News Archive

Tullagh flock collects top call of 2400gns at Northern Lights Texel female sale
On Thursday, 29th December 2011, the Northern Lights sale of Texel females at Hilltown Mart, Northern Ireland, saw the top two prices claimed by the Tullagh flock of John and Richard Currie, Ballymena, Co Antrim. [more]

Breeders urged to focus on quality in preparation for 2012 breeding sales
The arrival of the New Year and with it the countdown to lambing is always a good time to reflect on how the last year has gone. [more]

New 32,000gns breed female record set at Christmas Cracker Sale
A new female breed record of 32,000gns was set on Friday, 9 December 2011, when John Forsyth of the Glenside flock, Maybole, sold an in-lamb gimmer at the Christmas Cracker Sale, Carlisle. [more]

Texel lamb from Hereford wins RABI trophy
A pure bred Dutch Texel lamb, bred and exhibited by R J Slade of Pembridge, Hereford, won the Royal Agricultural Benevolent Institution (RABI) perpetual trophy at last week's East of England Smithfield Festival in Peterborough. [more]

UK secures major sheep EID victory in Brussels
DEFRA has won a key victory on sheep EID in Brussels that has delayed a requirement for individual movement recording of the ‘historic flock’ for three years. [more]

Prestigious Award goes to North Wales breeder and Society Regional Director
Alwyn Phillips receives the John Gittens Memorial Award 2011 at this years Welsh Winter fair. [more]

Quality Texel Breeding in Demand at Shrewsbury
The ongoing strong demand for top quality Texel females proved itself again at Shrewsbury at the major reduction of James and Hannah Draper’s Claybury flock which also hosted drafts from Messrs Quick’s Loosebeare flock and Trinidad Investments Colwood and High Weald flocks. [report]

UK Texel breeders to benefit from cross-hemisphere genomic research
As a result of a unique piece of work being pioneered both in the UK and New Zealand, UK Texel breeders should be among the first sheep breeders in the world to be able to take advantage of genomic selection tools when they become available. [more]

37th Annual General Meeting & Social Weekend
This extremely successful event was hosted in conjunction with the Northern Ireland Texel Club on October 28th – 29th at the La Mon Hotel and Country Club, Castlereagh, Belfast. [more]

Export of Sheep & Goats to the Isle of Man, Northern Ireland and JerseyInternational trade: Customer Information Notes - AE/11/92 [more]

Performance recorded rams to the fore at major Texel sales
This year’s National Texel sales have once again proved the strength in depth crucially demonstrating the continuing commercial appeal of the breed. [more]

1st Season Sire of the year “Top 10” report
Congratulations go to John Forsyth (Glenside), who has won the 2011 ‘Sire of the Year’ 2011 trophy with the three top sons of Glenside Razzle Dazzle, (FPG1000055). [more]

Spanish consumers have appetite for grass-fed lamb
Spanish consumers have rated English Quality Standard grass-fed lamb highly in blind taste tests carried out by Eblex. [more]

British Texel genetics in demand from sheep breeders worldwide
A surge in demand from sheep breeders across the globe for quality genetics backed by performance recording has seen British Texel breeders secure a number of significant export deals so far in 2011. [more]

Ram Linkage Programme
Two Texel Rams are currently accepted into the Ram Linkage Programme whereby semen is available FREE to English Breeders. [more]

Scottish National Premier Sale of Texel Sheep 2011
Youth and new technology take sale to new high
This year’s sale was unprecedented with an exceptional gross income for the sale just short of last year’s high figure by £1590, at £928,058. [more]

Hybu Cig Cymru - Meat Promotion Wales Funding
Members who have flocks based on Welsh premises are eligible for HCC funding, with financial assistance available for fertility testing, AI and ET, as well as support for purchases of Performance Recorded rams. [more]

Texel Trade On Fire at Ballymena
But it wasn’t just the rams that were purchased for pure breeding that made this sale stand out from the crowd; it is the sheer volume of rams purchased by commercial sheep producers. [more]

National Sheep Association Appoints new Chief Executive Officer
National Sheep Association (NSA) has appointed Philip Stocker as its new Chief Executive Officer in succession to Peter Morris. [more]

Texel breeders respond to commercial demands with massive jump in performance recording
Texel breeders have responded to commercial farmers’ desire for performance recorded tups with a 27% increase in the number of flocks performancerecording, says British Texel Sheep Society chief executive John Yates. [more]

Texel Semen Directory
Texel breeders considering their choice of sire selection for this year are reminded that the Society has a selection of rams advertised by Members on the Society website Texel Semen Directory.

