Wowie Dunnings, inspired by a visit to her sister’s sheep, now successfully raises and showcases her Southdown and Oxford Down sheep in Fifehead St Quintin

When Wowie Dunnings visited her sister in Lincolnshire in 2013, little did she guess how a few sheep would transform her life.
‘My sister has sheep in Lincolnshire. We visited for Easter ten years ago and I just got stuck into lambing and thoroughly enjoyed it. At that time I had been through nine operations and the work with the sheep just took the pain away and my mind off things. On the way home I asked my husband if we could have a few sheep … and that’s how we got our first Southdowns!’
Wowie now has a small flock of 34 on her smallholding in Fifehead St Quintin, just outside Sturminster Newton. But why Southdowns?
‘My sister had them. They are a really good breed for beginners – they are friendly not flighty, and the mums are good, they just pop out the lambs! They are the smallest of the Down breeds, with the best fleece.
‘We also have Oxford Downs which are the largest of the Downs. They are so gentle – definitely the gentle giants. And they have the most amazing fleeces. When it comes to choosing sheep I always say: “go for the ones you like the look of – because you’ll have to stare at them every day!”
‘The Southdown is no longer a rare breed – it’s the Rare Breeds Survival Trust success story. All breeds of Down sheep, including the Hampshire and Dorset, originate from a South Down.’
It is the oldest of the sire breeds in the UK and as the name suggests it originates from the native sheep which roamed the South Downs in the south of England for many hundreds of years. Known for its woolly face, it is sometimes called the teddy bear sheep!

‘The Oxford Down is on the At Risk register, however,’ says Wowie. ‘There are just 3,000 ewes and 3,000 rams. Oxford Downs are big – but so quiet! And they are good for cross-breeding lambs, too. We always lamb in December because we enjoy showing.’
Wowie’s show record is impressive. Again, it was all down to her sister.
‘She suggested I should give it a go and see how I got on. I kept looking at the sheep and wondering, and then I had a lovely little lamb. So I entered her in a local show. We bought the kit and the trailer and I spent three hours carding* her fleece! I showed the ewe lamb and mother and also entered the novice class as it was my first time showing. I got first in both classes. Then the judges said I needed to go into the champions class – and I won that too!
‘The following year we went to the New Forest Show with a full team and we did really well there. The sheep look wonderful with their Wolfhanger green and yellow coats. This year we’re doing nine shows in all.’
A lot of preparation goes into showing animals – if it’s three hours for one sheep, how long to card a full team? But of course there’s more to the process:
‘I always think the preparation starts when you choose which ram to put in with the ewes,’ says Wowie. ‘But the preparation for a show starts about 10 days before. We’ll wash them all, to get the lanolin off. And I have an actual sheep hairdryer! It’s not hot and blow-dries them perfectly. It’s really good – you can blow leaves with it as well!
‘The carding can take 90 minutes per sheep, so if we’re showing 12 sheep we start three days before; even longer for new lambs.
‘Then we put their coats on to keep them clean – though not if it’s hot weather. Then we have to gather all the material and information for the pens – if they win rosettes we like to display them, and we always put them on social media.’
Wowie makes it all sound easy but she says showing is not without its challenges.
‘Halter training can be hard. Lambs don’t like the halters and throw themselves on the ground! Some people keep them on a tight rope, but that can panic them. What we do is put the halter on the lamb and then just cuddle them, perhaps coax them with a bit of feed. We just stay there with them until they are relaxed and ready.’

Wowie and the Wolfhanger flock have a terrific track record, so what advice has she got for a first timer showing?
‘Enjoy it and don’t worry! It’s hard work but definitely worth it. And don’t forget to walk around the show to see what else is there. Ask questions from other people who are showing – these are the people you’ll learn from. Don’t think what you are asking is silly. People like to help. I met a lovely lady last year who also has South Downs. I told her to come and find me this year and I’ll show her how to trim a sheep.
‘Also, read up on the show etiquette! There is definitely a right way of doing things – I don’t like to see white coats unbuttoned for example.’
And what advice does Wowie have for the public?
‘Buy wool! I spoke to a couple at a show recently, and they had no idea how dire the industry is. When people ask about wool I always ask them what they are wearing? Most of it won’t be wool. A modern fleece will be made of recycled bottles or something. It’s also amazing how little some people know about farming – Jeremy Clarkson has done a hell of a lot to promote agriculture and say what it’s really like. TV shows are a great opportunity to educate the public on farming issues.’
Look out for Wowie and the Wolfhanger team in the Sheep Section, and be sure to say hello!

