Beauty........

...........is in the eye of the beholder.

Japanese Anemone Seedhead

Viburnum Snowball

Nom Nom.......

Picture This

GEMO National Competition Rennes 2012 - The Event

The accommodation was five star, the welcome warm and the weather was perfect. It promised to be a good day.

 La paperasserie - paperwork first 

 

 Then it was time to get eye to eye with the sheep. These rams from the Parc d'Armorique arrived the night before the show.

 Judgely Huddles....... Serious Stuff!

Pretty Girls.......

 Handsome Guys....

and Gorgeous Groups

This year was the year of the prizewinners photo shoot......... some were considerably more au fait in front of the camera than others!

See what I mean, 

This black ram belonging to E Landerneau was awarded champion of champions (rams) he posed for the camera like a professional! Thanks to everyone for a great day but especially the Ecomusée for being such excellent hosts.

Judging Ouessants Dutch Style

The opportunity to visit Holland for a second time and enjoy not only the hospitality but to add in a little sheep viewing was too good to turn down. The presentation of Ouessants at Didam was  hosted by the  "Fokkersvereniging Ouessantschapen" or FOS which is a lot easier for me to say! There was a nice entry, general observations where that black and brown Ouessants were well represented with only two whites  entered.

As is customary in Holland all the adult sheep were both measured and weighed.

Scales

La toise - height 

For me one notable aspect was how relaxed it all was , the use of one handler per sheep and the recent addition of camping chairs was deluxe in comparison to some of the frenetic dashes and chaotic melees  for judging  I have seen and made the whole affair much easier to follow and of course less stressful on all participants. 

There was plenty of time to sit and chat, enjoy the ambiance and the sheep of course. More of those in another post. 

Flavours From Holland

A bike park to end all bike parks!

Beautiful gardens

The architecture and canals

Oh Yeah and I saw a few sheep:-)

GEMO Gazette

The GEMO website is getting an upgrade. Some elements are still to be worked on but the most recent upgrade is to improve functionality of the gazette  to provide  informative and readily accessible news on a regular basis. LINK to the GEMO website, check it out for yourself.

GEMO Concours National 2012

This year the Ecomusée du Pays de Rennes will host the annual national competition. It will be on Sunday the 16th of September and will be incorporated as part of a presentation "La journée du patrimoine" a fitting place and event for the Mouton d'Ouessant. The Ecomusée has a wide range of exhibits to see in additon to the Ouessants and this year there will be an added event ' Une Foire aux Béliers" whilst this will be an opportunity for GEMO members to place some juvenile rams it should be quite a spectacle in itself. There will be the opportunity for breeders to obtain certificats of conformité as well, I am very much looking forward to the event.
Put the date in your diary now. 16.09.2012

Heritage Flock - L'Ecomusée du Pays de Rennes

Recently I had the opportunity to spend a little time at the Ecomusée at Rennes. I couldn't resist checking out the ouessants there.  The Ecomusée will be hosting this years national competition and at only an hours drive from home this is the closest the competiton has been in years. These rams are some tough competition!!. Breeding of that consistency across a range of rams is hard to find anywhere and an absolute credit to the Ecomusée.

But prize winning is no stranger to the Ecomusée

LINK to the Ecomusée Website

The ewes and their lambs make a pretty picture too. 

I didn't get a lot of time to look over the whole place but I couldn't resist stopping by at one of my favourites.

Chèvres des Fossés - I love this breed but know my limits:-/

Photos Slideshow St Rivoal 2011

H Vaillant

SLIDESHOW LINK CLICK HERE

E Landerneau - Prix d'Honneur Béliers Adultes Noir

GEMO 2011 St Rivoal -The Results ( unofficially)

  Black Ram / Bélier Noir  G Percq

As announced on the day and until the official results get published on GEMO's website....

Yearling and Adult White Rams - Béliers Adultes et Jeunes Béliers( Antenais) Blanc

Prix d'Honneur P Carré

Premier Prix Parc d'Armorique

Deuxième Prix Parc d'Armorique

White Adult Ewe - Brebis Adultes Blanche

Prix d'Honneur H Vaillant

Premier Prix P Carré

Deuxième Prix Parc d'Armorique
           

White Yearling Ewes - Jeunes Brebis (Antenaises) Blanche

Prix d'Honneur - Not Awarded

Premier Prix P Carré

Deuxième Prix - Not Awarded

Black Adult Rams - Béliers Adultes Noir

Prix d'Honneur E Landerneau

Premier Prix R Hemming

Deuxième Prix C Billès

Black Yearling Rams - Jeunes Béliers (Antenais) Noir

Prix d'Honneur H Vaillant

Premier Prix Parc d'Armorique

Deuxième Prix H Vaillant

Black Adult Ewes - Brebis Adultes Noire

Prix d'Honneur H Vaillant

Premier Prix P Carré

Deuxième Prix M Pottier
                

Black Yearling Ewes - Jeunes Brebis (Antenaises) Noire

Prix d'Honneur C Billès

Premier Prix C Billès

Deuxième Prix C Billès

Couples ( Ram and Ewe- Belier et Brebis)

