COTSWOLD SOCIETY

R 6 Newsletter e 2 g 3 is 3 te 01 Autumn 2020 red 1 Charity No

www.cotswoldsheepsociety.co.uk [email protected]

Council Officers Chairman - Mrs. C. Cunningham, Vice Chairman - The Hon. Mrs A. Reid Treasurer/ Registrar and Acting Secretary - Mrs. L. Parkes. 47 King George’s Field, Stow on the Wold, Glos, GL54 1AS Council Members Mr. S. Parkes, Mrs. M. Pursch, Mr. J. Dale, Ms. D. Stanhope, Miss M Hobbs Mrs. M. French, Mr. G. Birtwhistle, Co-opted Mr. J. Palfrey and Mr S Gardener Chairman’s Report I am very delighted to continue as Chair for another year. Although this last year has not been a very easy one for any of us . I would like to take this opportunity to thank the committee for their support of the Society and myself. I hope your sheep have enjoying the extra attention that they are receiving. I am sure many of you have missed getting out to the shows and exhibiting your sheep. We are planning a committee meeting (Zoom) in January hopefully to try and plan our coming year so please check out our website and look in our newsletter for up-to date info. Hopefully we will be able to meet up at some point. Rules permitting. I wish a very Merry Christmas and Happy New Year and a Successful Lambing to you all. Caroline Cunningham Roelcots Flock - Extraordinary Results in an Extraordinary Year! During these extraordinary times we have all been We also found out that the Farmers Guardian were experiencing this year which has led to the decimation hosting a 2020 show competition with entries invited of the whole of the show and sale season, we have of , pigs, and sheep. We entered Roelcots Caesar grasped at opportunities to promote the breed and and were shocked and delighted to find out that he our flock. had won the sheep section and also had been chosen We started the season with a selection of stock as the overall winner of the competition. We were looking for new homes and given the circumstances featured in the FG magazine at the time the results we were not quite sure how the sales would go. Plans were announced. were made by the Cotswold Sheep Society and Voyce Roelcots Caesar is sired by our stock ram Queenford Pullin to hold the annual sale online which we were Pete who was shown with considerable success during delighted to be part of, having planned to take a team the 2019 season; 1st Royal Three Counties, 1st RTCS of entries had the event gone ahead at Cirencester rare breeds, 1st Berkeley and 1st Cotswold Sheep Market. As I am sure you will all agree, the event was Society Show. Caesar is full brother to Roelcots Buster a great success and showcased our breed in difficult who sold for the top price lamb at CSS show & sale times. We were pleased with our results, selling stock 2019. into other pedigree flocks, and achieving the top price Having not been sure how the sale season would for a ram lamb and joint top price male in the sale go we are delighted to be completely sold out. It with our homebred ram lamb Roelcots Caesar. is pleasing to have stock bought by established We had heard that there were plans for virtual shows pedigree flocks, namely Kastini, Washpool, Waterloo to take place across social media platforms and we & Westcote. We must thank our customers for decided to enter a couple of animals in the form of their business and support during these uncertain photographs into ‘The Online Sheep Show’, which times and we wish them the best of luck with their was being hosted via Facebook. Although there were purchases. Here’s hoping we are back to some sort of classes for some of the longwool breeds there were normality next season and we can catch up with you no Cotswold breed classes so we entered into the ‘any all at the events. other longwool’ section. We were delighted to find out John Palfrey & Ben Stayt, Roelcots Flock. that Roelcots Caesar had won the ram lamb class from 38 entries and then went on to be awarded reserve any other longwool breed champion and later the reserve overall longwool section champion. BRIEF SUMMARY OF HARFORD FLOCK YEARS, FROM THE BEGINNING BY PAT QUINN

