Pictures:

We had planned to have the sheep photographed before the sale from around the country.

Due to current guidelines we have decided to  cancel this is. We would encourage breeders over the next number of weeks to use the social media platforms available to drive and additionally promote their entries for the Premier.

We will be taking flock profiles for advertising with pictures through the website and social media. 

These will be accepted until 8th August 9:00PM  via WhatsApp @087 1204485 or through the Society Facebook page private message function only.

Please note pictures should not be taken in sheds they should be in grass or on an alternative outdoor hard surface. Please ensure no supplementary feeds can be seen in the pictures.

***All Sheep Must be Double EID Tagged*** 

Reminder: Any sheep uploaded to any breeders social media pages without double EID tags will be removed from the sale.

Viewing:

We will be allowing viewing in the mart from 5:00PM on the Friday Evening after the Judging until 9:00PM.

The yard will be open from 8:00am on Saturday 15th for viewing. Please note this means all breeders will have to attend to the feeding of sheep before 8am on the Saturday.

We would ask all breeders to move away from the penning area on the Saturday morning to let the people arriving on the Saturday the opportunity to see the sheep on offer.

Each section of sheep will be closed off for viewing once that section is selling.

Online Bidding:

We are happy to announce that the sale will give purchasers the option to online bid.

Please note all people planning on bidding online will have to pre-register online before 4:00PM on Friday 14th August!

If online bidding does not does not suit your needs, please contact the society chairman to organise phone bidding John Wehrly 086 8122485

We anticipate that the biggest source of  source of bids will be made live in the mart, but in the current climate we will do our utmost to facilitate all bidders.

Note for exhibitors that sale of sheep online is not confirmed until payment is received.

Dispatch Documents:

All Dispatch sheets must in the office before 4:00PM on Friday 14th if not in the office before then the sheep will be excluded from the sale.

Please note anyone planning on being there in person on either 14th or 15th August must have followed all government restrictions on travel from outside the island of Ireland. We value everyone’s custom but in the current climate anyone found to have not adhered to the guidelines will be asked to leave the market. This is firstly and most importantly due to the health risk to fellow breeders and the potential for event to be closed from this.

Penning:

All ram lambs will be penned in the small pens at the bottom of the yard. People may know these previously as these are the pens where the inspections took place.

Females and Shearling rams will penned where in previous years the ram lambs were located.

This is to allow all breeders one pen for each of the of the following sections, Shearling Ram, Ram Lambs and Females.

To aid in social distancing, there will be a one way system around the pens.

We would encourage exhibitors on the Friday evening to view the sheep on offer as people attending the sale on the Saturday morning will prioritised for viewing.

To allow the moment for each category of sheep, each section of sheep will be closed when that section is in the process of being sold.

This would mean that the viewing of each category will finish at the below approx. times:

Females will be finished  at 10:00am on Saturday Morning.

Shearling Rams will be finished at 12 noon

Show:

We will be going with a reduced show for this year going under the below circumstances.

All exhibitors will only be allowed to show one sheep per class.

All exhibitors must wear a face covering while showing and white show coats.

The showing is weather dependent if the weather is unsuitable for showing the show will be called off.

Showing will held outside where strict social distancing will be practiced while showing is taking place.

The judge will tap forward his top choices before physically handling the  sheep, the sheep will then be let to a pen where the sheep will be let loose for closer inspection of the sheep by the judge.

Classes:

Shearling Ewe

Ewe Lamb

Shearling Ram

Open Ram Lamb

Lamb Plus Ram Lamb ( To reduced numbers in a second ram lamb class this will be limited to double four stared rams this year) Stars will based on the evaluation run in the catalogue to make it fair for all breeders.

We understand people will disappointed some classes have been removed this year we believe this is best decision for the show and sale  in order to limit the time spent judging and to maximise time for viewing.

Please note anyone not adhering to HSE guidelines and Society guidelines during the judging will be asked to remove their sheep from the show.

Ring:

The council is currently reviewing which option will suit the bidders.

We currently have two options under review:

1: A ring located outside under a marque. This is to allow maximum view for the auctioneer.

2:Using the normal ring, with the sale streamed outside with limited active bidders allowed inside the ring. There would also be spotters for people to bid outside.

We will review this the coming weeks and the council will select the most viable option.

Canteen:

The canteen will be open on site and will be operating under HSE guidelines.