Prix d'Honneur E Landerneau

Premier Prix  Parc d'Armorique

Deuxième Prix P Carré

Breeder Ensembles - Meilleures Ensembles

Prix d'Honneur Parc d'Armorique

Premier Prix C Billès

Special Mentions - Mentions Spéciales

M Pottier

H Vaillant

E Landerneau

  Faolan ( Billès) at Spered Breizh - Premier Prix Adult Black Rams

Concours National 2011 Moutons d'Ouessant

Click to enlarge

Paris Salon de l'Agriculture - 2011

You have to get past the Charmoise at the begining.......Every year the breed is represented at the Salon de l'Agriculture THE big agricultural show of the year. This years participants don't seem overly amused but proved a hit with the public.

GEMO National Competition Results 2010

Until the results get published on the GEMO website ( at which time I'll link to them from this page) Here are the results as published in the GEMO bulletin of Dec 2010

RESULTS

WHITES

Rams & Yearlings - Béliers  & Antenais : 9 presented 5 confirmed

Prix d'Honneur     PERSYN François                              46cm
1er Prix                MORZYNSKI Dominique                  39.5cm
2éme Prix            VAILLANT Hervé                              42cm

Ewes - Brebis : 13 presented 9 confirmed

Prix d'Honneur   MORZYNSKI Dominique                   41cm
1er Prix              MORZYNSKI Dominique                   41cm
2éme Prix           VAILLANT Hervé                              44.5cm

Antenaises : 9 presented 

Prix d'Honneur  MORZYNSKI Dominique                    42cm
1er Prix             Parc Naturel d'Armorique                     42cm
2éme Prix          ROYER Patrice                                   45.5cm

BLACKS


Rams - Béliers : 5 presented 4 confirmed


Prix d'Honneur    Not Awarded
1er Prix               DELEPOULLE André                      47.5cm
2éme Prix            HEMMING Renée                           46cm

Yearlings - Antenais 5 Presented

Prix d'Honneur   ROYER Patrice                                 42cm
1er Prix              MORZYNSKI Dominique                43cm
2éme Prix           ECOMUSEE  de Rennes                  42cm

Ewes - Brebis 18 Presented 18 Confirmed

Prix d'Honneur  ECOMUSEE de Rennes                    43.5cm
1er Prix             DELEPOULLE André                       45cm
2éme Prix         ECOMUSEE de Rennes                     45cm

Yearlings - Antenaises  16 presented

Prix d'Honneur  CARRE Patrick                                  42.5cm
1er Prix             BILLES Claude                                  41.5cm
2éme Prix          DELEPOULLE André                       43.5cm

AUTRES COULEURS

16 Presented- No details provided

Mention Spéciale BILLES Claude

Championnat Mâles

ROYER Patrice                                                        46cm

Championnat Femelles

ROYER Patrice                                                       41cm


Prix d'Ensemble

Prix d'Honneur    MORZYNSKI Dominique    
1er Prix               VAILLANT Hervé
2éme Prix            ECOMUSEE de Rennes

Prix Couple

Prix d'Honneur  ROYER Patrice
1er Prix            MORZYNSKI Dominique
2éme Prix         BILLES Claude 

Prix Spéciale du Jury

LANDERNEAU Emilie
PERCQ Gérard
PEUPLE Marcel

Getting the format right with Blogger seems an impossiblity!

Slideshow of Cormont

Snapshots from throughout the day

Cormont 2010 The Aftermath............

Given that the show was some 600 kilometres from home and that this year I was taking 8 sheep and returning with 10,  I decided the only way for the sheep to travel was in style. I rented a small horse box. I don't generally get to go away very often so this was my annual holiday and I had every intention of treating it as such. The sheep were comfortable in the back. I had loaded up the van with every conceivable item I thought I might need  and a few surplus ones  and we set off at a leisurely pace. Within twenty minutes drive of my front door  are major arterial roads which makes travel very easy. The traffic was pretty much as always, non existant and we rocked along to some thunderous tracks from U2, Queen and Robbie Williams before we knew it Cormont was in sight and it was all too easy. Unload the sheep, the obligatory measure and paperwork, check out the competition....hmm stiff!

