Halls take Winter Stock Festival sheep title

The overall sheep title here at the Winter Stock Festival has gone to the Hall family, but in a change of form it was a pair of Rouge cross lambs from their Inglestone Edge flock which took the top award, rather than the Beltex they usually lead championships with.

This pair are by a tup bred by John Watkins and are out of Beltex sired ewes from the commercial flock the Halls run at home. This was the first time the Halls have ventured to the East of England Winter Stock Festival, but the second time they’ve taken the Smithfield title. They were adding to their Countryside Live and Agri-Expo titles of earlier this year.

Reserve overall was a pair of Texels from Michael Owens. These purebred Dutch Texel lambs are from the Owens family’s 1000 ewe flock run at home at Glantre, which is run alongside a 120-cow suckler herd. This is the first time Mr Owens has been to Peterborough or Smithfield, but he has winning form, having taken the Royal Welsh Winter Fair title two years ago.

These two pairs had come through from the crossbred Continental championships, with Mr Owens pair then taking the purebred Continental championship, with the Halls’ Beltex pair in reserve.

In the native championship it was a one-two for Melrose, Scotland, based Malcolm Stewart, with Suffolk cross lambs from his flock. These are by Sandyknowe Whiteford, a homebred tup with an index in excess of 3.50, bred in the high-index Sandyknowe flock which concentrates on breeding tups for use in commercial flocks across the country, with 150 pure Suffolk rams sold every year.

The purebred native championship went to Messrs Gibbons with a pair of pure Suffolks, while reserve was John Taylor with a brace of North Country Cheviots.