Society member Rob Beaumont and his wife Jan welcomed 36 Estonian sheep farmers on a bus-man’s tour of UK sheep farms this August. The visit was organised by Rob’s vet, James Crilly of Larkmead Veterinary Group, who is a member of the ECSRHM (European College of Small Ruminant Health Management) and an Estonian vet colleague, Katrin Tahepold who did a great job of translating English sheep jargon into Estonian.
As well as an inspection of Rob’s flock of nearly 100 Southdown ewes and some of his high EBV tups, the visitors received a briefing on the Signet performance recording scheme from Signet’s Laura Eyles, while Signet Breeding Specialist, Sam Boon gave them an insight into the RamCompare project where Rob’s rams have flown the flag for the Southdown, and Andersey 19/00733 - M57980 has been one of the top performers.
Rob said: “It was a pleasure to host the visit whether I will be exporting any Southdowns to Estonia is another matter, but most of the new Society leaflets (with an Estonian translation) have been taken home.” James Crilly explained: “I have had the pleasure of visiting Estonia several times, so I was very pleased to arrange the visit and to be able to show off English sheep farming, including Rob’s flock, with its impressive record of recording, genetic improvement and performance in the RamCompare programme”
Whilst visitors were interested to see Rob’s Southdowns they were also intrigued by the shallow pitch of Rob’s barn roof – roofs are much steeper in Estonia due to snow, and also the French pigtails used on Rob’s electric fencing. The Estonians use five strands of wire to protect (rather than keep them in) their sheep from foxes, bears, jackals and wolves, though the electric fence is not effective for sea eagles.
Estonian visitors admire the Southdowns
Rob Beaumont extolling the virtues and advantages of Southdowns
About Estonia
The most Northern of the Baltic States On the same latitude as the North of Scotland Capital: Tallinn is 230 miles from St Petersburg (Same as Guildford to York) Human Population 1.3m Sheep Population: 70,000 Most popular meats: pork and chicken Main Sheep breeds: Estonian WhiteFaced Sheep, Estonian Black-Faced Sheep, Texel, Dorset, North Country Cheviot, Suffolk, Dorper, Lleyn, Arles, Merino.
Examples of Rob’s high EBV rams