There were quite a few members of GEMO who had made it from all parts of France and so we spent the evening eating, chatting and dancing................ OK we mainly watched others dancing, I'm not a great one for Breton dancing so Flemish dancing was well, a little too close to home. 
The following morning an early start to check on how the sheep had spent their night and then the visitors started to arrive, the mix of languages was fantastic and we all talked a common language sheep.

The girls in their pen , you may spy a stray ram in there thats Anakin, I didn't think he wanted to take his chances meeting the rams at the show. If there are any lambs in five months we know who's responsible!

As I suspected getting going was not that punctual and of course everything over ran by ages including lunch and we found that already most of the day had gone and still classes to judge. The french have no sense of urgency, its all very social and relaxed except its hard to relax when you can see the schedule slipping by hours, guess I still have some way to go to integrate!

I don't usually take so many sheep but this year there was an added incentive. The possibility of getting the sheep confirmed as meeting the breed standard. I admit this is a huge step forward and a welcome one. I entered four adult sheep ( only adults get confirmed). César who at five years old is begining to look his age he is age greying and has lost a couple of teeth. In his prime he was place deuxième prix , despite his age he was classed and awarded the same. The entry for the black adult rams was disappointing and I don't think its because of a lack in the breed just one of those things. One of my "new" girls is a veteran of the show circuit already being a champion of France so she took things in her stride but age and stiff competition was against her in the champion of champion classes and the  class went to her breeder for both the rams and the ewes but younger models. All four adults entered got their certificates of conformity to fill in. YAY! It is a very nice feeling to know that finally and after a little kicking and screaming we have entered a new era in  the breeds history.

César, Faolan and Koudou pretty laid back about the whole affair. The day and the weekend was a good one, a chance to catch up with friends, a chance to make some new ones and a chance to talk  sheep and there were some very interesting conversations, more on that another time. The two greys were both entered in the "other colours" class, I can't remember seeing such a big and good entry. Faolans breeder got special mention, no prizes were awarded for the other colours category, Faolan was next to his sire and I was pretty pleased to see the both of them out there. 

 Prize presentation time and  on se fait la bise. Before I knew it, it was all over and time to load up. I decided to make the drive back that evening despite the long route I knew the sheep would benefit from getting back as soon as possible and I longed for my own bed so, turn up the volume and drive back to Brittany. I unloaded the sheep as soon as I arrived which meant them going into the fields in the dark. The newbies were kept in as they weren't familiarised with the layout or the rest of the flock but it meant most had a chance to de-stress a little before the morning.

I'm not sure how long these links will stay viable but heres the news as seen in France with thanks to "palers" for the links
La Voix du Nord


Le Telegramme

Here is the list of winners as noted once again by Palers. Its still not the official confirmation from GEMO and I'll post a link when it gets published

Béliers blancs ( adultes et antenais ): Honneur. François Pensyn ( 62 ). 1. Dominique Morzynski ( 23 ). 2. Hervé Vaillant ( 35 ).

Brebis blanches : Honneur. Dominique Morzynski. 1. Dominique Morzynski. 2. Hervé Vaillant ( 35 ).

Antenaises blanches : Honneur. Dominique Morzynski. 1. Parc d'Armorique ( 29 ). 2. Ecomusée de Rennes ( 35 ).

Bélier noirs . Pas de prix d'honneur. 1. André Delepoule ( 59 ). 2. Renée Hemming ( 22 ).

Antenais noirs. Honneur. Patrice Royer ( 59 ). 1. Dominique Morzynski. 2. Ecomusée de Rennes.

Brebis noires : Honneur. Ecomusée de Rennes. 1. André Delepoule. 2. Ecomusée de Rennes.

Antenaises noires : Honneur. Patrick Carré ( 29 ). 1. Claude Billès ( 22 ). 2. André Delepoule.

Prix d'ensemble : Honneur. Dominique Morzynski. 1. Hervé Vaillant. 2. Ecomusée de Rennes.

Couples : Honneur. Patrice Royer. 1. Dominique Morzynski. 2. Claude Billès.

Champion des champions : Mâles. Patrice Royer. Femelles. Patrice Royer.

Mention " autres couleurs " : Claude Billès.

So thats it for another year. What fun I would do it all again in a heartbeat, must be mad!

We're Back! and Knackered

Had a great time, lots of news and views but for now a little time to catch up on sleep, and life, more later!

