Skip to main content
Badger Face Welsh Mountain Sheep Society
Badger Face Welsh Mountain Sheep Society

Recent News


2023 Official Society Show & Sale Report
Report by Timothy Evans 

On Sunday 10th September, Welsh Badger Face breeders from all over the British Isles descended on Brecon Market for the Annual Society Sale. This year there was a catalogue entry of 277.


Proceeding the show & sale this year, the Society had decided to hold an inspection of all sheep forward at the sale. The overall standard was acceptable with only about 20 being rejected for various reasons. The nominated judges at this year’s show were Mr Aeron Edwrads and Mr Gruff Jones – Torddu judges and Mr Eirian Jones, Senior judge and young Harri Williams, junior judge in the Torwen section. I know for a fact that both young judges had a very enjoyable day and I’m sure that young Hari Williams will remember this experience for many years to come.

Continue reading...

It was very pleasing to see a number of new and established breeders examining the sheep in the pens prior to the commencement of the sale, looking for animals to improve their existing flocks and also to establish new flocks of good quality sheep in the future. However, it must be said that there were fewer numbers of people present at the sale and for some reason there was a lack of the usual buzz at this year’s sale compared to previous years.


The first section to go under the hammer this year was the Torwen section which commenced with the yearling ewes. This was a small section with only 8 forward, however, the section contained some lovely individuals that made tidy prices. Jointly topping this section were two very true to type yearling ewes that sold for 380gns. Firstly the 1st prize winning entry from H & K Williams, Talley. She was a lovely example of the breed and sold to C & MA Jenkins. Also selling for the same amount was a correct yearling from Mr Stephen Pugh that sold to Gail Gribble. Both these vendors have achieved very good results on previous occasions and are to be congratulated on their achievements. The good price of 300gns was achieved for the 3rd prize yearling from Malcolm & Michelle Evans, selling to D Jones.

The ewe lamb section followed and contained some lovely examples, and it was from this section that the Female Champion & Overall Torwen Champion emerged.

This was a super well marked ewe lamb from Lynn Williams Talley. She made the good price of 420gns selling to G Edwards & Son. Both Huw and Lynn can always be relied upon to bring forward stock of high standard annually for this sale. The same can be said also of Geraint and Ifor Jones, Highview. They sold the next highest price ewe lamb for 350gns to Jill Evans, Brecon. Again a lovely quality well marked ewe lamb. Mr Gareth Jones, Pencae followed, selling his entry for 300gns.This typey ewe lamb was 2nd in the morning show and sold to Dafydd Williams, the father of the junior judge. This ewe lamb had been placed 2nd at a very strong class at the Royal Welsh.


It was now the turn of the males. Trade in this section was a lot quieter with only the best finding new homes and making good money. Top price in this section was the 1st prize winning entry of Gareth Jones, Pencae. This well marked ram had been placed 3rd at this year’s Royal Welsh Show and sold for 680gns to RF Fayers, who had made the long journey from Norfolk to purchase quality stock in order to establish a flock of Torwens, we wish them the very of best of luck. The second prize winning entry from King & Jeffreys sold for 650gns to A Clark. This strong tup had also been placed 2nd at this year’s Royal Welsh. He was bred my Mr Kieran Jones and purchased as a ram lamb at the 2022 Llandovery sale. Mr Eirian Jones, Maesteilo sold his two quality yearlings for 520gns each. The first to A Harries and the second to the Brown Family. These two well marked rams had not been shown in the morning show because Eirian was judging, but I’m sure they would have been in the cards if they had been.


The final torwen section was the ram lamb section. It was from this section that the overall Champion emerged. This was a very true to type ram lamb from Dafydd Lewis, Cothi Flock. This ram lamb had also won its class at the Royal Welsh this year. He sold for the top Torwen price of the day and made 1000gns and sold in partnership to Gareth Lloyd and Gareth Jones. Dafydd’s other entry sold for 540gns and sold to D Jones. This was indeed the third year in succession for Dafydd to win this class.


