Thursday, July 30, 2009

Press Release: Wisconsin Sheep & Wool Festival

The 2nd Annual ~ NAMSS
Mule Sheep & Bluefaced Leicester Progeny Show

The North American Mule Sheep Society (NAMSS) will be hosting the second annual ~ Mule Sheep & Bluefaced Leicester Progeny Show held in conjunction with the Wisconsin Sheep & Wool Festival in Jefferson, Wisconsin on September 11th - 13th, 2009.

The NAMSS will be coordinating its Mule Sheep & Bluefaced Leicester Progeny Show along with the Bluefaced Leicester Breeders Association's (BFLBA) 1st Great Lakes ~ Bluefaced Leicester Show. The judge presiding over both the Mule Show classes as well as the Bluefaced Leicester classes will be John Stott the newly elected president of the UK's Bluefaced Leicester Sheep Breeders' Association. John has also agreed to do several educational presentations highlighting the Mule ewe and the Bluefaced Leicester. The NAMSS's Mule Sheep Show and the BFLBA's Great Lakes ~ Bluefaced Leicester Show will be an excellent opportunity to showcase the hardy and prolific commercial Mule ewe, and the 3-tier breeding scheme, as an economically sound choice for grass fed lamb production too.

The NAMSS and BFLBA would like to thank the UK- BFLSBA for their generous contribution in providing us once again with our guest breeder-judge; and for their continued support of our efforts here in the States promoting Mule's, Bluefaced Leicester's, and the Three- Tier Breeding Scheme.

A BIT ABOUT OUR 2009 JUDGE:

John Stott and his family live on and work 'LAUND FARM' which is located in Chipping, Preston, Lancashire, UK. Laund Farm is a 500 acre family farm, which runs approximately 700 hill sheep mainly Swaledales and Beulah Speckled Face producing 400 Mules that are sold each year, plus a 400 ewe Freisland flock for their sheep milking enterprise, and around 30 suckler cows and 20 pedigree Simmental, as well as John's 50 pedigreed Bluefaced Leicesters. On June 3rd 2009, the Stott's and Laund Farm was the host location for NORTH SHEEP '09'. North Sheep is a biennial event run by the UK's National Sheep Association (NSA) an organization which represents UK sheep breeders. North Sheep is an industry event which brings together agricultural companies, sheep farmers and agricultural experts for a day. North Sheep '09' attracted over 9,000 visitors and 250 trade stands from across the sheep sector. Around 100 foreign delegates also flocked to the event which showcased Britain’s 70-plus sheep breeds. We look forward to meeting John and his wife, Christine, in September.
Champion Penrith Sale 2008
John Stott 'LAUND'
photo courtesy of Wayne Hutchinson 'Farm-Images.co.uk'