Promotion:

Due to the fact we have not been able to get to shows this year please let us know if there is any groups of farmers etc that you think we should be contacting. Please call John on 087 1204485

BBQ

This will happen on the Friday evening. This will again be following all HSE guidelines.

The post Premier Sale 2020 appeared first on Irish Texel.

West region championship report 2019

Young Roscommon breeders strike Texel gold

It was a day to remember for young breeders Cathal and Tony Lavin who took their first ever west region championship with an outstanding Texel shearling ewe bred by Strathbogie Yabba Dabba Do out a Larahirl ewe bred by Holylee volcano , This shearling ewe won numerous local shows as a ewe lamb throughout the region last year.

In reserve was a shearling ram from Sean Alma and Lorraine Brennan with Nilands Blockade who was overall west region champion last year. This ram was bred by Claybury American Gangster out of a Knock Ursus ewe

Other results on the day included Cyril Keane winning the aged ram class with a son of Tophill Wall St.

 Thomas Kenny took the aged ewe class with a homebred Annakisha Uproar daughter she went on to take reserve female champion on the day.

 In the open ram lamb another young breeder Darragh Cunniffe took the red rosette spot with a son of Thornville Anthony.

 Keeping with the trend of the day another young breeder Brian Connelly took first prize in the ewe lamb class with a daughter of Forge young gun.

 In the March ram lamb class the Niland family took top honours with a son of Mullan Blow Your Mind this classy lamb went on to take reserve male champion on the day.

In the other March class Cyril Keane took first prize with a classy ewe lamb by Seaforde Booty Hunter

In the confined ram lamb class Shane Hynes took the red rosette with a son of Annakisha Barry, in the final class of the day the Niland family won the group of three with a shearling ewe of Claybury American Gangster and a ram lamb and ewe lamb of Strathbogie Boss

Many thanks from the club to our judge on the very wet day John Greene co Donegal who did a fantastic job judging,

Champion west region championships exhibited by the lavin family presented with the moira Kenny cup by her daughter laura and judge John Greene

All Ireland

The all ireland was well contested again this year by our members. With Tom kenny of the Hillswood Flock winning the aged ewe class she is sired by Midcombe Axel   it was also a great day for connemara breeder Patrick Joyce who picked up 2nd prize March ram and 3rd prize March ewe lamb both being et siblings sired by Knock Yazoo. Finally the Niland family picked up 3rd prize in the Shearling ewe class sired by bluegates aviator in what was one of the biggest classes of the day.

Tom kennys first prize aged ewe.

Premier sale

Blessington was again a very successful sale, with breeders from the west region doing very well top price from the west region was from Brian Connelly who achieved 1400 gns for his Duncyrne Bobby Dazzler ram lamb, this price was followed closely by Padraic Tracey who got 1300gns for his Tegilum Apache ram lamb

Brian connellys blessington ram

Local sales

Local sales in the west club went well overall with the premier sale in Roscommon being the best of the bunch top price again went to Brian Connelly who sold his Figart Ace ram lamb for 1200gns. Top price in Athenry was from Tom Kenny selling the champion for 800gns

Champion and top price ram lamb at Roscommon sold for 1200 gns

Show flock

The show Flock winner from the west region was Tom Kenny winning it for the 2nd year in a row congratulations to Tom on making a great effort again in 2019. 

In lamb ewe sale

The regions annual in lamb ewe sale was a great success with a very high clearance rate and a good average selling price, topping the sale was Patrick joyce selling a Clew Bay Acro sired hogget for 1350gns

Champion and reserve champion both sold for 1000 gns each with Patrick joyce taking the top honors and Tom kenny taking reserve champion. 

Avg price on the night was 589gns

Champion and reserve champion pictured with judge padraic niland and chairman Michael Murphy

The post West Regional 2019 Review…What a year… appeared first on Irish Texel.

Want to start sheep breeding or expand an existing flock? Win a €600 voucher to buy a ewe or ram with the Irish Texel society and the Irish Farmers Journal.

The Irish Texel Sheep Society, in association with the Irish Farmers Journal, is delighted to launch an editorial competition aimed at young sheep farmers.

The post Young sheep breeders get writing! appeared first on Irish Texel.

We would be interested in finding out if members would be interested in bringing back a Sire Reference Scheme.