Next in line selling for 440gns was the ram lamb from King & Jeffreys and sold to S Hermanis. Once again the Williams family Talley excelled selling their 2nd prize winning ram lamb for 420gns to Kieran Jones. This lamb had been shown very successfully throughout the season gaining many championships. It is interesting to note that this ram lamb and the two first prize winning females are all closely related being out of the same sire. The sire, was purchased at this sale a few years ago when he was champion for the Brown Family, and has proved to be a little gold mine for the Talley Flock. All in all, the Torwen section sold for good prices and contained some quality animals.


It was now the turn of the Torddu section commencing with the rams. This was a very strong section at last year’s sale with many good animals achieving some fantastic prices. Trade was a little quieter this year but there was some good quality rams put forward. The top price of 1060gns was achieved by the young vendor Ollie Davies, and was purchased by Mr DC Green, Cambridge. This super ram had been purchased by Ollie as a ram lamb from his breeder, Mr Daniel Pugh at this sale last year. Daniel had purchased 3 in lamb ewes from Lucy Levinge & Ellie Layton and this was the result of one of the off spring from these ewes. Ollie is to be congratulated for realising his potential and also in the way he was produced for the sale. Interestingly it was a ram from Lucy & Ellie that followed selling for 1000gns to HE Roberts, North Wales. This yearling had been overall Torddu Champion earlier at the morning show. He was a lovely, traditional true to type ram with nice small ears.


In fact the two top price rams were half brothers, sired by the same ram. Lucy & Ellie are no strangers to success at the annual sale having received top prices on numerous occasions. Also selling for 1000gns was the striking yearling from King & Jeffreys. He was sold outside of the ring to Matt and Donna Evans. The ram had damaged his foot in the sheep pen and was too lame to come to the ring to be sold.


Aron Hemmings sold his yearling, showing plenty of colour, for 950gns to the Roberts Family, Heol Las. This yearling had won his class at the Spring Festival and was placed 2nd in a very good class at the Royal Welsh. Other vendors who found good trade in this section were Julian Williams who received 580gns to LK Davies.

This ram from Joseph bloodlines had been shown very successfully this year in the Brecon area. Matt and Donna Evans sold their 3 year old for 550gns returning to his breeders King & Jeffreys. This ram had left a lot of good quality stock for Matt and Donna. Mr Price Jones, Rhandirmwyn sold his proper hardy type yearling to C Lewis for 520gns and the Tamplin Family received 500gns for their yearling selling to D Morrison.


Following on from the rams were the ram lambs. It was from this section that the sale top price was achieved. This was Aron Hemmings’ ram lamb which sold for the fantastic price of 2200gns to Mr Gareth Vince Jones, Pencae. This was a new breed record for a ram lamb at the Society Sale. This ram lamb had been placed 1st at this year’s Royal Welsh Show and had a very enviable pedigree. His sire had been purchased at this sale last year, when he was the day’s top price ram lamb from the King & Jeffreys partnership. He had also won at the Royal Welsh as a ram lamb and was sired by the twice Royal Welsh Male Champion from Kings & Jeffreys. Also the mother of Aron’s ram lamb was overall Torddu Champion at the 2018 Royal Welsh. I can remember her well – she was a beautiful ewe lamb of the highest standard.


Aron’s other entry sold for the good price of 1150gns to achieve second highest price in this section selling to Matthew Bevan. Aron is to be congratulated again this year for his consistency in bringing forward top class animals produced to perfection annually at this sale. Liz Davies of the Lan achieved the third highest price selling her typey ram lamb to Simon Gospel for 700gns. Two other ram lambs that achieved the good sum of 500gns were H & K Williams selling to Malcolm & Michelle Evans and Liz Davies selling another of her ram lambs for the same amount to BW Watson.


