SIX young sheep farmers from across the UK are to benefit from the gift of top-class genetics following the latest National Sheep Association Next Generation programme initiative.

Having teamed up with sheep farmers Rob and Jo Hodgkins of Kaiapoi Romneys, the NSA Next GENE-eration giveaway, launched earlier this summer, gave enthusiastic young sheep farmers the opportunity to apply to be a recipient of a free Kaiapoi Romney ram.

The giveaway of the five, MV accredited, performance recorded rams was made possible due to the Frank Parkinson Agricultural Trust who donated funds to the Kaiapoi flock to import rams known to carry the Myomax double muscling gene into the UK in 2019.

Following a rigorous selection process, including shortlisting by NSA’s Policy and Technical Committee and then final interviews with a selection of NSA and industry representatives, the decision was made to gift six, rather than the original five, rams as the judging panel faced such a difficult decision with an incredibly high calibre of deserving applicants.

Coordinating the giveaway, NSA communications officer Katie James explained: “We were overwhelmed by the interest in this giveaway and thrilled to receive such a high number of outstanding applications. This new element of the NSA Next Generation programme has once again demonstrated the very high standard of knowledgeable, enthusiastic and highly motivated young sheep farmers we have in the UK, indicating the safe hands our sector is hopefully in for the future.”

Now preparing to make the journey to Cambridgeshire to collect the rams from the Kaiapoi flock are young shepherds Carys Jones from Carmarthenshire, Chris McWhirter from Devon, Ed Bray from Lincolnshire, Stephen George from Powys, Jethro and Lulu Agnew from Norfolk and Ynyr Pugh from Powys. The final six were selected as recipients of the rams as it was felt the animals would fit well into the young farmers' extensive, forward thinking systems.

Mr Hodgkins of Kaiapoi Romneys said: “As a farm, we have had the benefit of a lot of people's and business's goodwill over the years. It's important to Jo and myself that we are now in a position to give back to the industry that has given so much to us. We hope over the next five years of this giveaway we can make some meaningful change to a lot of young farmers. We are very much looking forward to meeting the successful shepherds in person and working with them to see how we can help their future enterprises.”

It is now hoped after its first successful year that the NSA Next GENE-eration programme will continue to run every summer for the next four years also. Applications will open for the next group of rams to be offered up in June or July 2022.

Ms James concluded: “This has been a fantastic initiative to be involved with and NSA’s thanks must go to Rob and Jo Hodgkins, the Frank Parkinson Trust and of course those who helped with the selection process including final judges HCC Industry Development Executive James Ruggeri, NSA Northern Ireland Development Officer Edward Adamson and NSA Scottish Region Chair Jen Craig.

“We now look forward to working with our successful applicants to hopefully see the benefit the rams bring to their flocks over the next year and will share this journey with interested parties along the way.”