1049 miles, 3 hotel rooms and 12 flocks later the judging is complete.
We were very impressed with all the flocks we visited, the standard of Southdown’s being breed by everyone was really good, and as flock masters you can all be proud of what you have achieved. This made our job as judges quite difficult.
We believe that uniformity within the flock is one of the primary concerns when judging a flock competition and as such marked this area quite hard.
The two flocks in class A were tremendous, the quality and uniformity of the ewes were second to none. Seeing a field of fifty plus sheep of this standard was wonderful. The winner of this class went on to be our overall champions.
Class B is always very competitive, and this year was no different. Having totalled up the points we became aware there was a tie for first place, much discussion followed. We could not separate them, both deserved to be first in this category, so decided to award the Gaddesden Trophy jointly.
In the novice class C we saw some of our younger members fight it out. We were partially impressed with their knowledge and enthusiasm and great shepherding skills. All the flocks were good but one in particular stood out and was our reserve overall champion.
Best intake of shearling ewes was incredibly hard to judge and could have gone to three or four different breeders.
Best ewe lambs and the best group of rams went to the same breeder. The ewe lambs were a wonderful, even, well grown quite large group all sired by the same ram except one, he certainly stamped his mark on them.
We would have loved to take the winning group of rams home and used them ourselves. W
e must confess to knowing very little about wool and gave this to some nice close wooled, tight skinned ewes.
Overall it was an enjoyable experience.
Howard & Harry Wood
Judges: Howard & Harry Wood
Class A
Flock of 40 ewes or over Winner is awarded the Berkhampstead Rose Bowl and £25
1st Sargent, Wakeham-Dawson & Harmer
2nd L & J Trumper
Class B
Flock of 10 – 39 ewes Winner is awarded the Gaddesden Trophy and £25
1st = Amy Readhead-Higgins
1st = Jonathan Long
3rd Stephen Cobbald
4th Maria Cork
5th = Lorraine Levell
5th = Anna Wolfe (R O Cox)
Class C
NOVICE Competition, not to have won a first prize Winner is awarded the Frank Grantham Trophy and £25
1st Sophie Long
2nd Emily Yates
3rd Sophie Davies
4th Wendy Sheppard
Tufton Beamish Trophy to the Champion Flock Sargent, Wakeham-Dawson & Harmer Reserve: Sophie Long
Hobgen Salver for the best intake of shearling ewes
Amy Readhead-Higgins
Miller Hallett Trophy for the best ewe lambs
Stephen Cobbald
Paynter Wool Trophy for the flock with the best wool
Sophie Long
Noakes Trophy for the best three lambs of each sex, sired by a named ram, present and shown
Wendy Sheppard
The Jim Cresswell Trophy for the best ram or group of rams
Stephen Cobbald
The Beryl Marsh Trophy for the best newcomer
Sophie Long
All trophies to be awarded at the Southdown Sheep Society Field Day 2026 Trophies to be held for one year