• wolfhanger.co.uk

• Carding is basically combing the fleece, making sure all the wool fibres are untangled and aligned in one direction
  **Because we know you’re wondering: when her younger brother was a toddler he couldn’t say Isabelle-Alice so plumped for Wowie instead. It stuck, and she’s been Wowie ever since!

Jason Bennett is dedicated to preserving England’s oldest cattle breeds and is committed to educating the public about meat quality

British Whites and Gloucesters are two of the oldest native English cattle breeds – Gloucesters date back to the 13th century. Jason Bennett, who runs a smallholding two miles from Wells Cathedral, is passionate about rare breeds. ‘My daughter and I have British Whites and a Gloucester. We also keep Dexters. It’s a father-and-daughter collaboration. Gloucester cattle are rarer than the giant panda – there are more than 2,000 giant pandas in the world, but fewer than 600 Gloucesters. The biggest Gloucester herd has 300 animals, and is in Gloucestershire. We are beef farmers, although Dexters and Gloucesters are dual-purpose beef and dairy breeds. We do beef boxes from the Dexters and then rare breed burgers and patties. Our Dexters are doing well at the moment. This year we won the Inter-breeds Championship and Reserve Championship at Honiton Show.’

With bulls it’s softly, softly
You only have to walk around the cattle area at an agricultural show to see the constant work needed to get the animals ready. How does Jason know which cattle will be potential champions that he can train for showing?
‘It starts when they are calves. You look for the ones that show a bit of promise, it’s all in how they stand and look. At three months, they start looking like a bull – that’s when I start them on a halter and lead them with their mum so they get used to it.
‘With a bull, it’s all about “trickery”. If a bull plans to run away … it will. They weigh around half a ton!
‘So we start them from a young age and teach them to run on a lead, softly, softly. Obviously with any animal things could go wrong, so we have the halter and a nose ring. I’ll lead it, and there’s someone else at the rear. But the bulls also learn that they get fed and have a nice bath for the show. And we use tea tree oil on them – they love that! I also give the bulls a massage. People love watching me massaging them at the shows.’

Education, education, education
Cattle, beef and dairy farming have been getting a bad press recently with the green agenda. It’s something Jason feels strongly about.
‘The public aren’t stupid. They know a cow fart won’t blow a hole in the ozone layer. And if you stand my cow next to a diesel engine, the public will prefer the cow. During COVID, when the motorised boats and gondolas stopped in Venice, the dolphins returned to the canals within two weeks. They should go after these football players and billionaires in private planes who are doing far more damage.
‘I recently did the Farm to Fork event at Bath & West Showground. We had 12,000 kids come through. It was fantastic. I love teaching children. If you tell them something, they’ll absorb it like a sponge. It’s also essential that people can see the animals are treated well.
‘When each group of kids came up, I asked “Who’s had a McDonalds? Obviously 99% of them put their hands up. And whose Dad enjoys a steak? And who likes Mum’s spag bol? And then I say, well, these cows will become your steaks …
‘The kids must learn where food comes from. My mantra is “to save a rare breed you have to eat a rare breed”. When you have two, you eat one and breed the other. Some might be a bit put off by it, but a couple of people came by my stand afterwards and said the children had told them what they had learned, and of course then the kids help teach the parents.

‘We should all probably eat less meat – but make sure what we do eat is decent quality stuff, better food. Don’t eat crap.’
Jason is clearly passionate about promoting farming and his rare breeds – and recently he’s had some standout moments.
‘It was good this week at the South Gloucestershire Show when we won the inter-breed. But we also had our rare breed burgers there (Wessex Rare Breeds), and I got a thumbs up from Caleb Cooper for our burgers!’
Of course Jason will be showing his cattle at the Gillingham & Shaftesbury Show.
‘I’m looking forward to two things – showing the Dexters because they are our passion and also having our catering enterprise at the show.’
As a show pro, Jason has some excellent advice for any first-time visitor to Gillingham & Shaftesbury Show this summer:
‘Make sure you explore and check out the livestock. Traders basically pack a trailer and take it to a show, but the preparation that goes into showing animals is phenomenal. So please just take five or ten minutes to walk up and down the aisles to appreciate the work of the farmers. And once you’ve seen the rare breed cattle, go and taste one! If every farmer had a rare breed on their farms we would no longer have rare breeds.’