My first Cotswolds

I am delighted Pat Quinn has agreed to becoming our new Life President. Joan Coleman was a great supporter of the Society for many years and l know Pat will follow easily/ admirably in her footsteps. Pat has always supported the Society. I can remember one of my first times at the Christmas Social winning a beautiful Cotswold cardigan in the prize draw which Pat kindly donated, which l still have. Pat has shown her prize winning Flock, held many workshops etc at her Farm, been a council member in various capacities. Pat still has her finger on the pulse in all her activities and she is stalwart supporter over the years. Caroline Cunningham

The first entry for Harford Cotswolds is in the RBST Combined Flock book date 1977. Joe Henson was in the early stages of encouraging new breeders to take on Rare Breeds and asked me to take on a small Flock he had passed on to someone who had been forced to give it up. There were six ewes and the breeding was Colburn and Holton Lane which the Cotswold Farm Park had rescued. Joe lent me a ram, Noent Rufus, to begin with and the first ram of my own I bought from Cogges Farm Museum. Chris Page was the excellent curator and very enthusiastic about his Cotswolds. There were times when he and I were the only Cotswolds in the Showing ring, and Caroline Cunningham and I were on our own in 1988 at the Royal Bath and West. It took a while to get Cotswolds into the Showing rings The main competitors in the early days of Showing were Libby Henson with Bemborough, Tony Foster with Quenington, Alan Lyons with Oakhill, and the late Frank Williams with Haskins. Paul Froehlich with Calcot, the Gibbings with Holy Brook. These were the most consistent, but several good flocks came and went over the years. Harford had a good share of champions until I finally gave up showing several years ago. I had many years on Council and there always seemed a lot to discuss. One year a group of us, led by Richard Mumford, went up to visit the headquarters of the Flyer for Bath & West. Board in Bradford to see if we could do more to promote our wool. They agreed to grade our wool separately and for a while that seemed to help but eventually came to an end because of the time consuming cost.

The end of the RBST Show and Sale at Stoneleigh came as a big blow. Apart from it being a very useful social occasion there was the opportunity to learn from all the other Breeds from all parts of the UK and there was much benefit to be gained. The Auctioneers, John Thornborrow and John Thornborrow himself had a depth of knowledge of the breeds they were selling. This was in his obituary “Known for his charisma, directness and the sense of theatre he brought to the rostrum, he won the respect of pedigree breeders around the world and also played a key role in securing the survival of many rare breeds of farm animal.” Clive Roads, equally well informed, succeeded him. It was very comforting to have a full and accurate account of your breeding and detail description of your animal in the ring in a clear voice everyone could hear. I used to have a particular problem at Show and Sale times due in the ring as my Cotswolds always coincided with my Longhorns and I had to beg for help from where ever I could find it for one of them to go ahead without me.

Early success with Joe H giving prizes After this sad, and I think unnecessary, death of such an important event, Sales moved up to Melton Mowbray. We trailed up the many miles for several years, having to stay for two nights away from home, and apart from winning an overall Breed Champion with a Harford Ram found little benefit in the exercise. It was some time before the present Voyce Pullin Sale provided an alternative in Cirencester.

It was also very disappointing, that having got a place for Cotswolds to On the Calcot cricket ground, venue for summer show for many years be shown at The Royal that it also came to an end. The demise of these two important occasions in the Livestock world has had an important and detrimental effect on Farming as a whole in my opinion, and led to the slippery slope we now seem to be on. There does however seem to be more awareness of land management and food production so let us hope more mistakes will not be made. I am for ever trying to decide that the glass is half full and not half empty.

The Harford flock will keep going as long as is possible and it is encouraging that we still have many dedicated members who believe in what we are doing and the importance of keeping our native breeds alive and thriving.