It was now the turn of the Torddu females commencing with the ewe section. There were far more entries in this section compared to previous years which perhaps contributed to the slightly lower trade. Easily topping the section was the King & Jeffreys yearling selling for 700gns to the Richardson Family. This was a quality well marked ewe. She was followed by Mr Gareth Jones’ yearling that was overall Reserve Champion at the morning show. This ewe sold for 500gns to Mr Aron Hemmings. Gareth and his family had a fantastic day achieving super prices and also investing in some lovely quality animals to join their flock. It is very encouraging to see his two young children taking such an interest in the sheep and doing a fantastic job showing them for Gareth. Gareth also has to be congratulated for winning the award for the best pen of ewe lambs. The same amount of 500gns was received for the other yearling from King & Jeffreys selling to Mrs Gail Gribble.


As always, the ewe lamb section attracted a lot of interest, and contained some beauties again this year. Once again it was Gareth Jones leading the way selling his ewe lamb for the overall female top price of the sale. She sold for 800gns to the Tamplin Family. She was followed by Geraint and Ifor Jones’ 1st prize ewe lamb for 680gns selling to Beverly Walker, Yorkshire. Once again, the Joseph family produced a lovely ewe lamb for 600gns again selling to the Tamplin Family. It was lovely to see the Crewe Family had travelled all the way from Lockerbie achieving such good prices for their two super ewe lambs. The first sold for 400gns to Sean Jeffreys and the second for 550gns again to the Tamplin Family. This ewe lamb I thought was a little gem, indeed she was a type that we rarely see these days. She had lovely clearly defined markings, a very sweet head with the smallest of ears. I am sure that the Tamplin Family will prove to be a force to be reckoned with at next year’s shows with all their lovely sale purchases. And I wish them all the best of luck with them all.

All in all, it was quite a satisfactory day with several very good prices achieved. However, the overall quality of the stock forward was slightly down on previous years and that definitely contributed to some of the lower prices received. It just proves once again that quality must come first to achieve good prices.

Society AGM 

Society AGM to be held at the Greyhound Inn, Builth Wells Saturday November 5th at 2pm. 
​Please click here for a copy of the agenda. 


2022 Official Society Sale Report

The breed record for a Badger Face Welsh Mountain was smashed a whopping five times at Brecon on Sunday with the final record standing at 2300gns for a yearling Torddu ram from Gaenor King and grandson, Sean Jeffreys, Carmarthenshire.
Having stood second in the pre-sale show, this one is sired by the 2022 Royal Welsh Show reserve breed champion, and after spirited bidding he was finally knocked down to Neil Dillon and family, Carmarthenshire, for their Gannolds flock.
Just shy of that at 2200gns was Lot 114, another yearling ram, this time from Aron Hemmings. He was sired by the sire of the 2018 and 2019 Royal Welsh champions. Lot 114 was reserve champion Torddu at the Spring Festival and reserve male champion at this year’s Royal Welsh, as well as overall champion in the pre-sale show on Sunday. Taking him home was the Richardson Family, Chepstow, Monmouthshire.
Next up at 1900gns was the Joseph family, with another yearling Torddu Lot 125. Then Liz Davies’ sold their best yearling Torddu Lot 122 for 1800gns.
Having set the breed record at 1700gns at last year’s sale, mother and daughter team Lucy Levinge and Ellie Layton sold Lot 132 for 1750gns.
Torddu ram lambs met a very strong trade with Gaenor King and Sean Jeffreys dominating this section as well. Selling for 1450gns was their first prize winner from this year’s Royal Welsh Show, he also stood second in the pre-sale show.
Two lots sold for 1300 gns, the first being Lot 152 from Jones, Highview and Lot 159 from previous vendor and buyer Liz Davies. The pre-sale 1st prize ram lamb from Huw & Kate Williams sold for 1000gns.
Torddu females met a top call of 600gns for a ewe lamb from Aron Hemmings. Meanwhile, shearling ewes hit a high of 420gns on two occasions, both from the Joseph family.
TORWENS
Having topped the Torddu section, Gaenor King and Sean Jeffreys then went on to secure the top price on the day in the Torwen section. Their Torwen ram lamb, who was second at the Royal Welsh and in the pre-sale show, sold for 1000gns. The top priced yearling ram, again from Gaenor King and Sean Jeffreys, sold for 750gns.
Leading the female trade at 530gns was Lot 217, a yearling ewe from Huw and Kate Williams, whilst the top priced ewe lamb, which stood first and reserve overall champion in the pre-sale show, from Dafydd Lewis, Llanwrda, Carmarthenshire sold at 350gns. Dafydd Lewis also won the champion pen of ewe lambs for his pen of 4 torwen ewe lambs.
Averages:
Torddu: 38 ewes £246.75; 54 ewe lambs £199.20; 28 rams £837.75; 17 ram lambs £590.77
Torwen:14 ewes £273;21 ewe lambs £171; 11 rams £411.40; 10 ram lambs £436.80 McCartneys Rural

