ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING, 2024
TO BE HELD AT THE ASHFORD INTERNATION HOTEL, SIMONE WELL AVENUE, ASHFORD, KENT, TN24 8UX
SATURDAY, 9th NOVEMBER, 2024
Please see below the proposed arrangements for the 2024 AGM.
The AGM and dinner will be held in the hotel. The booking form will be sent out in due course.
Room Costs as follows:
Bedrooms :
60 x Bedrooms on allocation for the 8th + 9th November 2024
£119.00 BB single Occupancy £133.00 BB double occupancy
Pre-payable at the point of booking, non refundable if cancelled.
Allocation will reduce down to 50 rooms 8 weeks prior Allocation will reduce down to 40 rooms 6 weeks prior Allocation will release in full 4 weeks prior if unsold
Guests would be required to call the central booking line to make a reservation on 01233 219988, option 2 for reservations, and quote “Sheep Breeders Association event”.
A bus will be laid on, on the Saturday, to take members from the hotel to the flock visit and back in the afternoon/evening, but members will be expected to contribute towards the cost.
Friday, 8th November
3 p.m. Walk around Gusbourne Vinyard where the ewes graze over winter as companion grazers with the vines. Courtesy of Jon Pollard, manager
Saturday, 9th November
10.00 a.m. Tea and Coffee available
10.30 a.m. Annual General Meeting
12.00 Approx Visit to Gemma & Ed Lovejoy’s, Lovejoy Flock at Tenterden
(Please see background information on following page)
Lunch
Approx. 4 p.m. Return to hotel
7 p.m. for 7.30 p.m. Dinner and presentation of the Flock Competition awards, the David Matthews Trophy, and the Presidents Trophy at The Ashford International Hotel
Sunday, 10th November
10.30 a.m. A visit to the new British wool sorting Depot in Ashford courtesy of Spencer Bromfield, manager and judge of many wool on the hoof and fleece competitions.
Lovejoy Farm Partnership
Lovejoy Farm Partnership is made up of our family, Ed and Gemma, 3 daughters, Chloe, 16 and off to agricultural college this September, Katie 14 going into year 10 and Poppy 10 just heading into year 6. All 3 girls are super keen on farming and sheep and enjoy taking a few sheep to local shows. Chloe is keen on the Dorsets and enjoys taking part in the management of them. Poppy helps with the Romneys and Katie has her own small flock of Border Leicester’s, purely for her own enjoyment! We also have Charlotte our Shepherd and Harvey our full time Farm worker, both started working for us last May. We farm 900 acres of permanent grass mainly across three farms, our home Hope farm in Wittersham which we brought in 2014, the neighbouring farm Malt House and Hengehurst in Woodchurch, the rest is ground accumulated between the two farms and heading down onto the Romney Marsh.
We started the business in 2004 with Ed, self employed working on various farms and the sheep flock starting with the purchase of our first 14 tegs that Autumn. We decided to add to the flock with Autumn lambing Poll Dorsets, we brought locally with the majority coming from the Ticklers in Marden, the plan being to supply boxed lamb locally. Over the years we have built up sheep numbers, we tupped 1400 last year. These are split into 3 smaller flocks, 60 pedigree Poll Dorsets, 100 Pedigree Romneys and 50 Texel X Poll Dorsets, these flocks produce rams for sale and to be used over the main commercial flock of Romneys and Poll Dorset x Romneys. We tup all commercial ewe lambs, these are put to a Southdown and all the commercial’s are lambed outside on grass. We run the sheep on a very low input system with all commercials on grass and the pedigrees being fed only when housed and then rams before sale. We are a closed flock, only buying the odd ram for the nucleus flocks and Southdowns privately, helping to keep the medicine bill down to the bare minimum.
Along side the sheep we have a hay and straw business supplying all size bales from conventional to 4 stringers, supplying mainly to the equine market. Hay and hayledge is made from around 300 acres of permanent pastures which are rotated around with the sheep grazing. Over the last two years we have added cattle, these are Sussex and Sussex crosses selected to suit our forage based system. Other enterprises on the farm include a DIY livery for 24 horses, a small campsite, a glamping unit and onsite butchery.