A Report on The Cotswold Sheep Society AGM BURGHFIELD HOUSE, BOURTON-ON-THE-WATE. 13TH SEPTEMBER 2020

The AGM was chaired by Angela Reid as Caroline Wilkie – President, Richard Mumford - Vice-President, Cunningham was unable to come (she was on essential Chairman – Caroline Cunningham, Vice-Chairman – granny duties). Angela thanked Lynne and Steve Parkes Angela Reid. for hosting the meeting and ensuring that the meeting Marie French and Steve Parkes were then both re-elected would be ‘Covid Secure’ as all the regulations, in place on onto Council. the day, were met. The Hon Auditor, David Kingsmill was re-appointed. Lynne The proceedings opened with Angela welcoming everyone reminded everyone that he made no charge for auditing who had been able to come and apologies were read the Society accounts. As a gesture of thanks, the Society out from those who were unable to attend. The minutes had given him a membership of Moreton Show. from the previous AGM were approved and there were no Matters Arising to be discussed. Angela then read out The meeting then moved onto Any Other Business: the Chairman’s Report which will be included in the 2020 Flock Book. • Kinship Reports – These are described elsewhere in this newsletter. The meeting approved the use Lynne Parkes then gave her Treasurer’s Report telling of the programme and agreed it would be a useful the meeting that the Society had made a profit of just tool for members when they were considering which over two thousand pounds, helped by various donations rams to use on their ewes. including those from slide show presentations. There had also been 12 new members recently, which was most • Conservation Grazing – The problems of using encouraging. The accounts for the year ended 31st March Cotswolds, or indeed any longwool breed, for 2020 were approved and signed conservation grazing as recommended by the RBST, are fully explored elsewhere in this newsletter. It Angela then announced that Pat Quinn, who had sent was agreed that the Society should not encourage her apologies to the meeting, had agreed to take on the the use of Cotswolds for Conservation grazing and role of Life President. Pat had been delighted to have that the RBST should be informed of our view. been asked and looked forward to seeing everyone when circumstances allowed. Members’ Questions sent to the Secretary - James Follows had asked if it might be possible to organise The election of the Society’s Officers then took place: Judy lamb swaps if a member had a [good] lamb that was too closely related to their own flock. The answer was that particular bloodline are already in the National Flock. If it was not something that the Society could organise, members are unsure about the registration of a ram lamb, however any member could “advertise” a potential swap then advice may be sought from the Society or Council on the Society website. It would be for any interested members in person. A kinship report would inform a members to decide how they should proceed. breeder as to how well that lamb would fit genetically into their own, or a potential purchaser’s, flock. Tony Yates had submitted a question asking whether the Society could assist members with selling their wool. Finally, discussion moved on as to how we could help all The answer was that because the Society is a charity it the new members get the best from their flocks. It was is not allowed to be involved in marketing for members. suggested that it could be a useful start if key articles, Individual members should however, be able to use social which are currently scattered around the website and in media to their advantage. It was suggested that an various newsletters, were all collected together under one article could be included in the Newsletter giving advice tab on the website. on how to market wool. The meeting drew to a close at around 3.15 and General Debate: There was some discussion on keeping was followed by a lovely ‘socially distanced’ walk and registering ram lambs. It was pointed out that, as in the sunshine, to look at Steve Parkes’ Kespar with any Rare Breed, there is just not the market for large flock. numbers of males, and that any potential registrations (A full set of AGM minutes can be obtained from must, above all, be good, correct and well grown lambs. the Secretary if required). It is also important to take note of how many of a