Photo - Country Girl Media

Official Society Show & Sale Catalogue

To download/view a copy of the catalogue please click here.

11th September 2022 
Brecon Livestock Market 
Show @ 8am 
Sale @ 10am 
(Both Torddu's & Torwen's will be shown at the same time) 

For further information please contact the auctioneers directly or the society secretary.  

Official Society Show & Sale 

The Societies show and Sale will this year year be held in Brecon on Sunday 11th of September.
Entries close 3rd August 2022 

For any one wishing to enter the entry forms can be found below. 

For Male entry forms please click here
For Female entry forms please click here
All forms are to be returned to the auctioneers office. 


Welsh Winter Fair Results

Badger Face Welsh Mountain Sheep dominate the Welsh Mountain & Crossbred sheep classes at this years Welsh Winter Fair!

Torddu
1st - Kevin Davies
2nd - Price Jones
3rd - Ioan Jones
4th - Emyr & Hannah Evans
5th - Richardson Family
6th - Lynn Williams
The winning Torddu pair from the Buarth flock went onto take Champion Welsh Mountain Section and Res Champ Pure Hill & Upland and Welsh Mountain Breed.
Lambs had a combined weight of 62.5kg and sold for £170 per head 


Torwen
1st - DP Jones
2nd - Maesteilo
3rd -Jill Evans
4th - Martyn & Eryn Stephens
5th - Paul Hancox
6th - Dafydd Lewis


Continental Ram x Welsh Mountain
1st - Jill Evans (Blue Texel x Torwen)
2nd - Shauna Evans (Blue Texel x Torwen)
6th - Maesteilo (Dassenkop x Torwen)
Jill Evans' pair of Blue Texel x Torwens won Champion Crossbred Section


Carcass - Any pure native up to 32kg
1st - Kevin Davies sold for £8.20 per Kilo (14.5 Kg deadweight)
4th - Gareth Vince Jones


YFC Lamb producer
3rd - Alys Morgan

Photos taken by Country Girl Media

Cancelled - Society AGM 2021  

Cancelled
Badger Face sheep society AGM has been cancelled.
After listening to the concerns of our members the committee has decided to cancel this years AGM due to the rise in Covid rates within Wales.
The committee has decided to hold an EGM in Spring 2022 in the hope that Covid rates drop & we can hold the event outside.
Sorry for any inconvenience caused; This wasn't an easy decision to make and wasn't taken lightly however as a society it is within our best interests to protect our members & their families.

Breed Record at the Society Sale

New Torddu Breed Record 
A new Torddu breed record of 1700gns was set today at the Annual Society Show and Sale, held at Brecon Livestock Market. It was achieved by mother and daughter team Lucy Levinge and Ellie Layton of the Llwyn-On Flock for Lot 95 and purchased by Mr & Mrs Jenny Langford.

