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Pictured Charles Harding (left), President of the Suffolk Sheep Society with Stephen Cobbald, newly elected chairman and retiring President

Midlands based Charles Harding has been elected President of the Suffolk Sheep Society.

Charles has been involved with Suffolk Sheep since the age of five, when his father, Tom, established the Bentley flock in 1960. "It is a great honour to serve the Society. We live in challenging times for the industry - there are great opportunities - the Suffolk is still unrivalled in terms of growth and weight gain."

Today the Bentley flock comprises of some 115 ewes, from which a crop of 100 ram lambs is sold each year. The flock has been recorded since 1980 and was one of the first to use ultra sound scanning to aid breeding decisions. Charles is a member of Premier Suffolk Breeders, and his flock currently performs in the top 10% of estimated breed values (EBVs) for the Suffolk whole breed evaluation.

The Suffolk flock is the main enterprise on the 72 hectare Lodge Farm, near Nuneaton, Warwickshire. Says Charles: "Return private sales make up over 80% of our sales, we firmly believe in recording, with an eye for the right animal too."

Not only has this philosophy earned Mr Harding commercial success, but also in competitions too. Bentley ram lambs have won the Royal Show Suffolk recorded ram lamb class for the past two consecutive years and many times previous to that; in addition the flock has won the Midlands flock competition each time it has entered - some seven times in all and has been runner-up in the hard fought National flock competition.

Looking to the future Charles has opted to trial New Zealand Suffolk bloodlines. "I can see the New Zealand Suffolks have a significant role to play in some breeding programmes. What is important today is that there are many traits of the breed and it is matching those traits to market requirement," he adds.

Half the farm is down to grass the balance grows cereals for home consumption and break crops for the sheep. In addition Charles, who runs the farm with his wife Jan, rear Aberdeen Angus Cattle for Waitrose.

The couple have two sons both who have graduated, Tom, a geneticist who works in Cancer Research and Matt who recently completed his degree in Agriculture and Animal Science at Harper Adams University College.

Says Charles: "The next generation of Suffolk Sheep breeders must be given the opportunities through developments in genetics, trait evaluation and data recording through electronics to take the breed into a new era - I believe the Society, through BASCO and Research work is well placed to achieve this, while practicing sound sheep farming."

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