Balmoral Show 2026

Balmoral Show – Thursday 14^th May 2026

Thursday 16^th May saw the first of the major shows in the calendar for the Bluefaced Leicester’s – The Balmoral Show, Northern Ireland

The day dawned cold but clear, with everyone having to dodge the occasional showers until at one point Judging had to be halted as the rain became a downpour and people sought shelter under the canopy’s.

Taking on the judging duties this year was Mr Tom Jones, Llanilltyd flock who made the long journey across from his home in Brecon, South Wales.  A very well known face among the breeders, Tom is the brains behind the ‘Blues & Mules’ Facebook page which has a massive following on the social media site.

Entry numbers were up slightly on last year with plenty of quality sheep forward.

Robbie Topping from the Rocklynn Flock based near Larne, County Antrim was the man making the headlines at the show this year with his entry of three sheep he took home rosettes for Overall Champion, with his first prize shearling ewe, first prize ram lamb, first prize ewe lamb, best pair and best group of three.  Robbie was making his debut at the show but could not be there not there in person so Jason Mills, Ballytober helped out showing the sheep.  Robbie and his wife Lindsay were occupied at the local hospital bringing in to the world their new daughter Tate, many congratulations to them both.

The overall champion was a homebred shearling ewe 5224/V018 sired by 4367/T001 Drummuck out of Starbog 4373/P049 she was the first female Robbie purchased, he bought her from an online sale and paid £650 for her.  Two full brother sold for £6500 and £5000 last year in Ballymena and Robbie will have 2 embryo full brothers to sell at the Ballymena sale this year.

The Judge Tom Jones said “It was an honour to be asked to judge the show and I’d like the thank all the exhibitors for turning out a very high standard throughout. For me the champion was the standout sheep, she is a very correct, stylish ewe with clean modern colours and a worthy champion in my eyes”

Taking the reserve overall championship was the first prize shearling ram 4462/V001 Moneygran this was exhibited by Ian Montgomery, Mistyburn & Graham & Julie Loughery, Temain who purchased the ram at the Ballymena sale in 2025 for 3500gns.

First prize ram lamb from Robbie Topping, Rocklynn was a home bred, natural born lamb sired by 4367/T001 Drummuck out of Aughaboy 3970/P010.

Taking the red ticket in the aged ewe class was the Temain team of Graham & Julie Loughery with a homebred ewe sired by 4358/R001 Beeches Wingman who has bred exceptionally well since joining the Temain flock.

The last individual class of the morning was ewe lamb this again went the way of Robbie Topping, Rocklynn with a homebred natural born lamb sired by 790/M001 Yore House Maverick out of homebred Rocklynn 5224/T021 dam, grand dam is Starbog P049 which is Robbie’s best breeding ewe and mother of the overall champion.

Robbie put together his two first prize lambs and put them forward for best pair and successfully took home the first place ticket

Best group was made up of the first prize ewe and ram lambs from Robbie Topping and he brought his first prize shearling ewe out to make up the trio and was delighted to take the red rosette to complete a great morning in the show ring

To top off a great week for the Rocklynn flock the shearling ewe went on to take long wool champion and awarded 3^rd overall in the Interbreed.  The females will be retained by Robbie and kept for future breeding programmes within the Rocklynn flock.  The first prize ram lamb will be sold at the association sale in Ballymena in September, 2026

Thank you to all the members for taking the time to present sheep for this important start to the show season in Northern Ireland and thanks to Judge Mr Tom Jones