Champion Torwen:
Dafydd Lewis - Ram Lamb (Lot 64)
Res Champion Torwen:
GW & MM Jones - Ewe Lamb (Lot 33)

Champion Torddu:
GW & MM Jones - Ewe Lamb (Lot 245)
Reserve Champion Torddu:
Kath Edwards - Ram Lamb (Lot 123)

The Society wishes to thank the judges Mr Dafydd Harries and Mr Gareth Jones.
A special thank you to our sponsors - Caleb Roberts Insurance Services for sponsoring the show and Crystalyx UK for sponsoring the highest price animals in each breed.
Photograph by Country Girl Media

Full Results & Images to follow

Society Show & Sale

***IMPORTANT***
One week to go!
Society Show & Sale Sunday 12th September

Due to a high number of entries forward at this years society sale there has been some changes to the timings.
All sheep must be penned by 7.30am
Showing will start at 8am prompt.
Sale starts at 11am.

Please click here to download a copy of the catalogue. 



RBST Support

A quick little note from our Chairman regarding the Torwen's on the RBST watch list.
'The Torwen Badger Face sheep continue to be on the Rare breed survival trust watch list and as a society we encourage our members to register correctly marked, true to type lambs.
The future of the Torwen is now in our hands, and it is paramount that we work together for the future.
For any information or advice please contact the society.'

Many Thanks
Malcolm Evans

Committee Meeting - Sale update

Following a committee meeting held on Sunday 06/06/2021, it has been decided to hold the 2021 Society Show and Sale at Brecon Livestock Market on Sunday 12th September. Further details will be available in the next newsletter at the end of the month.

For society members who are also NSA members, there is still an opportunity for you to sell registered stock at the NSA on Monday 20th September 2021. Please contact Jane Smith jane@nsaramsales.co.uk for an entry form or visit their website and enter online.

Torwen Badger Face now recognised as a rare breed! 

The Torwen Badger Face had joined the Rare Breeds Survival Trust watch list; the breed is currently classified as 'At Risk'. Although it is sad to see that the Torwen has reached such low breeding numbers we hope that as a society this will be a turning point within the breed and that alongside working with the RBST we hope to promote and watch their numbers grow. 
As a society we are extremely grateful to Mr B.W.EAGLES BSc B Vet Med MRCVS for all his hard work and efforts that he's put into making the Torwen have the status it deserves. 
This is what Mr Eagles had to say regarding the decision - '
I am pleased to report that the Rare Breeds Survival Trust have accepted the Societies application to have the TORWENS classed as a separate breed of Badger Face Welsh Mountain sheep and as such are going to place them on their Watchlist . To achieve this I had to demonstrate that the Torwen has unique genetic characteristics particularly in relation to their colour coat pattern as well as providing information from the last 40 years of flock books.' 


2021 Registrations Letter  


The letter of birth this year is J with the society tag colour being White. 
If you'd like further information please contact the Registrations Officer.

You can find the details here as to how to order the female section of the tags from Daltons

Top price in-lamb ewes from the Connor flock (Llandovery coloured breeds in-lamb sale 2021)

Connor flock leads the trade in both sections at  Llandovery’s coloured breeds in-lamb sale.


Young breeder Mr C Marshall topped both the Torddu & Torwen trade on the day with a full mouth Torddu ewe topping both sections making 440gns, second top price was seen in the Torwen section making 400gns. We’d like to thank Clee Tompkinson & Francis alongside that of the coloured breeds committee for organising such a sale and too all vendors & purchasers for all their support under such circumstances.

Full report below.


Torddu

 Lot 135 – Full Mouth ewe (Connor Flock) – scanned carrying twins – 440gns,
Lot 136 – 4yr old ewe (Connor Flock) – scanned carrying twins – 250gns,
Lot 137 – 3yr old ewe (Connor Flock) – scanned carrying twins – 220gns
Lot 120a – Full Mouth (Llechach Flock) – scanned carrying twins – 220gns
lot 120 – 3yr old (Llechach Flock) – scanned carrying twins – 200gns

Empty hoggets to 160gns from the Lan Flock

Torwen

Lot 138 - 3yr old - scanned twins - 400gns

Lot 139 - Full Mouth - scanned twins - 300gns


There was also a keen demand for Torddu ewes in-lamb to a lowland sire; they topped at 180gns.


