Tony Pierce who farms ‘Kent’ Romney sheep at Rye Harbour and Camber has spent a lifetime improving the J Saunders and sons flock of sheep with careful selective breeding and sometimes slightly obsessive attention to detail. Recently his endeavours have been recognised and rewarded, firstly beating some stiff opposition of around a dozen other flocks to win the Romney Sheep Breeders’ Society commercial flock competition for the second time.
Secondly, he explained, “Putting the icing on the cake, I also won the award for the best Romney ewe fleece and overall champion fleece at the Ashford Market Fatstock competition, beating thirty plus fleeces to do so. It’s very rewarding to have your efforts recognised but there’s still improvements to be made and I will keep trying.
“I am still farming the sheep in the same way as my predecessors on marshland that has been growing these wonderfully resilient sheep (they look great considering the extreme drought they had to contend with this summer) working with Natural England and Rye Harbour Nature Reserve to farm in the best way with the environment in mind.”
It is so important to support these farmers who work tirelessly, seven days a week and on many of those put in long hours in all weathers. British farmers not only play a massive part in feeding our population, they also employ over four million people, producing sixty-one percent of food consumed here in the UK.
Alongside shepherding, Tony has taken up photography over the last few years and has a wonderful eye, as can be seen in the pictures below. He captures what others fail to see and has the patience to wait for the right shot.
Image Credits: Tony Pierce .
Well done tony dad would have been proud of you
We’ll done Tony very impressed. Congratulations .