Williamsgill Pedigree Suffolk Flock Open Day
08/11/06

Mother and daughter Glynis and Jane Soulsby are celebrating having the top pedigree Suffolk flock in the north of England with an on-farm open day at Williamsgill, Temple Sowerby, near Penrith, on Sunday (November 12).

Glynis and Jane Soulsby and Williamsgill ewes

The Williamsgill flock was established in 1990 and being selected the top flock in the northern counties branch of the Suffolk Flock Book Society annual contest against opposition from as far afield as Lincolnshire and up to the Scottish Border is the icing on the cake for the pair.

Jane, aged 24, has a passion for sheep which are involved in her work as a technical sales consultant specialising in animal breeding and genetics with national company Inovis based in Edinburgh.

The original flock was beginning to see the fruits of a decade of selective breeding when it was taken in the government’s depopulation cull during 2001’s foot and mouth epidemic.

And it was Jane, an honours graduate in animal science from Newcastle University, who persuaded her mum to re-start the flock in 2002.

Said Jane: “I gave mum an ultimatum – we have to get some more sheep or you have to find something else to do as she was getting boring.”

Glynis, who couldn’t do without the help with the sheep from husband Taylor, admits: “Through breeding and showing the sheep we had met such a lot of people up and down the country and it had become part of our social calendar.”

The flock was re-established with 24 gimmer shearlings with top bloodlines from Robbie Wilson’s Strathisla flock in Aberdeenshire.

It was Jane who suggested they should enter the flock competition last year when they were chosen as reserve top flock and their tup Williamsgill Wkd was judged the best stock ram.

This year judge Helen Goldie who runs the Harpercroft flock at Dundonald, Kilmarnock, placed Williamsgill top of the flocks from around a dozen entries when she visited in mid-October.

“We knew our female gimmers were looking really well and through our breeding programme principally using AI we have bred a more uniform flock,” said Jane.

This year’s females by AI sire Deveronside The Messiah and stock ram Strathisla Red Bull, bought at the 2005 Edinburgh sale, also earned the flock the award for best ewe lambs.

Glynis said: “With the type of Suffolk we have tried to breed we have kept the carcase characteristics without breeding for extra bone and head size which also helps with lambing ease. We have also kept the breed’s colours and good, silky skins on the ewes which is what the commercial breeder wants. It is the commercial breeder we are aiming at for our sales of rams and females.

We have stuck with the Suffolk while some other terminal sires have become popular but I think there is increasing interest again in the breed which achieves a faster liveweight gain – something which has proved an advantage during this summer’s lack of rain and poor grass growing season.”

Wiiliamsgill Suffolk Flock On Top
Crosemanor Suffolk Sheep Under Gavel
Young breeder scoops Suffolk sheep top accolade