4m invested in Welsh lamb exports
Welsh lamb leaders are hoping to boost consumption across European markets with a major €4m (£3.5m) new project. The multi-million-pound promotion, which will run over three years, targets four key European markets – the UK, Italy, France and Germany. [more]

Beef & lamb NZ release survey results on NZ sheep industry productivity
The survey shows sheep numbers down 2.1 per cent to 31.9 millionin the year to 30 June 2011, B+LNZ Economic Service Executive Director, Rob Davison said. [more]

Lanark Texel Sale to be broadcast live
Society members unable to make this year’s Lanark Sale on Thursday 25th August will be able to take advantage of a new service offered by the Society to keep abreast of the sale action. [more]

Award winning Drinkstone Open day for Murray Trust
Identifying rams that seriously cut the mustard – or mint is key to achieving a profitable flock, together with a formula for sustainable production. These were the take home messages for more than 40 visitors to the award winning “Future farmer of the year” Drinkstone flock, at Hawick, on Wednesday 27th July. [more]

Young Shepherds Line up finalised:
The Texel Society would like to congratulate all the finalists from across the UK that will be attending the World Young Shepherds competition. [more]

“The benefits of Inter Club visits” - South Wales Club visit to Isle of Man Texel breeders
The South Wales Club successfully mixed business and pleasure on their recent trip to the Isle of Man. [more]

Margaret Lyon – Tophill Joe Owner Leaves Heart Legacy
The late Margaret Lyon of Turriff, Aberdeenshire, who once owned a share of Britain’s most expensive sheep, has bequeathed more than £2 million to a heart disease charity in gratitude for the successful surgery which extended her life. [more]

AGRARIA 2011
Breed Promotions turned to Romania earlier in May, which saw the 5th year of British Texel promotions in this country. Texel one of the few sheep breeds along with Hampshire Down that have continued to support British Genetics promotions. Romania has only the National Flock expansion of all the EU Nations. Whilst it has been troubled with bureaucratic issues and compliance with EU, exports of sheep genetics from the Uk look promising. [more]

Collection of Performance Recorded Data
Signet have informed the Society that some forms for collection of data may have gone missing in the post. If you performance record with Signet, please ensure that you check that you are in receipt of the forms and note the closing date for the next evaluation is 12th May. [more]

Where Is Switzerland?
A short story from a Texel Sheep perspective following the latest export of 15 Texel Gimmers to Switzerland. We hope you enjoy the light heartered approach of the report. [more]

Texel Flock ‘Falicon’ Wins Top Award
The Texel breed winner of the EBLEX Improved Flock Awards for 2011 is the Falicon Flock, owned by Norman Johnson who farms near Longridge in Lancashire. [more]

NSA have reported that Scabivax supplies will be very tight
Intervet Schering Plough, (ISP) the makers of orf vaccine Scabivax are reporting that recent batches of the vaccine have not met approved specification levels and as a result it is very unlikely that sheep farmers will have access to the vaccine this coming season. ISP have assured NSA that they are doing all they can to ensure the quickest possible return of supply. [more]

Controlling Internal parasites in your Texel Flock
Worms are a major threat to the health and performance of lambs and anthelmintics (wormers) are an essential part of good worm control. However, over recent years the sheep industry in the UK has become increasingly dependent on these relatively cheap products, and their frequent use (and sometimes misuse) has led to the development of resistance in the worm population.

SCOPS (Sustainable Control of Parasites in Sheep) was formed to develop strategies for parasite control in sheep. The latest SCOPS guidelines are:

• Quarantine treatments – yard, treat (drench with monepantel and use injectable moxidectin), quarantine for three weeks on pasture which has already had sheep on this year
• Always administer drenches correctly and at the right dose rate
• Test for resistance
• Look at your control strategy
• Reduce dependence on anthelmintics where possible
• Try to use anthelmintics only when necessary
• Select the most appropriate anthelmintic
• Preserve susceptible worms

EBLEX have a useful guide available and Texel members are encouraged to make best use of the information in the download.

Beef & Sheep Parasite Contril Guide

British Texel semen heads South to a new expanding industry
The long awaited Protocols allowing the export of UK ovine genetics to Brazil were agreed in June last year, taking many in Industry by surprise. [more]

Copper – do you know if you are inadvertently feeding it?
There is increasing concern about a number of trace element supplements containing copper and which can be sold by anyone as they are classified AVM-GSL. There are now apparently several supplements available off the shelf which contain levels of copper and have the potential to lead to copper toxicity. [more]

British Texel exhibits draw in the crowds, at the prestigious Paris Show (SIA)
The Society continued their EU promotion of British Texel by attending the 48th Paris International Agricultural Show, the annual meeting place for the farmers and breeders from the world of agriculture. [more]

2011 EBLEX Improved Texel Flock Award

Many congratulations to the 2011 winners of the EBLEX improved Texel flock award. This annual award made by EBLEX BRP is based on Signet data indicating flocks which have made the greatest genetic improvement over the past 12 months. The 2011 awards go to...

