Herdwick Sheep Breeders' News

National Trust Wool Merchanting Scheme
Although there has been some slight improvement in the BWMB schedule price for Herdwick wool this year, it was clearly still not enough to ensure any level of adequate supply for the carpet being produced by Goodacres at Kendal. This carpet is a high quality, Axminster broadloom and uses a very high percentage of Herdwick wool. The manufacturers are exceptionally pleased with the product and report that it is being well-received by customers. Recognising that there might be issues of inadequate supply of wool, David Townsend of the National Trust applied for support from the Fells and Dales LEADER+ programme to work out a system of getting the wool sent in, hence the current merchanting initiative, details of which you will have already received if you are a significant wool producer.

This is clearly a good initiative and the membership is in general very supportive: but it still raises issue that even when we have a very good end product, the BWMB price is inadequate of its own accord. Something is clearly not right in the wool market.

There is an open evening at Goodacre’s on 25th September, 7pm for 7.30pm. There will be a buffet: contact Bob Shaw of Rural Futures on 07889-053826 or 01768-892978 to book a place.

Traditional Events and Shows
Members will all no doubt be pleased to see that this year traditional events and shows are re-establishing themselves. The first significant step forward was the holding again of the Keswick May Fair. Since then the agricultural shows, with just one or two exceptions, have generally had good classes of Herdwick sheep. Once again many thanks for those showing for all the work they put in and representing the breed to the rest of the farming community and to the general public. We no doubt all look forward to seeing sheep again at the shepherds’ meets. Thanks are due as ever to Tina and Alan Linnitt for taking our display to various shows and other countryside events.

The Association is particularly pleased to see the resumption of the Fell Dales Association Eskdale Show. We will be having a special tent with various stands and demonstrations – thanks to Veronica Waller of the LEADER + programme for organising the event.

Members will be pleased to know that we are using some of the recovery money we have had from Barclays Bank, to buy a number of different size show tents from a local company which is retiring from business. These tents will be available on advantageous terms to all shows and other events which feature Herdwick sheep. Ennerdale and Eskdale are amongst the shows which are talking benefit of this offer.

Lakeland Shears
The first ever international clipping competition using Herdwick sheep was held at Mitchells’ Auction, Cockermouth on July 5th.

It was a great success with over 90 shearers clipping over 1,000 Herdwick sheep. The sheep were straight off the fell from various members and they looked very good and uniform. Many people have commented that they were an absolute credit to the breed. It is estimated that three thousand people may have attended during the day. The Association organised a sheep show – thanks to those who brought sheep. There were stands and demonstrations showing what could be done with Herdwick wool and Herdwick tatie pot was available in the cafeteria. The event was again supported by the LEADER+ programme and received good sponsorship from many other sources. It is proposed by the local committee led by Mark Fox that the event will be an annual one. It will probably take place a week later next year.

Cumbria Hill Sheep Initiative
Members of the Association within Cumbria will have received various communications from the Cumbria Hill Sheep Initiative. This is an Initiative to help the three hill sheep breed communities within the county to reassess their position and circumstances post-FMD. Within the Herdwick community there have been various small group meetings and an open meeting at Threlkeld, where various concerns have been aired. A meeting on the National Scrapie Plan took place on August 28th at Penrith.

A small development group was appointed and will meet to produce some positive recommendations for the breed. Amongst the issues under discussion are an attempt to get a special European food name protection label (PDO) for Herdwick meat from Lakeland and also the need for facilities to assist with marketing.

English Nature Sheep and Wildlife Enhancement Scheme
Following up the discussion at the Threlkeld meeting of the Hill Sheep Initiative, members of the Executive Committee met with the Cumbria Director of English Nature and one of his senior staff around the middle of August. People will be aware that the Central Fells (where there are many heafed Herdwick flocks) are being designated as a Special Area of Conservation and as such are becoming subject to attempts to further reduce grazing intensity. In what was a lively meeting, there was a wide-ranging debate especially about the problems that might be caused to the balance of the heafing system if sheep flocks were further weakened in some areas. We put the view that we remained concerned about the numbers of our breed and hoped that some aspects of these schemes might be rethought in order to actually stress the importance of traditional fell sheep flock management as an important thing in its own right – something which indeed forms an important part of the attempt by the Lake District National Park to become a World Heritage Site. In the documentation for this “cultural landscape” status there is a strong emphasis on the heritage of hundreds of years of continuous grazing by Herdwick sheep. The issue for us, of course, is how we are going to keep it that way.

Tup Registration
As usual tup registration will take place on members’ farms within the Lake District National Park or within 10 miles of its boundary. It will start in the week beginning Monday September 15th. As usual; I will be phoning a couple of days before to inform you of our approximate time of arrival. Please note that you should, if at all possible, be with your tups to catch them etc. We would request that tups should be presented in good condition.

We will not register sheep that have not put up their first two broad teeth and nor will we register tups with split cods. Those wishing to sell small numbers of quality gimmer sheep should present them for inspection whilst registering their tups.

Members outside the registration area (as above) can bring their tups to register at the Broughton or Cockermouth tup sales or at the Fell-Dales Association Show at Eskdale on Saturday 27th September.

Association Sales

The dates for the tup sales are:

Broughton Auction (auctioneers H & H Kendal Partnership, tel. 01539 720603): registered and unregistered tups, but unregistered tups only to be sold after all registered tups sold. Tuesday September 30th, show at 10 a.m. Sale thereafter. An entry form is included for this sale.

“Keswick” sale at Mitchells, Cockermouth (tel 01900- 822016) Saturday October 4th. Judging at 10 a.m. Sale thereafter. Registered tups only, plus approved females.
To be followed by a Lakeland Fellsman’s Gather at the Rampant Bull.

Please note that for both catalogues it will be best if scrapie results are reported using the letters as follows: ARR/ARR = A; ARR/AHQ=B1; ARR/AHQ = B2; AHQ/AHQ=C1; ARQ/AHQ=C2; ARQ/ARQ= C3

Please note the Mitchells’ Sale is a two day sale: the day before the tup sale on Friday 3rd October there is also the Annual Prize show and sale of Herdwick breeding ewes, shearlings and lambs. Entry forms for both sales from 01900- 822016. Purchased sheep from both days can be moved from the market on Saturday.

Herdwick Country Cook Book

Also included in this mailing are details of a new book by Therese and Hugh Southgate which the Association has assisted. It is essentially a cookery book but also contains sections on the history of the breed, some of the legends associated with Herdwick country and a series of guided walks. It is a good read!

Geoff Brown, Sept 2003, 01768-892398

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