Border Leicesters and their future...

[Ysgythan]

Phone Ian McDougal in Farmgene Shrewsbury and get him to source and ship in frozen embryos for you. If the society won’t pay get your girlfriend to make the investment. If it’s too much crowd fund it. Don’t let the society do it or you’ll be in hock to them forever. If they won’t let you register them set up your own society. This is make or break stuff.

PS Texels would sort the skins...

 

[CharcoalWally]

Another thought, to try and break the age old show ring rubbish, get every other society show or sale to be judged by outsiders and tell them to judge commercially, not on breed points.

Ah now......

Up here , we have things called suckler herd competitions. Nobody has to leave their farms with their animals , the judges are driven round from farm to farm to view everyone's entry.

Now , these competitions purport to be about commercial production. It's supposed to be about commercial cows rearing commercial calves , and are supposed to be judged by commercial farmers. Commercial commercial commercial.

And what cow and calf teams do they put up? ,Yep , the flashy , showy , one's that are going to be out on the show circuit. If that's genuine commercial production , then we all have very differing views on what it is.

I don't think it matters who you ask to judge , or what you tell them to judge it on , you're invariably going to get the same kind of result , because , frankly , most farmers are afraid not to. They're terrified of being different from everyone else and doing something that makes them stand out from the crowd. It's just not in their nature.

I've already posted before about the very successful commercial farmer who used to annoy his own family as they knew he wasn't judging true to himself. Despite his own success , it hadn't given him the confidence to promote his own type when judging , but instead put up the sheep that all the other "faces" put up , even if it wasn't his true assessment. Disappointing.

There are a few , but not many , people who genuinely don't give a f**k what other people think of their opinion.

 

[neilo]

Phone Ian McDougal in Farmgene Shrewsbury and get him to source and ship in frozen embryos for you. If the society won’t pay get your girlfriend to make the investment. If it’s too much crowd fund it. Don’t let the society do it or you’ll be in hock to them forever. If they won’t let you register them set up your own society. This is make or break stuff.

PS Texels would sort the skins...

I don’t think you can import embryos from Australia or NZ can you, just live animals? Even then, you can only bring in R1 scrapie genotypes, assuming you can find them.

 

[Nithsdale]

I don’t think you can import embryos from Australia or NZ can you, just live animals? Even then, you can only bring in R1 scrapie genotypes, assuming you can find them.

You can bring semen, or at least that's what I was told at weekend. But your right - they MUST be ARR-ARR genotype. Seemingly there are very, very few qualify.

 

[hendrebc]

Ah now......

Up here , we have things called suckler herd competitions. Nobody has to leave their farms with their animals , the judges are driven round from farm to farm to view everyone's entry.

Now , these competitions purport to be about commercial production. It's supposed to be about commercial cows rearing commercial calves , and are supposed to be judged by commercial farmers. Commercial commercial commercial.

And what cow and calf teams do they put up? ,Yep , the flashy , showy , one's that are going to be out on the show circuit. If that's genuine commercial production , then we all have very differing views on what it is.

I don't think it matters who you ask to judge , or what you tell them to judge it on , you're invariably going to get the same kind of result , because , frankly , most farmers are afraid not to. They're terrified of being different from everyone else and doing something that makes them stand out from the crowd. It's just not in their nature.

I've already posted before about the very successful commercial farmer who used to annoy his own family as they knew he wasn't judging true to himself. Despite his own success , it hadn't given him the confidence to promote his own type when judging , but instead put up the sheep that all the other "faces" put up , even if it wasn't his true assessment. Disappointing.

There are a few , but not many , people who genuinely don't give a fudge what other people think of their opinion.

I dont mind telling show people they are wrong i bet theres a few on here who would tell them to. @MRT knows how popular i am with show people

 

[Ysgythan]

There are a few , but not many , people who genuinely don't give a fudge what other people think of their opinion.

Hello *waves*

But then it proves a point because I don’t get asked much...but then we don’t show...

 

[Ysgythan]

I dont mind telling show people they are wrong i bet theres a few on here who would tell them to. @MRT knows how popular i am with show people

Whilst I agree with you I don’t think this place is representative of farming as a whole.

 

[MRT]

I dont mind telling show people they are wrong i bet theres a few on here who would tell them to. @MRT knows how popular i am with show people

Careful now.... I happen to know you are a well respected show judge

 

[MRT]

Careful now.... I happen to know you are a well respected show judge

Oh sorry, predictive text! Should read "resented show judge"

 

[Nithsdale]

Whilst I agree with you I don’t think this place is representative of farming as a whole.

It's all an illusion.


We talk a good game, but the reality...