COUNCIL CORNER • Life President: We are delighted that Pat Quinn has accepted Council’s invitation to become our Life President. There is an article by Pat elsewhere in this newsletter • Council Business: Steve Parkes and Marie French were both re-elected onto Council at the recent AGM • Welcome: Council would like to extend a warm welcome to all our new members. It is very unfortunate that we will be unlikely to be able to meet you in ‘real life’ until next year. • Mentors: If you are a new member and particularly if your Cotswolds are your first sheep, you may like to take advantage of having the support of a ‘mentor’. This will be someone who will (hopefully) live near you, have long experience of Cotswold sheep, be happy to answer any questions and, if asked, can advise you on your flock. To be put in touch with a mentor, please contact the Secretary. • Useful Reading: To further help new members, we intend to collect together useful articles, previously published in the newsletters, about the basics of keeping Cotswolds – they will be under a single Cotswold Care tab on the website. For members who have never had any sheep before, the Haynes Sheep Manual – the step-by-step guide to caring for your first flock gives the basics in a simple and accessible form with plenty of illustrations. • Lambs: All 2020 lambs should by now have been Birth Notified (free) or Registered. Please be aware that you should be particularly selective when deciding whether to keep and register ram lambs – there is a very limited market – particularly if your ram lambs have very similar bloodlines. • Zootech & Kinship: These programmes are being managed by Davina Stanhope. Zootech enables us to export sheep and semen after Brexit. Kinship will enable members to discover how genetically close any ram is to their ewes. Full details of the programmes are elsewhere in the newsletter. • Conservation Grazing: Please do read the article elsewhere in the newsletter about the unsuitability of Cotswolds, and other longwool breeds, for ‘Conservation Grazing’. • Wool: We have been asked whether the Society can help members market their fleeces - sadly as a charity we are unable to be involved directly - however, the Cotswold Farm Park is still taking wool for their mattress project at £1.50 per kg – 2021 will be the final year of the arrangement. We suggest that members also visit social media websites such as Facebook’s The UK Greasy Fleece marketplace. • Buying Sheep: Buying and selling sheep this year has not been easy. The Society website has its Sheep for Sale page. Another website worth looking at is www.sellmylivestock.com – remember that ‘Purebred’ is not the same as ‘Pedigree’. You can’t register ‘Purebred’ sheep! • Help: If you do need help or advice concerning your flock because of the pandemic, then please do contact us via [email protected]. Keep Safe! • Newsletter: Contributuons of news articles and photos are welcomed by all members please forward to [email protected] or [email protected]. Official recognition of the breed – ZOOTECH and using Kinship Reports The Cotswold Sheep Society is now a recognized UK Breed Society and is registered with Defra as part of the Zootech rules and regulations, the rules and standards set out must be followed to enable members of the Society to trade breeding animals, semen and embryos following Brexit. Far more stringent rules will be enforced for imports and exports, one of which will be the requirement of Zootech Certificates. To become officially recognized the Society, to ensure the integrity of the breed is maintained, must prove a number of things which include • Keeping a breeding book (Flock Book) for the National Flock • Publish a breeding program for the Breed (see “The ideal Cotswold and Points of disqualification and undesirable characteristics) • Have rules which govern membership • Have sufficient population of breeding animals within geographical territories (UK, Wales, and Scotland) FANGR (DEFRA) have a yearly update from Grassroots, which shows the current population of breeding males and females. • Operate efficiently, e.g. handle and store information safely • Be able to check the recording pedigrees of breeding animals • Be able to generate and use data, where appropriate, collected on breeding animals. A breed society can have official recognition but does not have to trade with other countries, although the option is there if necessary - having official recognition maintains confidence in the integrity of the breed. As part of the requirements for the Breeding Program the Society must prove the method of checking genetic evaluation, explaining the system used. Like the majority of other breed societies, the CSS uses the Grassroots recording system, which includes a tool to help societies comply by producing Kinship Reports. Kinship Reports The golden rules for the conservation breeding in a rare breed population as a whole are: • Use as many males as possible • Not keep too many offspring from any one male. For rarer breeds no one male should produce more than 5% of the offspring born in any one generation, that is to say an absolute minimum of 20 males working in each generation. • Minimize inbreeding (i.e. where possible use males unrelated to your females.) Kinship analysis can be used to help members interested in the conservation of the breed to select males for their flocks. The analysis is an indication of how closely related two animals are to each other and is the “what if” inbreeding coefficient for any prospective mating. Please remember that using kinship is only one way of selecting males. It is of vital importance that all males used for breeding should conform to breed standards and be a sound healthy ram. The kinship report is now being offered to members, free of charge. If you have one or more rams the report can show you the relationship of one or all of your ewes to each ram. If you are considering keeping a ram lamb of your own breeding, then a report can show you how close the relationship is to each member of your breeding flock, or, if you wish to check relationships of a intended purchase, male or female, to your breeding flock it can be done. The reports are quite interesting and often show things that you normally either think you have sorted, or are unaware of, or forgotten about. For instance, it may possibly show that your old ram that you have had for some time, actually has few females in your flock, whether this is because he has not bred many or you have for whatever reason sold more than you realised. If he is a favourite and you like his offspring, it means that you can use him a bit longer than you thought. If you would like to obtain a kinship report please contact Davina Stanhope either via email – [email protected] giving details of the sheep that you want a report generating for.

