Obituary - Richard Percy Wear

The UK has lost one of its most renowned sheep breeders and ambassadors of the industry in Richard Percy Wear, who sadly passed away last month in his 89th year.

The owner of the oldest flock of Ryelands in the world – the Ruslin flock, established in 1934 by his father, Percy Wear – Richard was known as Mr Ryeland in England and King Ryeland in Scotland, having securing numerous breed championships at the Royal Highland Show and the old Royal Show.

Born and brought up at Ruslin Farm, Bristol, in 1934, Richard was the second son of Percy and Mary Wear, and a little brother to Frank. The family lived on the farm milking a few cows by hand, keeping a small flock of sheep, fattening pigs and a few chickens for eggs. Horses were used to do the bulk of the work with the first tractor bought when Richard was a young boy.

He went to Butcombe Primary school and on passing his 11+ went to Bristol Grammar school where he showed great academic accomplishments, finishing in 1950 'with credits and very good' across all subjects studied. Potential was seen to study further but as it was post-war years, work was needed to be done on the farm.

Outside of work, Young Farmers formed a strong social draw and Wrington YFC was the local club, and one of the most prominent in the county at that time.

Stock judging predominantly, plus other club activities, and inter-club socials saw Richard's eye drawn to a young lady from |Keynsham YFC, Margaret Lovell, a farmers daughter and keen hockey player, whom he married in the spring of 1959. They set up home at Rusland Farm, and soon after daughter Brenda and son Andrew were born, where they had about 20 Jersey and Shorthorns to milk. Saddleback sows were also kept and their burgeoning flock of Ryelands.

A family milk round was a useful way of making some extra income in their early years, but as the economics of farming changed, the milking herd was cut back and multi-suckling of calves on cows was carried out.

Richard and Margaret had quite a social life, dinner-dances, shows and farming trips, while at home and locally, sport was an important thing – tennis played in the yard, and football with Andrew's school where Richard would coach. This progressed into having a pitch on one of the farm fields.

It was nevertheless his attention to detail with his flock of Ryeland sheep that paid obvious dividends with family holidays to various events with Richard and Margaret sleeping in the Austin Maxi and the kids' Andrew and Brenda in the trailer.

The Ruslin flock which was formed with the purchase of 20 Ryeland ewes at the grand price of 100gns and the champion ram for 32gns, grew to 60 ewes in the 1980s, with up to 32 rams sold per year. It was Young Farmers and showing his Ryelands that Richard lived for in the early years.

In 1951, the Ruslin flock showed four sheep at the local Blagdon Show and secured six awards to include the championship and reserve. A true stockman through and through, Richard also made his presence felt in various YFC events, judging for England in the 1955 beef stockjudging and the dairy in 1958.

Such was his ability to point out the best and worst in individual animals of various breeds that Richard trained the England beef team in 1966 and in 2020 was steward to his daughter Brenda for the first ever virtual National Beef Stockjudging competition.

Showing the Ryelands was a special treat up until the 70’s when the Ruslin flock hit the ground running. In 1972 Goodford Pilot was purchased for 50gns and the following year Pilot won six breed championships at the six events exhibited at.

One of Richard's greatest showing achievements was winning at the Royal Highland Show from the start of the Ryeland classes in 1982 for 16 consecutive years, and all with home-bred stock. The other was winning the Percy Wear Memorial Trophy for the most successful exhibitor – 18 years in succession.

Richard didn't just just breed prize winning pedigree breeding stock but also fatstock winners landing the award for the best pair of Ryelands in 1958 at the Royal Smithfield. They weighed in at 217lbs and sold for £12.

A keen showman right up until the end, the Ruslin flock picked up numerous inter-breed championships at the Devon County, Bath and West, and Three Counties to name just a few with the last in 2021 at Devon County, ably shown by grand-son Kyle.

On return home that day he said: “I’ll retire now and let the younger generation carry on!” It was therefore (a) such a joy to him to watch Kyle win the Ryeland championship at Bath and West, this year.

Judging and training was his enjoyment, whether it was Young Farmers stockjudging or being the judge travelling throughout the UK and the World, Australia and New Zealand to mention a few.

Richard loved a good chat and hoped he knew what all his neighbours and fellow breeders were up to, but he got caught out in 2018, when Brenda had the honour of preparing and showing the Duke of Cornwall now The King’s, sheep at Royal Cornwall Show. They were on her farm for nine weeks but Brenda and Kyle didn't tell him until three days prior to the event!

There was little if anything that Richard failed to achieve in the show ring, and his sheep were equally successful in the sale ring, having sold some of the top priced lots in previous years. In 2011, he sold a shearling ram for 1000gns, while in 2015 he received 1650gns for a ram lamb. Females from the Ruslin flock have been sold to 1600gns. This compares to 20gns for a ram sold from the flock at the Priddy Fair in 1958.

Sheep sales were not just in the UK but to more than 10 different counties and the night before he died, he received a phone call from Jordan Stone one of his bearers to confirm that Ruslin Chef was on his way to Germany.

Richard is survived by his wife Margaret daughter Brenda, son Andrew his partner Jen, and their two sons, Kyle and Seth.