ROYAL WELSH SHOW 2009

First of all may we congratulate Mr Huw Evans, Alltgoch on his success at the Show when his ram Alltgoch H2600 took the Male and Overall Champion of the Llanwenog Section, a homebred ewe from Alltgoch took the Female Champion. Congratulations go to Steffan Davies, Bryndolau on winning Reserve Male Champion with his ram and Gareth and Wendy Evans, Parcyrhos on winning Reserve Female Champion.

Members of the Society did well also in other Sections during the Show. May we congratulate them also on their success. 

Members we urge you to send any show success forward of any major success that you have won i.e cattle, horse, goats, pig or any other section. Members are always pleased to hear of the success that members of the Llanwenog Sheep Society are having. Thanks to all members who made the social gathering on the stand a successful event this year again also may e thank every member who gave of their time to help on the stand over the show period.

ANNUAL SHOW AND SALE LLANYBYDDER – Saturday 22^nd August 2009

All animals must be penned by 10am. Judging of the Show will commence at 10 am prompt. Following the completion of judging, Cegin Gwenog Caterers will be cooking lamb steaks to mark the 50^th Annual Show and Sale. In order to order the lamb steaks in, we would appreciate if members who wish to purchase these to contact the Secretary before Tuesday 11^th August 2009 by telephone or email. This will help the Caterers with numbers. The Sale will commence at 12-30pm prompt.

WORCESTER SHOW AND SALE Saturday 5^th September 2009

Catalogues will be ready next week.

RAM REGISTRATION 2009

As you are aware there will be no Ram Inspection centres for 2009. Rams registration forms will be accepted until Monday 7^th SEPTEMBER 2009 with the correct information as stated on the registration form. Registration fee will be £20-00 per ram.

NO RAM REGISTRATIONS WILL BE ACCEPTED AFTER THIS DATE.

All ram registration forms must be received by the post with the correct registration fee. A ram certificate will be issued for each ram.

SHOW AND SALES

There are a number of show and sales being held in the coming weeks. As Society we ask members kindly to provide plenty of bedding, fodder and water for animals which have to be penned over night at any event. (Please ensure that you take your own fodder and buckets etc).

EWE LAMB REGISTRATION SCHEME 2009

Ewe lamb registration scheme will be run as previous years. A minimum charge of £10-00 per flock will be made. The £10-00 will cover the registration of 10 ewe lambs. Any numbers over 10 will be charged a further £1-00 per head. The scheme is still voluntary. 

REMEMBER THE LETTER FOR THIS YEAR IS L.

Closing date 1^st October 2009. Any registrations form received after this date a charge of £2-00 per ewe lamb will be made.

ELECTION FOR THE WORKING COMMITTEE

Four members of the Working Committee are due to retire this year. Namely Mr Elfyn Morgans, Glwydwern, Mr Gareth Evans, Parcyrhos, Mr David Henson, Bradden and Mrs May Clegg, Ffarm Fach. Members are invited to make the nominations to serve on the Committee by completing and returning the nomination form enclosed to the Secretary by 7^th September 2009.

N.B. This date is earlier than in previous years to allow for any necessary arrangements for voting by proxy.

FLOCK COMPETITION FOR 2009.

The Flock Competition will be held this year as previous years with the following rule.

This competition is divided into large and small flock sections. The dividing line for this competition is 55 females. In this competition only pure-bred ewes to be covered by registered Llanwenog rams are eligible for consideration and the flock must contain a minimum of 15 females, 20% of the total females must be ewe lambs retained for breeding. 

New members are not eligible to compete in this competition during their first year of membership.  

Closing date for this competition will be TUESDAY 1^ST SEPTEMBER 2009, and the judging will be done during September or October.  Judge for this year will be Miss Meinir Green. 

Further details and entry form enclosed. (Entry form green in colour.)

AUTUMN FLOCK VISIT

An Autumn Flock Visit has been arrange to visit the Pentre Flock by kind permission of Arfon and Rhian Williams, Pentre, Cwmtirmynach, Bala, Gwynedd. Date to be confirmed.

ROYAL WELSH WINTER FAIR 2009

Members have made enquires regarding exhibiting the Llanwenog breed at the 2009 Royal Welsh Winter Fair. There is no class for the Llanwenog breed, but there fore I have been informed that if 6 or more pairs of lambs will be entered the Llanwenog breed could have a class of their own. I would be grateful if you could let me know if you intend exhibiting in order to have schedules sent to you. It would be nice to see a class for Llanwenog at the Winter Fair. 

FLOCK BOOK 2009

Flock return forms will be sent out in September in order to prepare the 2009 Flock Book. 

For the first time this year we will give an opportunity to members to advertise their flock in the Flock Book. The cost of the advert will be £20 for half a page (A5 size) and £40 for a full page (A5 size). 

You can send all your designs etc to the Secretary via email or by post. You can design your own advert or send the details to the Secretary.