GEMO National Show 2010 Le Touquet Calais 05.09.10 Details

I have had a number of people asked me re the details of this years show. So for those who are interested.

Sunday the 5th of September Judging is due to start at 10.30 am ( This is earlier than in recent years to allow a reasonably early finish. )

A break for lunch is usually between 12.00-12.30  and 14.00 with the prize presentation due to start around 15.30. These are approximate times and likely to vary a bit once things get under way but its a plan.

There may be some early morning checking in and measuring on the morning of the show for local entrants but as a number of exhibitors will have travelled up the day before many will be checked on the saturday afternoon.

The Categories as usual are judged by age and colour.

1st group: Whites in three sections
Adult and Yearling Rams
Adult Ewes
Yearling Ewes

2nd group: Blacks in four sections
Adult Rams
Yearling Rams
Adult Ewes
Yearling Ewes

3rd group: Browns and Other Colours:

The Best Pair: - A new category this year.  Ewe and Ram shown together of the same colour.

The Best Group: Comprising of  a Ram, a Ewe and a Yearling Ram and Ewe.

Two Awards for the Best Champion Ram and Ewe ( all colours ) 

There are usually some special mentions for those who have contributed in some way toward this year show or who stood out for one reason or another.

The Venue is at the Parc De l'Abbé Engrand Cormont (Dept 62)

Link to Michelin map
If you would like more info then just send me a mail

22nd National GEMO Event 05 September 2010 Cormont

Yep we're going chicken! This year the national competition will be held at the Parc de L'Abbé Engrand Cormont 62  300 miles from Brittany, we're going to make a weekend of it!
The event is a poultry exhibition, I do hope I'm not too tempted to take a few home.  I understand a few other  breeds of sheep as well as around 100 ouessants currently entered.There is also a regional market.

Currently I'm looking over the sheep to see who will be good enough ( hopefully) to go. The sheep are fully vaccinated against blue tongue ( serotype one and eight) and are blood tested as free from brucellosis. I have decided to travel in comfort rather than the old van who is getting rather tired and has a lot of mileage on her so look out for the plush sheep mobile en route. I have no idea what to expect this will be new territory for me, a chance to see some of the ouessant sheep from the east of France. How much dutch influence will there be and hopefully there will also be the chance to meet up with some breeders. Calais isn't far away it would be nice to see some come over from the UK  as well as being close to the Belgian border making it far easier for breeders to come from Holland and Germany, should be good!

Electronic Identification - The Saga Continues......

As supplied by Shearwell UK

Last week I got my letter through from the EDE (Bretagne) explaining all about electronic identification    
( microchipping) of sheep and the regulations. For all lambs born after July 2010 its compulsory...... OK so here's the rub After all the information and blurb in the literature my attention was drawn to this phrase.

Attention:

La boucle électronique BOUTON + PENDENTIF est le seul modèle agréé par le Ministre jusqu'à présent.

. Il n'existe pas de modèle électronique en BARRETTE SOUPLE ou en BOUCLE QUICK ( moutons d'ouessant, chèvres naines)

Link to explanation and regulations in French

What a complete waste of time!

Having sat through several GEMO meetings each time the subject of electronic identification was raised we were assured it wasn't a problem and that ouessants would be able to be tagged without the risk of having to put in oversized tags now the best we can get is something suited for cattle and large breeds of sheep. I rang my EDE and explained "only got tiny sheep blah blah" disembodied voice replied "no choice large tags are obligatory". No point arguing with an automaton, so I ring my DDSV now renamed DDPP I'm still waiting for them to return my call.

I thought that the UK was behind, there has been lots of discussion on the lists of lambs ripping out the larger tags ( these are standard sized lambs) and some models of smaller tags appear better than others but it will take time to shake down. In the meantime.... I cannot retag any sheep who have lost tags with smaller plastic tags unless I  renumber them.

My aluminium tags are supposedly no longer valid and the only bolus currently available in the UK( nothing in France)  is not reccommended for use in ouessant lambs. Not to mention there is a history of them being found in the field having been regurgitated. What a mess.

The Warmwell blog has listed the european parliaments discussions and how they arrived at this legislation. The sharp eye amongst you may spot that those two little black ewes in the photo are infact ouessants. In the UK electronic identification is already underway for this seasons lambs I can only hope ( and pray) that by the time we get to next year something will have been done as at this rate I see my sheep going tagless...

GEMO New Website and Show Results

At last, fantastic news GEMO have revamped their website (still some work to do) and listed the winners of this years show. It beats having to wait until the bulletin is produced!

GEMO Website

Results page Bravo à tous!