Currently some of us feel there is need for the Society to demonstrate to commercial sheep farmers that it is serious about improving the commercial attributes of the breed. A Sire Reference Scheme would be an ideal way of demonstrating that the Society is identifying and making available to members rams that have the top commercial genetics within the breed or indeed in the entire Pedigree Sheep population. It would also ensure that members can maintain linkage and improve the accuracy of the breeding indexes of their flock.

How would the Sire Reference Scheme work?

Members expressing an interest would be called to a meeting where a Sire Reference Committee would be formed and a Chairman, Secretary, Treasurer and a purchasing team would be selected.

The purchasing team, (3 people) would select a panel of eligible rams at Blessington Premier Sale (if not selected at this sale other sales will be considered) with a view of purchasing for use in the Sire Reference Scheme. These animals would be selected based on physical/ breed type looks coupled with performance figures. The ram or rams will be used through AI only. Where possible this would be for fresh semen on the day. We will try to have it that people will get a chance to have the ram on site for the day of AI so this means when applying you would need to supply your AI date as it will be first come first served.

The ram will be kept at a nominated farm and will be at the risk of the Sire reference Scheme group not the farmer keeping the ram.

Each breeder will be required to serve at least 10 ewes and a max of 15 ewes. Ewes mated and in-lamb to Sire Reference Rams must not be sold in lamb.

Cost:

The max proposed cost at this stage to each breeder for this year is €500.00 but this could reduce depending on the cost of the ram selected and /or the number of breeders interested. Please note the agreed contribution must be paid before the ram is purchased.

CPT:

To increase the data captured the ram will be offered to Sheep Ireland for the CPT programme. This will also ensure that members will have a strong linkage and high accuracies for both Sire Reference progeny and lambs sired by other rams in their flocks.   

The ram / rams will only be made available for CPT when all participating members have AI’d their nominated ewes.

LambPlus

You must be a member of the LambPlus scheme.

You must have minimum of 10 ewes to serve to the selected ram.

If interested or would like further information please contact: info@irishtexel.com or message us on Facebook

Closing date 27th July 

The post Sire Reference Scheme appeared first on Irish Texel.

Awards up for grabs this year, Regional Show Flock of the Year and National Show Flock and Reserve.

Points remain the same as last year, 1st 3 points, 2nd 2 Points and 3rd 1 Point.  This year the sheep that receive the points will be awarded to the flock that they are in on flock book at the date of show.

Remember that the points for your flock can be collected at shows inside and outside your region.

Show Dates 2019

North East 

9th June Dundalk 

21st August Virginia 

1st September Trim 

South West

30th June Charleville Show 

7th July Clonmel Show 

25th August Limerick Show 

West 

7th July Longford

14th July Mullingar

Monivea

North Connacht

14th July Ballina

21st July Louisburg

5th August Bonniconlon

Donegal

20th July Inishowen

28th June Finn Valley

18th August Ballyshannon

Midlands

28th July Ossory

5ht August Tinahely

11th August Tullamore

South East 

11th July Bannow

13th July Open Day Liam Dillons Farm New Ross Co Wexford 

18th August Tullow

The post Show Flock of The Year…. appeared first on Irish Texel.

As a Society, we believe that the sheep that keeps winning show after show deserves additional recognition!

The points for the Show Flock of the Year  can be collected and accumulated at the regional shows listed (noted below) and the only major change for the competition this year is that there is also points collectable at the All Ireland.

The points will be allocated to individual sheep and the prize will be awarded to the owner of the sheep at the time of the presentation at the 2019 AGM and awards night.

This is the chance to show the consistency and  ability to successfully compete under a variety of Judges.

Each regional winner  will be awarded a €100 voucher towards the cost of an advert in the 2020 yearbook, with the Overall and Reserve getting an additional €100 each. To receive this voucher you must be present at the awards night.

Points:

Regional Shows

Champion 3

Reserve 2

1st 3

2nd 2

3rd 1

All Ireland

Champion (Overall) 3

Reserve (Overall) 2

1st 6

2nd 5

3rd 4

4th 3

5th 2

6th 1

Classes

Aged Ram

Shearing Ram

Ram Lamb

Aged Ewe

Shearling Ewe

Ewe Lamb

Overall

Reserve Overall

Please note this does not change the current points structure for the show flock of the year!

The post New for 2019.. Show Sheep of the Year…. appeared first on Irish Texel.