British Texels made their debut at ‘The Grand National’ Texel show in the Dutch town of Apeldoorn in September, with 78 sheep forward for judging.
Taking part in this national show, which is organised by three different flock books in the Netherlands, for the first time, the British Texel exhibits came under the close scrutiny of Texel Sheep Society chairman Peter Mitchell of the Avon Vale flock.
Despite two years of Bluetongue ravaging the country’s sheep population, the numbers forward for judging were good, with show chairman Gorrit Haintje Kulpers pleased to welcome the British Texels to the event. “The quality of sheep across all sections did not disappoint me and the crowd was good. Adding the British Texels to the show helped make up for lower numbers in the other sections caused by Bluetongue,” he added.
Peter Mitchell said it had been an honour to judge the first British Texel classes at the event and he was pleased with the standard of sheep in front of him. “Naturally, there are fewer British Texel flocks in the Netherlands, but the standard of sheep was strong in every class and the investment made by Dutch breeders over recent years in British genetics is paying off for them.”
Taking the day’s overall championship was the leader from the ram lamb class, Professors In Demand from Gerrit van den Berg, with this Kilduff Humdinger son being bred by Fryse and Gert Van Dijk.
Meanwhile, reserve in the ram lambs went to Schokland Influencer from Hans Kolk, with this one being a Teiglum Full House son.
Then, topping the shearling rams was an Icheoch D-Day son from Gerrit van den Berg, AA High Potential. He was bred by Herman Aa. In the aged rams top spot went to Moors Gravity, an Ettrick Excite son again from Hans Kolk and bred by Mark Teeuw.
Gerrit van den Berg then won the shearling ewes with an AA’s Explosion daughter which had again been bred by Herman Aa. The same breeding was responsible for the first place aged ewe, with this being another AA’s Explosion daughter, this time shown by breeders Herman Aa.
Leading the pack in the ewe lambs was a Kilduff Humdinger daughter from Fryse and Gert van Dijk, with second spot here going to Hans Kolk with a Teiglum Full House daughter.
And the final class, a ewe with lambs was won by Herman Aa with a ewe by Lintalee Da Vinci and her lambs by AA High Potential.
Peter Mitchell said his champion, Profesors In Demand, had been a great example of the breed. ‘He had a great carcass, was good on his legs and carried himself well. He has the extra length and lift we associate with the British type of Texel, with a bit of show ring sparkle too. The standard throughout was great and I commend our Dutch colleagues on an excellent show of sheep, particularly bearing in mind the struggles they’ve had over the last two years with Bluetongue.”