Winner: Norman J Johnson - Falicon Farm, Longridge (FALICON – JNF)
Runner up; S & S Richardson - Mount Pleasant Farm, Barnsley (STONEBRIDGE – RSS)
Runner up: J M & C E Mitchell - Northway Court Cottage, Tewkesbury (AVON VALE – MQZ)

New promotional film for Texel launched on back of resounding success for the breed in 2010

The Breed met with resounding success in 2010, measured by its performance at the early National Breeder sales, which witnessed high clearance rates with Gimmers at 80% and Rams at 75%, well above the average for these premium early sales. Commercial ram sales followed suit with demand for registered Texel stock resulting in 28 and 30% of total all breeds ring sales at both the NSA Builth Main sale and Kelso Ram sales, with clearance rates at both sales achieving a respectable 93% and 90%, with averages up by £50 and £80 per Shearling ram, both sales now heavily reliant on the breed.

Driving home the demand for Texel by the end of 2010 were the success of the In Lamb Gimmer sales, with a breed record from the Knock flock at 24,000gns and with the top 20 flocks at the invitational sales averaging in excess of £900 per Gimmer, with the added challenge of horrendous December weather.

Society promotions continue to increase as the breed gains further popularity both in the UK and overseas, with exports enquiries also on the increase. The Society promotional campaign continue to develop with 2011 seeing the first release of the Breeds promotional film on the Breed Societies website, follow the link to be one of the first to view the promotion prior to the French version to be launched at the SIA Paris Agricultural show later in February.

http://www.texel.co.uk/thebreed/thebreed.php

British Texel web promotions go global!
WWW.TEXEL.CO.UK

The Society increased its web presence during 2010 reaching a staggering 108 different countries. “The interest in British Texel from around the world is far greater than we expected, since setting the promotional targets in early 2010, which aimed to expand our Texel Community!” stated John Yates the Chief Executive of the Society”. “The Society has a great responsibility to promote the breed, this primarily is within the UK, however we have used cost effective media, our website, to champion everything that is great in our breed and promote it globally to the growing community”.

The Breed Society website was refreshed early in 2010, and with the incredible National sales results in 2009, the world press descended on the Society clambering for further information on the breed and the World Record price sheep “Deveronvale Perfection”. The interest didn’t stop there, with the statistics showing a massive 108 countries visiting the site, from 20 sub continents and 6 continents during 2010. Records show visits from just over 3,000 cities with an incredible increase of 27% new visitors.

The site which caters for all things Texel has a wealth of information for various visitors, researchers, commercial producers, breeders and members. Aimed primarily at UK membership, which account for 85% of visitors, some 540,000 pages have been viewed by the 109,000 visitors over the past 12 months. “The Website is definitely putting us on the global stage”, explained John Yates.

Further complementing the Society Website is the BASCO web search; with many visitors making use of the links direct to the Societies own flock book. The BASCO web search allows the variety of visitors to filter and analyse various data concerning the breed, from Pedigree to Performance records. This data is produced by the breeds Whole Breed Evaluation in conjunction with Signet and SAC Egenes. The site will continue to evolve and benefit all those involved in Texel breeding.

Texel Ram Lamb Photographic Competition 2010
Throughout 2010 the Society has been holding a ram lamb photographic competition at shows and events that we have attended. This immense task consisted of a selection of photos of top priced ram lambs sold at the Societies National sales over the last 20 years. Entrants had to name the Ram, the vendor, the purchasers and finally the price sold for.

The final chance to enter was at the 2010 AGM held in Drimsynie. Texel merchandise vouchers will be awarded to the top 3 with consolation prizes being sent to the runners up. Thank you to all who took part.

