It doesn’t seem 2 years since our last ‘Branch Sheep Trip’ but here we are 2 years older, bags packed and on the road!
Report by Committee member Gail Jeffries
In our initial preparations we would be kicking off with a visit to Sally Beale’s Rookery Flock but very sadly Sally had to have an emergency op! Change of plan, let’s meet up at The GreyHound, Llantrisant for lunch (recommended) before meeting at Glenys Morgans in Monmouthshire.
When we arrived, the sun shone on some wonderful sheep, the first group, a mixed ewe and tup lamb group. Well grown, level bunch of lambs. Good skins and lovely colours. A short walk to the field with the most beautiful backdrop showing some great females, shorn and numbered!! Quite apart from the impressive sheep they are primarily a dairy farm going right back many years. We saw big sheds full of contented Holstien Cows milked by robots! Glynis, our Society President and always so gracious, was a wonderful host with thanks in equal measure to the family. We had a fabulous tea and refreshments followed by our able chairman David Inman giving a vote of thanks presenting our prestigious engraved whiskey tumbler and whisky to fill it of course!
We had a gentle jaunt into Herefordshire to The Green Dragon Hereford for our social evening. Nice Hotel, quirky but very nice. We enjoyed a lovely meal followed by a jocular rendition of “When We Were Young” by Ray Woolway which gives you a good idea of our average age! After a good night’s sleep, beds 10/10 we had a hearty breakfast and ready to go!
We reset our Satnavs to another county, this time Tenbury Wells Worcestershire, to see Jed Sharp and Benni Lacharoens ‘Sharps Flock’ previous winners of the Gold Cup. We had a delightful run through countryside with its best clothes on!
Jed and Benni greeted us on our arrival where we started our tour scrutinising their ram lambs. Yes, impressive ram lambs with plenty of growth in them. Good skins and character, look forward to seeing them at the sales! Next to the boys were the ewe lambs, a good group of feminine lambs, very nice! The viewing is done at a steady pace it’s taken very seriously!! The Ewes were tremendous, big deep ewes with a sense of aristocracy!
We were also delighted to view their stock rams and much deliberation is placed on these animals studying their traits and where they land! They looked tremendous and I’m sure Jed and Benni would be pleased as to how they have matured.
Just a mention at the most wonderful Hop Barn they have on their farm, not seen one quite like it!
Jed and Benni gave us a scrumptious lunch and yummy cakes! Thank you so much!
David finalised the visit with a heartfelt summary of our visit and the super welcome given to us all by our hosts Jed and Benny.
Our final visit was to Paul Fletcher Callow Flock. Although a small flock we were shown some quality lambs which included his show lambs. The Callow Suffolk’s are well known for great colours. I’m sure we will see them at Three Counties show this year. His ewes looked well and very feminine. It was good to see his stock Rams which have grown on well. Paul has now handed the baton to his son Andrew; we wish them well for the future.
I wasn’t aware that they had a large Jersey herd but due to family redirection have reduced to a small herd providing milk to the public via a vending machine. They have replaced the main Jersey herd for some impressive fatstock.
We had a wonderful tea with our hosts, mulling over old times and past shows. Wonderful times. It was lovely to meet up with members of the Gloucester Club too! David gave thanks on our behalf to our wonderful hosts.
Well, what can I say but it was a fun trip, great sheep, beautiful countryside and the best people in the world… Suffolk Sheep Folks! Thank you to our wonderful Hosts to our good friends on the trip our Chairman David Inman our super Secretary Abi without all of these people this would not happen.
