Sheep Event: Stroud sheep farmer wins Caltech gong
Winner of the Caltech Hampshire Down Commercial Flock of the Year Award 2010, was Andrew Snow, Stroud.
Judge Peter Morris, NSA chief executive, praised Mr Snow for his businesslike approach to sheep farming, producing high performance lambs off a low cost grass based system.
“His combination of knowledge-based enthusiasm for sheep farming, understanding of business management and forward thinking and positive outlook were a winning combination,” he said.
“Overall I was impressed with the standard of each of the finalists’ flocks and this gives me confidence there is a strong and profitable future for sheep farming.
“Knowing there are young sheep farmers out there like Andrew is the best possible news for the industry and shows there is a bright future for people wanting to farm sheep for a living.”
The runner-up was David Harrison, Chipping Camden, who also received the Caltech award for the flock demonstrating best nutrition. According to Caltech’s David Johnston, Mr Harrison demonstrated the ability to make the best use of his own resources on a relatively large scale.
Hampshire Down Sheep Breeders’ Association chairman, Jim Cresswell said the award had attracted an enthusiastic response and had rewarded the growing number of commercial producers taking advantage of Hampshire Down’s recent genetic improvements for longer, larger carcasses and higher growth rate.