1st Andrew Johnstone – BOGEND
2nd Ian Olphert – SCREBIEVILLE
3rd Alastair Gault – FORKINS

Competition Photographs and correct results (752k)

Texels Triumphant at Top Class Event
The Welsh Winter Fair 2010 has seen tremendous success for the breed. The champion lambs, pure Texel, bred by Andrew Bishop and shown by Steve Smith (Penparc) attracted the judges eye and went on to sell for £400 each to Denley Jenkins. [report]

Pedigree Sheep Tags
Allflex would like to extend an offer to Texel members to supply the Allflex Lightweight EID Primary Button, with a choice of Button, Ovina (flag) or Ace secondary tag, printed with your member Pedigree information at a cost of 50p per pair. [more]

Texel Sheep Society AGM & Social weekend in conjunction with the Scottish Club 25th Anniversary
What a great time was had by over 200 members and friends at the AGM and Social Weekend held in conjunction with the Scottish Texel Clubs 25th anniversary at Drimsynie Estate Lochgoilhead where the Campbell Family catered for our every need. ... [report]

Buoyant Demand for British Texels at EuroTier
The Society’s promotional activities shifted to mainland Europe for the biennial exhibition in Hanover called EuroTier (short for European Livestock). EuroTier is the world’s leading exhibition for animal husbandry at the Exhibition grounds in Hanover, Germany and attracts visitors from across the globe. [more]

Lamb exports rising fast
Texel members will appreciate that the Texel breed heavily influences the UK export trade. The following is an extract from a recent export bulletin produced by Eblex and reports “lamb exports rising fast”. [more]

Registered British Texels supplied in volume to fulfil commercial sheep industry demand
The influence of Registered Texels on the GB Commercial Sheep Industry is clearly shown by the financial performance of the two largest Ram sales operated in Europe. [more]

Registered Texel Sheep bound for Romania
A consignment of Scottish sheep has recently arrived safely in the East of Romania. Amongst the order were 30 Texel Gimmers and 4 Texel Shearling Rams, all were sourced from flocks in the South of Scotland and are set to form the nucleus of a new sheep breeding programme of a large agricultural company in Romania.

The 2007 outward mission which set the order in motion was supported through the British Texel Society’s promotion of Texels at Indagra 2007 in Bucharest. The Society continued its commitment in Romania with recent promotions at Cluj at the Agraria exhibition in May 2009 & 2010. The Texel flocks involved with the recent export were, Douganhill, Rascarrel and Garngour.

Texel Sheep Society “Sire of the Year” Trophy
The inaugural winner of the Texel Sheep Society “Sire of the year” trophy is ‘Strathbogie Python’ – bred by James Innes & Sons, Dunscroft, Huntly, owners of the Strathbogie flock. [more]

Arnold Park wins ‘Future Farmer’ award
A pioneering veteran of the UK’s sheep industry has won the ‘Future Farmer of the year’ award 2010, with a £4000 prize recognising innovation and sustainability. [more]

More Texel Rams for Switzerland
The great success of the first imported ram to Switzerland caused further imports – proof of the good breeding qualities of British Texels. A minor earthquake among Swiss sheep breeders and enthusiasts is likely to happen in October when the three newly imported Texel rams from England will be on show for the very first time. [more]

Strong support for new location for Welsh National Texel Sale
A decision to relocate the Welsh National Texel Show and Sale to Welshpool is proving popular with a sharp rise in the number of new vendors with pedigree stock to sell. [more]

One of Northern Ireland’s biggest lamb producers is sticking with Texels and urges NI breeders to focus on commercial traits
Norman Read, who runs a flock of 1300 Blackie and Blackie x Texel ewes which he crosses with a Texel, buys many of his rams from the annual Texel sale at Dungannon, which is to be held on the 19th and 20th August. [more]

MILNBANK FLOCK – LYM

Margaret Lyon has sold her entire Milnbank Flock with the exception of her 2010 Annual Ram Lamb Consignments for Lanark Premier & Carlisle, to her T-lock manager Robbie Wilson in a private transaction.

Robbie, who has achieved great success with the Strathisle Suffolk Flock in recent years, hopes to do likewise with the Milnbank Texels in the future, running the two flocks in tandem.

Millars Outstanding VMG08528

Margaret Lyon has invested heavily in recent years buying females to a top of 13,000gns from Ettrick, while stud ram deals include the 29,000gns, 2008 Lanark Supreme Champion Millars Outstanding - VMG08528 (Joint Purchase). High profile rams sold from Milnbank include, Milnbank Hitman – LYM01204, Milnbank Lyon King – LYM05245 (13,000gns) and Milnbank Jersey Dudeck – LYM03077 (28,000gns), while Gimmers have sold to 10,000gns

Margaret Lyon stated that she had greatly enjoyed her 20 year association with the Texel Breed; during this time she has made friends with many fellow Breeders at the Sales and during holiday trips aboard. She also wishes to thank all those who have sent messages of goodwill during her recent spell of ill health.

