprise. They had very good birth weights (for quintuplets) at 2.25kg, 2.5kg and 3 at 3.5kg. They are extremely vigorous lambs by the High Genetic Merit ram, Brereton Nimrod. Shropshires On the Front Cover Ewes and lambs from Sue Farquhar s Piddington flock featured on the front cover the of the [UK s] National Sheep Association s magazine, Sheep Farmer. The magazine covers national sheep news and has articles on a range of technical issues of interest to sheep producers. [Some of you will remember meeting Sue when she was in New Zealand a few years ago - Editor] 22

23 Obituary Dr Michael L Ryder By Peter Titley, published in The Ark, magazine of the UK Rare Breeds Survival Trust. Reprinted with permission Occasionally, one is privileged to meet an individual who has had a lasting impact in his chosen profession and whose work widely influenced countless others. Dr Michael Ryder was just such a person. One of the founding fathers of RBST, Michael died on 6 February aged 87. I last saw him in 2013 when I spent a day listening to his countless, crystal clear accounts of his pioneering days of RBST all catalogued as part of his continued writings. His dual talents, as a research biologist and sheep historian, combined to produce the enduring and authoritative book, Sheep And Man which remains a key reference for researchers, geneticists, conservationists and practical sheep keepers. In his early career Michael was a university lecturer in Australia before returning to the UK to spend 25 years at the cutting edge of research in Edinburgh firstly at the Animal Breed Research Organisation (ABRO), later to become the Roslin Institute and latterly at the Hill Farming Research Organisation (HFRO) which is now the Macaulay Institute in Aberdeen. He and I shared an absorbing interest in North Ronaldsay sheep the breed which first drew him to apply his ascerbic and enquiring mind to benefit livestock conservation more widely. After my last visit to him I wrote that he brings a sparkling enthusiasm to his subject and RBST was proud to have him as a life Member. [I have a copy of Dr Ryder s book as mentioned above. It is an 864 page tome. The amount of research involved putting it together must have been almost a life s work on its own! Editor] PHOTOS BACK COVER: Top: Bottom: Highley ewe hoggets on display at the A G M Highley 8-13, he is by Rosemarkie E42 out of an Inchloan ewe of Ross Fraser s. 23

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