 

[hendrebc]

Careful now.... I happen to know you are a well respected show judge

i dont think the lleyn show people at that show will like me very much ehen its over.... but apparently its why ive been asked maybe its a trap

 

[neilo]

Hello *waves*

But then it proves a point because I don’t get asked much...but then we don’t show...

I get asked to judge a few shows, every few years. Then people remember why i’m Not asked much and I get a year or so off again.

 

[CharcoalWally]

Hello *waves*

But then it proves a point because I don’t get asked much...but then we don’t show...

Hiya! *waves back wondering if it can be seen all the way down in Wales *

Mores the pity as we need the mavericks to kick the foundations every so often .

Otherwise we just snooze along as usual.

 

[Ysgythan]

Hiya! *waves back wondering if it can be seen all the way down in Wales *

Mores the pity as we need the mavericks to kick the foundations every so often .

Otherwise we just snooze along as usual.

Yes because young breeders are like young footballers, they copy what they see on Match of the Day.

 

[MRT]

i dont think the lleyn show people at that show will like me very much ehen its over.... but apparently its why ive been asked maybe its a trap

Keep the defensive ribbons in your pocket ready

 

[hendrebc]

Keep the defensive ribbons in your pocket ready

Just seen one of the big lleyn show people from the area were the show is in market now. He was much friendlier than normal he usually looks at me like something hes stepped in he must have heard ive gone up in the world

 

[shearerlad]

Ah now......

Up here , we have things called suckler herd competitions. Nobody has to leave their farms with their animals , the judges are driven round from farm to farm to view everyone's entry.

Now , these competitions purport to be about commercial production. It's supposed to be about commercial cows rearing commercial calves , and are supposed to be judged by commercial farmers. Commercial commercial commercial.

And what cow and calf teams do they put up? ,Yep , the flashy , showy , one's that are going to be out on the show circuit. If that's genuine commercial production , then we all have very differing views on what it is.

I don't think it matters who you ask to judge , or what you tell them to judge it on , you're invariably going to get the same kind of result , because , frankly , most farmers are afraid not to. They're terrified of being different from everyone else and doing something that makes them stand out from the crowd. It's just not in their nature.

I've already posted before about the very successful commercial farmer who used to annoy his own family as they knew he wasn't judging true to himself. Despite his own success , it hadn't given him the confidence to promote his own type when judging , but instead put up the sheep that all the other "faces" put up , even if it wasn't his true assessment. Disappointing.

There are a few , but not many , people who genuinely don't give a fudge what other people think of their opinion.

It’s a shame there’s not enough judges with “balls”

A friend of mine judged the champion of champions at a show a while back. In front of him was champions from the cattle, hill sheep, lowland sheep, pet show along with horses from the heavies, Highlands and ridden classes. The Clydesdale had been crowned for umpteen years but said judge went for the ferret from the pet section, much to the disgust of the Clydesdale owner!!

 

[yellowbelly]

It’s a shame not enough judges with “balls”

A friend of mine judged the champion of champions at a show a while back. In front of him was champions from the cattle, hill sheep, lowland sheep, pet show along with horses from the heavies, Highlands and ridden classes. The Clydesdale had been crowned for umpteen years but said judge went for the ferret from the pet section, much to the disgust of the Clydesdale owner!!

The same happened at one of our local shows a couple of years ago - but in our case the chicken came out on top

 

[neilo]

It’s a shame there’s not enough judges with “balls”

A friend of mine judged the champion of champions at a show a while back. In front of him was champions from the cattle, hill sheep, lowland sheep, pet show along with horses from the heavies, Highlands and ridden classes. The Clydesdale had been crowned for umpteen years but said judge went for the ferret from the pet section, much to the disgust of the Clydesdale owner!!

Fair play to him. He’ll be talked about for years.

I watched a friend of mine judging (it must have been) 20 years ago now. He didn’t handle half the sheep presented, and then proceeded to only give a second, third & fourth prize in the ram lamb class. He stood up at the end and told the exhibitors that none of them had been worthy of a red rosette and he didn’t need to handle those at the bottom end as they clearly shouldn’t have been there.

Lots of ruffled feathers amongst the seasoned showmen that day, but we laughed about it for years.

 

[Agrivator]

Fair play to him. He’ll be talked about for years.

I watched a friend of mine judging (it must have been) 20 years ago now. He didn’t handle half the sheep presented, and then proceeded to only give a second, third & fourth prize in the ram lamb class. He stood up at the end and told the exhibitors that none of them had been worthy of a red rosette and he didn’t need to handle those at the bottom end as they clearly shouldn’t have been there.

Lots of ruffled feathers amongst the seasoned showmen that day, but we laughed about it for years.

He was obviously of the opinion that phenotype is a good indicator of a ram's breeding value. It obviously isn't, otherwise we would be breeding perfect sheep.