Wool Recognition - A Hopeful Start

Wool appears in the headlines regularly but unfortunately does not receive the recognition it deserves as such a wonderful product. Wales has become the first nation to consider the sensible use of wool as insulation in public buildings, the decision was pushed forwards after farmers were left with no alternative other than to burn fleeces or compost them to use as fertiliser. This was as a result of the prices for wool crashing during lockdown. As a result a Government petition was launched asking the UK Government to use sustainable British wool products, carpets and insulation in publicly financed building projects. The Welsh Government have committed to the use of wool subject to compliance testing and certification. This is an encouraging start, hopefully Westminster will consider and legislate the use of wool throughout the UK. This will be a welcome move for all A peg loom rug made from Cotswold wool. sheep farmers and a great use of By Joan Mordue, Sadler’s Flock. a readily available environmentally friendly product. Cotswold members are also exploring avenues to utilise their flocks wool in products such as mattresses and soft furnishings, textiles, clothing and craft items. What could be better than a unique gift made from wool from your flock? With extra time at home for many, now maybe we have the chance to explore wool opportunities. Marie French Conservation Grazing Conservation grazing is grazing with livestock to maintain and increase wildlife value. Livestock refers to domesticated animals reared in an agricultural setting, such as cows, pigs, sheep and ponies. Grazing is often the most effective and natural way to maintain certain habitats such as grassland and heathland. It helps to keep areas open and ensuring a wider variety of plants thrive.