DATES FOR YOUR DIARIES

Saturday 22^nd August 2009 - Annual Show and Sale at Llanybydder. 

Saturday 5th September 2009 – Official Show and Sale at Worcester Cattle Market.

Monday 7^{th September 2009} - Closing date for the Photographic Competition.

Monday 7^th September 2009 – Closing date for Dates of events to be included in the 2009 Calendar.

Monday 7^th September 2009 - Closing date for the 2^nd Ram Registrations.

Monday 7^th September 2009 – Closing date for nominations for the Working Committee.

Sunday 20^th September 2009 – Closing date for the Show Success.

Saturday 7^th November 2009. ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING AND DINNER.

VOLUNTARY EWE LAMB RECORDING SCHEME – YEAR 13 -2009

As you are no doubt aware, from 1^st January 2001 all sheep permanently leaving your holding will require tagging with UK Flock number.

Due to the new legislation on sheep identification. It is considered desirable that breeders are able to purchase one tag which will comply with the Ministry regulations and can be used on all their sheep, but at the same time suitable for use on recorded ewe lambs. 

• Participants in the scheme to purchase their own tags of whatever make or design they wish, but the tags MUST include the following information:
• on the top/front side the letter "UK" and your 6 (six) digit UK flock number as required by the Ministry;
• on the other side the year letter –which for 2009 is L – plus number identifying the individual animal and your flock number with the Society i.e. UK999999 999 L0044 or UK999999 999 0055L.

It must be emphasised that the year letter is necessary because otherwise the individual identifying number would rapidly become too unwieldy, particularly with the larger breeders. It must also be emphasised that if tags are used which include the wrong year (for example, those left over from previous years) that ewe will not be individually recorded – even if her details have been sent to the Society – as the ear tag details will not agree with the year letter and number recorded by the Society.

You will then be provided with the necessary forms which must be correctly completed and return to the Secretary by the 1^st October 2009. The cost of registration per ewe lamb will be £1-00. A minimum charge of £10-00 per flock. Any registration forms received after the 1^st October 2009 the cost of registration will be £2-00 per ewe lamb. For the benefits of breeders new to the scheme please note:

The scheme involves :

• tagging the ear of each ewe lamb to be individually recorded:
• recording the details of the lamb's sire dam (if identifiable) and birth type (single, twin etc)
• IMPORTANT – PLEASE NOTE the following:-
   
• Ewe lambs will NOT be accepted for individual recording if:-
• The ear tags do not show the information set out above;
• There is any doubt as to the sire of the lamb;
• The essential information requested on the Society from (see (ii) above) has not been supplied.
• The forms do not include you UK flock number;
• The official forms supplied by the Society have been used; or
• If the forms are received by the Secretary after the 1^st October 2009. There will be a charge of £2-00 to register each ewe lamb.
• ALL REGISTRATIONS FORMS MUST BE FORWARD WITH THE CORRECT FEE. NO PAYMENT – NO REGISTRATION OF EWE LAMBS.
• The Secretary will give all help she can to any participants who have problems with the changes to the scheme or have any difficulty in completing the forms.
• FLOCK COMPETITION RULES

1. The registered flock must contain a minimum of 15 females and the flock's owner must own a registered Llanwenog ram.
2. The dividing line between large and small flocks is 55 sheep (not including rams).
3. 20% of the total females must be ewe lambs.
4.  Any defaulters from points 1 to 3 above will be disqualified from the competition and the member fined £20-00 and not allowed to compete in the Flock Competition in the following year.
5.  There will be one judge who will judge for one year only and will do so in accordance with an approved marking system
6. The entry fee is £5-00.
7.  The prize money to be £20-00, £15-00 and £10-00 in each of the Large and Small Flock Sections and £15-00, £10-00 and £5-00 in the Ewe Lamb Section, with rosettes for 1st to 4th place in the Large and Small Sections and 1st to 4th place for the Ewe Lambs.
8. The cups to be engraved with the name of the winner at the winner's own expense, but the Society to pay for the band on the base.
9.  No other breeds or crosses to be mixed up with the Llanwenog Flock being judged and the ewe lambs to be in a separate block.

10.  Members to realize that if they only want expert advice about their flock they should not enter the Flock Competition. Instead they should bring their sheep to the ram inspection or to the AGM weekend assessment.
11. The judge to be available after presentations of awards at the Annual Dinner to explain his markings to the competitors. Every competitor will be entitled to see his marks and compare them with the other markings, but the marks not to be available to non-competitors.
12. New members not to be eligible to compete in the first year of their membership.
13.  Judging to take place in September.
14. Whenever possible the flock must be presented for judging in dry conditions.
15.  Any flock receiving a mark of under 60% to miss a year before being eligible to compete again.

As a guide to members please find a copy of the marking system that the judge follows which has been set out with the Society

• EWES

EWE LAMBS

RAMS