Spring has sprung and I hope that the lambing is successful.

I enclose the current list of members, which now has passed the century mark and is growing rapidly. We are again very grateful to ‘Rumenco’ for assisting us with the printing, which means that we can spend all our income on advertising and promoting at shows and NSA events. This year we will be at Abergavenny on 23rd May, Bishop Auckland on 6th June, Launceston on 12th June and also at local shows. There is no doubt that a focal point with a few good sheep at a show is more effective than competitive classes, where inevitably some poor sheep are brought and do a lot of harm to a breed, especially a breed such as ours which is not familiar to many people. No doubt there will be many enquiries so let me know how many females you have for sale.

All this costs money, which brings me to the next point. The annual membership is due on 1st June and as mentioned at last years A.G.M. we have reluctantly had to increase the fee to £20. The amount received from the sale of tags (the only other form of income) is disappointing.

I enclose a flyer for our annual open day, which I mentioned in my winter newsletter. It promises to be another great day so bring your friends. Our annual dinner is to be held on Sunday 10th June at 7 p.m.. The venue is the ‘Ducane Arms’, Great Braxted CM88 3EJ, tel. 01621 891697. The cost is £15 per person. Accommodation is available at Rivenhall Hotel, Witham, tel. 01376 516969 or Travel Lodge, Feering, tel. 01376 572848 or B&B Tel 01376 583321. Please make your own arrangements with the above.

The official emphasis on scrapie genotype testing has reached a new level and whilst there has been some criticism of the scheme I feel it has been of great benefit to the sheep industry. 15 years ago I would have 1% or 2% of my flock go down with scrapie and when I first tested less than 20% were in type 1 or 2. By using only type 1 rams I have not seen a case of scrapie for many years and now well over 90% of my lambs are in type 1 or 2. Our breed policy has been only to use type 1 and we were the only breed to do so. Now I believe we can relax a little and use type 2 if it’s an outstanding ram.

I look forward to seeing you all at the Open Day. The A.G.M of members will be held at 10.30am at the same place. More information is available from the "Open Day 2007" link on the Home Page.

Regards,

Iolo Owen, M.B.E., F.R.Ag.S.
Secretary, Easy Care Sheep Society

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