In the past the countryside would have been up creating an uneven sward in terms of length grazed by wild animals or through traditional and tussocky finish. Sheep graze using their farming and common land grazing practices. front teeth to cut the plants which creates a Conservation grazing seeks to replicate these uniform height often just above ground level. old-style systems to maintain and increase Some sheep, for instance sheep biodiversity whilst ensuring animal welfare. will also be happy grazing on brambles and One of the key points that needs to be taken scrub grass, making them ideal for overgrown into consideration is that geographically our sites. In an ideal situation on many of these native breeds are quite diverse. For instance, conservation sites a mixture of cattle and sheep a very obvious choice – on the recreates the structure of complex habitats. island of Shetland. The island can be bleak Conservation grazing is now a widespread does not grow an abundance of quality grass method of management and many conservation and the habitat is so very different to that of for bodies such as The National Trust, Natural example the Eastern Counties and the South, England, RSPB and various Wildlife Trusts use the Shetland sheep have evolved to thrive in it for a number of their sites. Many of these these conditions. Herdwick sheep thrive in their organisations do not own the animals and native area, however some of our native and often advertise the sites on a bespoke website rare breeds would not cope in these conditions inviting people to supply livestock, there is no as they require more care and food to thrive. charge for the “grazing”. In most cases there is In the case of the breed, someone from the organisation in charge of the the LLSBA formed their Association at Driffied site, and possibly that will keep an eye on the (following the work of Robert Bakewell), the animals, but it is still the responsibility of the sheep were developed in this area to suit the owner to ensure the welfare of them. arable, combined with livestock farming of the East Yorkshire Wolds and areas of North It is vitally important to carefully select the Yorkshire. Historically, breeds of sheep farmed right animal and breed for conservation aims in whatever geographical area were those found and condition of the site. Feeding preferences, to suit the area, be able to thrive, produce physiology and behavior mean that different lambs and in some cases such as our longwool animals and breeds are suitable for managing breeds, wool. Even hundreds of years ago, different habitats. It is an absolute necessity those that farmed the land knew what breed that, all livestock on these sites are seen at would be best suited to an area. least once a day. Grazing animals can be quite selective in what Although there are many different breeds on they eat. Sheep are more selective and fussier our native and rare breed list, not all are suited than cows on their choice of feed. Cows will to conservation grazing. Sheep in general eat more common, taller, and vigorous plant tend to require the better quality and shorter species, Cows use their tongues to graze, grasses. They tend to leave the long stems wrapping it around plants and grasses to pull it and avoid tall and tussocky vegetation. Age can make a difference and older sheep might well struggle with the type of Leicester Longwool sheep grazing. Often the vegetation is rough on correct grazing and sometimes thick leaving the problem of longer fleeced sheep becoming caught up. The so-called primitive sheep are in the main, direct ancestors of sheep that were here pre-Roman times, small, often with horns and very hardy and manage on the harsher landscape. It must be remembered that our Longwools whatever the breed, started with the Longwool sheep that the Romans brought with them. No one knows exactly where the Romans sourced these sheep from. They first populated the Cotswold’s before moving northwards. The Romans departed and the sheep were left behind, Leicester Longwool sheep on each area developed their own Longwool conservation grazing – Breed, Lincoln, Leicester, Wensleydale I rest my case and Teeswater and so on. Most of these breeds were kept on the better pastures, are not particularly browsers and need better quality grass to satisfy their nutritional needs. As part of the RBST’S Love a Longwool Campaign they are promoting the use of our Longwools for conservation grazing. The type of grazing available on the majority of the sites is totally unsuitable, those of us that keep Longwool sheep all know that they require quite a lot of grass and that if the grass is in short supply then supplementary feed be it hay or from a bag! Having the long fleece, they become easily caught up on brambles etc. and must be monitored constantly. On some sites routine worming is not carried out, only if a problem is perceived and then only on those affected. This in turn causes a dirty tail and then maggots. There have already been several welfare cases concerning Longwool’s on conservation grazing, (some fatal) they really are not suitable, and I would certainly hope that none of our members subject any of their sheep to this lifestyle. By Davina Stanhope NEEDLE FELTED CHRISTMAS DECORATIONS By Joan Mordue

Needle Felting is becoming a popular craft. Cotswold Wool felts well and the curly locks provide scope for a variety of projects and the wool is sought after by Crafters.

These Santas are very easy to make.

To start as shown in the picture you will need 1 2 1 Cotswold wool (Straight and Curly) A small amount of Red Merino Wool tops (Purchased on E Bay) plus black wool for the eyes. The nose can be a small bead and string for hanging. Felting needles can also be bought on line and the pad is hessian sewn and stuffed with wool. 2 Select the straight wool and roll into a ball for 3 4 5 the head. Then start to felt. This is done be stabbing the wool repeatedly. Keep turning in order to maintain a round ball. Felt until the ball is soft but retains it’s shape. For the hat roll a cone and felt in the same way. 3 Result after initial felting. Wrap the red Merino wool around the Hat and 4 begin felting. Remember to leave and edge for the hat trim. 6 7 8 Once the Hat is felted then attached the head 5 by felting into place. Remember to leave enough space to push and felt the curly locks. Select suitable curly wool and felt all round 6 the head to create the hair and beard. For the eyes roll a few strands of black wool 7 into small balls and felt into place. You can also sew the bell onto the hat. Glue a bead for 9 10 the nose (I have used a fake berry from an old decoration. 8 For the hanging loop put in place and felt a small piece of red wool over the ends to hold in place. 9 The finished Cotswold Wool Santa !! 10 The next Cotswold Project.