Texel Rams for Switzerland
A Pioneer is making his way in the Mountains of Switzerland adding further evidence to the easy care and hardy traits of the British Texel. [more]

Show/sale rules which have been amended and agreed by the relevant ‘governmental’ bodies
Scrapie Monitoring Scheme revised rules

2010 EBLEX BRP Progressive Flock Awards for the Texel Breed
EBLEX make this award annually based on Signet data indicating flocks which have made the greatest genetic improvement over the past 12 months.

The Texel Sheep Society offer their Congratulations to the following members for achieving first, second and third place.

First Place: D & M & S Prince – PSH – Hightecs flock from Derbyshire
Second Place: L.E.P Farms – Syd & Mary Chaplin – SYD - Meon Hill flock - Hampshire
Third Place: Mrs. J F Lewis – LCE – Edingthorpe flock – Norfolk

Gordon Graham’s Help the Heroes In-Lamb

Gordon Graham of the Kypeview flock sold his Duiisdeer Nimrod / Carran Jackie Chan daughter, a previous winner of the inter-breed Champion at the Stonehouse Show in 2007 for the Help the Heroes fund at the Scottish National Texel In-Lamb sale in Lanark. She sold in-lamb to the 8000gns Procter’s Playboy, to Scott Rorision of Patna on behalf of his fathers business Euroscot Engineering. Another £400 was raised by the sale of a complete set of Texel Journals, these were donated by Laine Daff of Uplawmoor and sold to John Howard of the Quercus Texel flock in Northallerton.

Borders pair recognised as trophy goes south
Two borders farmers at the forefront of promoting the use of performance recording in animal breeding have been awarded at the Royal Highland Winter Fair.

Arnold Park from Drinkstone at Hawick and Richard Oates from Billerwell, Bonchester Bridge were today awarded the Johnstone Carmichael Trophy by the Scottish Sheep Strategy at the event in Ingliston.

The trophy, sponsored by Accountancy firm Johnston Carmichael, is awarded annually by Strategy to the person or persons who have raised the profile of performance recording in Scotland.

Both of this year’s winners have gained an international reputation for having their priorities firmly set on commercial attributes when developing their breeding programmes.

With a background in dairy farming in Cumbria and pig farming in Yorkshire, Arnold gained an understanding of genetics which put him in good stead when he moved into sheep production at Drinkstone in 1991. This 1300 acre upland farm is home to an 850 ewe Blackfaced flock, a 120 ewe Texel Flock, a 100 ewe Suffolk Flock and a small flock of Bluefaced Leicester’s.

The Parks have had the top index Suffolk ram lamb in five of the last 10 years, they have previously had the top index Texel and this year had the second and third top index Texel. International interest in their good flock genetics has meant that this year alone they have has exported semen to Canada, Italy, Romania, Norway and Sweden as well as the live rams to Hungary.

Richard Oates, who now farms a 350 acre upland farm at Bonchester Bridge, originally got involved with performance recording when he farmed at Lumbylaw near Alnwick. The Lumbylaw Limousin herd and the Texel flock were renowned for producing top quality animals with extremely high performance figures. The Recorded Limousin Herd won the breed championships at both the Royal Highland and the Royal Shows as well as winning the interbreed at the Royal Highland.

Richard was chairman of the Texel Recording Members Group from 1991 until 2000 and was very heavily involved in the development of C.T. Scanning. He is a strong advocate of two stage selection, on farm scanning to identify the top ram lambs and then C.T. Scanning to find the very best animals each year

The Texel flock was the top performance flock in both 2007 and 2008 and produced five of the top rated stock sires in 2008.

Rod McKenzie, Development Manager of the Scottish Sheep Strategy, said “We are so fortunate in Scotland to have men of the calibre and experience of Richard and Arnold.
“They have proved time and again that the key to financial success in livestock production is within our grasp. Identification and use of the best genetics, combined with good stockmanship will give people the results they require to make a good living.
“2013 is rapidly approaching and these two gentlemen have shown us all how it is quite possible to have a sheep enterprise which is independent and does not rely on subsidies to make it pay. The knowledge, science and information is out there and the industry would be better and fitter if it made us of the available technology and followed the example of these forward thinking men.”

Last year’s Johnston Carmichael Trophy was awarded to the Lennox family at Shantron, overlooking Loch Lomond, who were recognised for maximising the possible returns from their sheep and minimising inputs – mainly purchased feed and labour – through identification of animals with superior genetics.

For more information about the Sheep strategy, visit www.scottishsheepstrategy.org.uk

Tophill Joe
The top priced British Texel ever sold, Tophill Joe (£128,000) recent death reported by BBC National News.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/north_east/8191563.stm