South West Progeny Show – Crossing Type & Mules

A lovely, relaxed Saturday was had by all who attended the South West Progeny Show at Tavistock Livestock Centre, by kind permission of Stags.  Our judge for the day was Phil Medland (Tavy Flock).  We are very grateful to him for giving up his time to pick our prize winners.

For only the second time in the South West area, exhibitors enjoyed the opportunity to show their Leicesters and progeny with enough entries to make for a spirited but friendly competition in both the Traditional and Crossing camps.

Having completed the judging of the Traditional Types, next came the Crossing sections.  A few less entries, but still many well presented sheep to choose from.

In the gimmer shearling section, Adam Garthwaite took the top spot with a strong sheep (Hill End S002) by Hill End R001.

The gimmer lamb class was a tightly fought contest with Ollie Francis winning with his sweet, well marked lamb, Cosdon T004 which was sired by Penhill P001.  Second came Peter Heard with another sharp lamb, Yelland T023, by The Steel S001.  Then came Adam Garthwaite in third, with a smart lamb Hill End T023, by his own Hill End Hulk P001.

A good selection of shearling tups was forward next with first and second places going to Brian Dallyn with sheep from his Killington flock – S009 took the top spot with S013 second.  The third placed tup was homebred Barramoor S005 from Paul Pearse.

In the tup lamb class, the judge chose 3 strong sorts to award rosettes to – Peter Heard took first and third with his Yelland T001 and T002 respectively, both lambs being sired by The Steel S001.  Adam Garthwaite’s Hill End T007 (by Hill End Hulk P001) was placed second.

Onto the progeny sections with entries in the lamb classes only.  Adam Garthwaite took the top spot in the gimmer lambs with Hill End T018 and T020 .  Second was Peter Heard with Yelland T023 and T024.  The tup lamb class was won by Peter Heard with his two placed lambs from the individual class earlier – Yelland T001 and T002.  Ollie Francis came a close second with Cosdon T001 and T002.

With most of the hard work done, all that remained was for Mr Medland to award prizes to his chosen champions for the day.  In the females, Ollie Francis struck a well deserved gold with his gimmer lamb (Cosdon T004), with Adam Garthwaite’s Hill End shearling in reserve.  In the males, Peter Heard’s Yelland T001 lamb took the champion spot with Brian Dallyn’s shearling Killington S009 in reserve.

For the overall championship, the lambs were the judge’s choice of the day, with Ollie Francis’ gimmer in the limelight and Peter Heard’s tup in reserve.

Finally for the Crossing sheep, the champion progeny group was won by Peter Heard and his well matched tup lambs (Yelland T001 and T002) which had caught the judge’s eye throughout the whole competition.  Adam Garthwaite’s pair of gimmer lambs were placed in reserve position.

The mule progeny section followed the last of the Crossing classes, with some entries sadly missing.  In the single mule gimmer lamb section, all three top places were won by Peter Heard with lambs sired by The Steel S001.  He also went on to win the group of three gimmer lambs, and indeed the championship, with some very smart and well turned out lambs out of Scotch Blackface ewes, again, all sired by The Steel S001, who was unfortunately unwell on the day and unable to be shown.

This rounded off a very good day for the South West Region and thanks go to those who supported the event – not only our judge, Mr Phil Medland, but to all involved with the organisation of the show; to Stags for allowing us to use their premises and of course to all exhibitors who took the time and pride in preparing their sheep and then turn up on the day.  It’s hoped that the success and enjoyment of today will encourage everyone to support the show again in the future, with maybe more exhibitors joining in to grow the event.