THREE COUNTIES SHOW HERE WE COME

The start of sheep showing season is upon us.  We started off at the Smallholders Show at Builth Wells where Noble won 3rd in his class and Caroline and my Oakberrow Pizzazz won 3rd in a strong shearling class.  The beautiful Antonia - Greyfaced Dartmoor - won a creditable 2nd at her very first show!

The next week we attended Shropshire County Show http://shropshirecountyshow.com/  and had a great day winning Male and Breed champion with Dolwen Noble, 1st and Reserve Female Champion with our ewe lamb whose sire is the fabulous Juggis Laser.  The Dartmoors also did well with Apollo winning third, Antonia 4th and baby Lara 4th.

We then set off down to the Royal Bath and West Show http://bathandwest.com/  .  Russell Howell was the judge and we are up against the legendary Richard Wear.  I did manage to beat Richard in the Ewe lamb class so our little girl won her class and gained a 2nd Reserve Female Champion.  Noble and Pizzazz both were 2nd in their class and the shearling ewe 3rd.  We were also 2nd in the group of 3 and 2nd in the pairs.  Also Russell nominated Noble as Reserve Male Champion, so all in all a great day.

Today we have been sorting which of the sheep are going to Three Counties Show - 15/17 June - so come along and see.  New for the show this year - Ladies Day on Friday and Kids go Free on Saturday.  www.threecounties.co.uk.

Dolwen Noble

Labrador Puppies - OB is a Dad!

I realise that I have not covered the Labradors on my web site, but I do own 4 and they are 2 black labradors - Tammy and Beamish and my yellow Labradors are Caffrey and OB - again continuing the theme of alcohol!  Caffrey is mum to both Beamish and OB whose dads are both Field Trial Champions.  OB's dad is Ft Ch Tasco Alexander Beetle.  A friend of mine from many years ago asked if he could use OB at stud to his yellow bitch Roxy and the 2 did the deed and 6 lovely puppies were born on 9 April.    There are still a few of the pups for sale so interested do get in touch and I will pass your details onto Colin and Sam.

Come And Meet Us at Malvern - Countrytastic 12 April 2012

Over the last few years we have attended Countrytastic at the Three Counties Showground Malvern www.threecounties.co.uk  This is a day for children with many hands-on activities and also meeting and chatting to farmers.  We are going to take along Dot and her baby boy Billy-Jo, see the photo, he is so cute!  Steve will also take some of the Ryelands and will be there to talk about sheep and give a clipping demonstration.  This is a brilliant day out for the children and also the grown-ups.  The theme this year is Dairy and there will be the opportunity to see cows being milked.  Hope to see you there.

Crufts - the greatest dog show in the world

On Friday it was gundog day at Crufts and eagerly awaited here at Oakberrow.  Unfortunately we could only take Gin as Foster is docked and therefore not eligible to compete at Crufts. 

Gin was entered in the Picker up class in the Gamekeepers section but did not win anything in that class - however the rest of the day improved.  In the Hungarian Wirehaired Vizsla Breed classes under breed specialist Sheila Gray, Gin and her daughters did really well.   First of all Ginger Lillie Around Oakberrow owned by Yvonne was a creditable 2nd in a huge class (post graduate), followed by Incahoots at Galicar owned by Jo Cairns who won the Limit class.  Mum was next to compete in the top class - Open and the judge awarded here a 5th place in this good sized class.

We then went back to the Gamekeepers classes where Gin together with Smartie and Lily were entered in the Team for Madresfield Shoot - so Steve, Jan and Sue got themselves ready and looked a very well matched team and we were over the moon winning 3rd place in tough competition. 

After what was a very long day we then made our way wearily back to the car but delighted with our day at Crufts.

Lambs, lambs and more lambs

Yes, here it is as I said earlier photos of some of the lambs.  They are all of texel lambs at the moment.  The first Ryeland lambed 2 days ago and they are still in the Lambing barn and will go out shortly.  I will take a photo then when they are looking their best running around and playing.  So far on Ryelands - 2 ewes lambed and we have 3 lambs - 2 boys and 1 girl and Nimrod is the dad.

The next big batch will be the Ryelands when they will be lambing over the weekend 11 and 12 February, however as with mother nature they will only arrive then they are ready, however you have to be prepared.  Steve still has some dates available for lambing courses, so get in touch.