Our visit to Agraria was not only very interesting but a resounding success in orders placed for Texel rams. The exhibition was well supported by local farmers and we were very pleased with the interest we received.

With the help of Corina, our interpreter, we were able to gain an insight into the Romanian way of farming. We were aware that their native mountain sheep, the Tucane, was in need of improvement if their lamb quality is to improve. They milk well but conformation is very lacking and apparently pure bred lambs run easily to fat. What we hadn’t been aware of was that the farmers expect the sheep to produce a lamb and after rearing them to continue to be milked for cheese production. This can provide them with a very lucrative additional income.

The Romanians only eat lamb at Easter, which forces their lambing dates earlier than we had expected, as they do prefer to eat home produced lamb. However they are well situated for the Asian and Italian markets, where a heavier, better quality lamb will command a better price.

At the exhibition we saw examples of the Tucane sheep with Hampshire cross lambs and some Hampshire rams who had been exported last year. The Hampshire has improved the lamb greatly, but we felt almost any meat producing ram would have the same benefits.

We met Christian, who has already taken both Hampshires and Texels and whose father was among a party who visited our farm two years ago. On the Thursday evening Christian took us to see his farm in the hills. It is about 16 km from Cluj, and around 600 meters above sea level. He has 800 hectares of land, both arable and grassland, and runs about 1500 ewes. The flock are managed by three shepherds who live with the sheep and ten dogs that guard them from wolves. There are also three herding dogs for moving the sheep from one area of grazing to another. (Modern technology seems oddly out of place there with all the shepherds having mobile phones, and television provided in their huts powered from the tractor!)

Christian has had Hampshire rams running with his flock for the past two years, but only lightly used a Texel last year as it had become infected with brucellosis on it’s original Romanian farm before he had it, so was destroyed. What was very interesting was that Christian was amazed by the weights gained by the ten or twelve Texel cross lambs he had. The Texel had been put on the Hampshire cross ewes, but we felt the Texel could easily go directly onto the Tucane and be just as successful.

Christian’s breeding plan is to keep 25% of his Tucanes pure as a base flock, cross the rest with Hampshires and keep the female progeny who will then go to a Texel with all lambs going for meat. With not a fence in sight it could be interesting to see how he manages this, but he certainly has the plan worked out.

Christian has ordered 6 Texel rams for his own use and is in the process of having an isolation unit and distribution centre built on his farm for the arrival of this years rams in early July. A great enthusiast for improving the lamb quality, he is also well known in Cluj and the surrounding area and other farmers are watching what he is doing and following.

We felt that our visit had been really worth while and necessary for the promotion of the Texel breed. It was unfortunate that there were no Texels or Texel sired lambs at the exhibition, and we felt that was something that should be addressed another time. Seeing the rams and the finished products of the lambs would be a tremendous selling point.

Talking to Christian also gave us a better insight into the farming conditions. When we were there the grass was very good, a mixture of grasses and herbs which will continue to flourish for the next two months, and ewes and lambs doing extremely well on it. He told us that by the end of July – beginning of August the dry weather will have burnt off most of the grass and looking at photographs it did look like standing hay at that time of the year.

We did have one unhappy farmer on the stand who said he had bought Texel rams from Austria, and it is difficult to know what they were like, but he said the lambs did not grow at all. After gaining a little more knowledge of the grassland etc we wished we had asked if he had had sufficient feed for the sheep. Christian did tell us that he had used a lot of grain and forage for his sheep last winter and we wondered if some advice on feeding both ewes and rams prior to mating and on through the winter may be advisable if the farmers are to gain maximum potential from their rams.

Mike Adams is doing an excellent job in organising all the exports. Having a Texel Breed representative complimented the British Genetics Promotions. We look forward to next years event.