New E-Communications Officer

The Society would like to welcome aboard Katy Davies as our new E-Communications officer. Katy is a fifth generation farmer and  has a wealth of knowledge within the sheep industry and many good links within agriculture. 

Many of you would've seen Katy in shows & sales all over the UK where she's been  a familiar face having grown up attending and competing at them. 

Aside from coming from a farming background and working as a contract shepherdess on farms all over the UK, She also prepares stock for shows and sales. 
Katy also has a large knowledge base when it comes to social media having successfully built up her own portfolio over the years, with a keen eye for detail and the understanding of what it takes to be apart of a breed society we'd like to wish her all the best in her new role.
"I'm looking forward to meeting and working alongside the society, it's members and associate's to help promote this iconic Welsh Breed. If anyone has any questions/suggestions on what they’d like to see on the website/social media pages then don’t be afraid to get in touch either via email or telephone
Look forward to hopefully meeting you all soon, Stay safe. Katy"



                                                                

                                                                

Rare Breed Survival Trust Update.

I am pleased to report that Defra and the Farm Animal Genetic Resources Committee
have accepted that the Torwen Badger Face is a distinct breed of mountain sheep. This has now paved the way for the Society to approach the Rare Breeds Survival Trust (RBST) with a view to placing them on their Watchlist.  An application was submitted in September and I understand will be considered by their board in November .If we are successful I anticipate they would be placed in category 4 which is classed as AT RISK .having less than 1500 registered breeding ewes. It is of interest that this is the same category as the Balwen and the Hill Radnor.
B.W.EAGLES BSc B Vet Med MRCVS

======================================================

NSA Wales & Border Ram Sales Online Only for 2020 

It is with deep regret that the NSA Wales & Border Ram Sale Committee has made the very tough decision to cancel the sales in 2020. The sales will not be going ahead this year, in the light of the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic and recent updates from both the UK & Welsh governments. Instead a free online register will be created to link NSA member vendors to potential buyers.  The decision was left for as long as possible, in the hope that the situation might improve by August.  However, with current social distancing regulations and restrictions on large events, the health, safety and well being of buyers and sellers and everyone involved in the sales is the main priority.  Full details of the online register will follow later this week but I wanted you to be aware of our decision as soon as possible.  Thank you for your ongoing support and we hope to be back in 2021, better than ever.

Provisional 2021 dates are as follows:
Early Sale August 2nd 2021
Main Sale September 20th 2021

Yours sincerely
Jane S Smith

 =====================================================


Covid-19 update

Annwyl Aelodau / Dear Members

You are all aware of the current national situation regarding Covid-19. The Society has no option but to cancel the committee meeting that was scheduled for 19 April and the Spring meeting on 3 May.

A number of members who regularly participate in local and national shows will know that several societies have either postponed or cancelled this years shows. Our advice is that members should check with individual shows in order to get the most up to date information.

The next society newsletter is still planned for the end of March and the Society Flockbook at the beginning of May. However, I must stress, that I can give no assurance of an accurate date, due to the ever changing daily situation that may affect Society officers and/or the printers the Society uses. I appreciate that not all members are on Facebook, so can I please ask you to share this message with fellow members who are not on-line. There will also be an update in the newsletter.

Farming is well known for being an industry that can be lonely at the best of times, and this current situation that we all find ourselves in is worrying for us all due to many different reasons. Don’t be afraid to ask for help and if anyone needs a chat don’t hesitate to pick up the phone to myself, any of the officers or committee members.

The country finds itself in an unprecedented situation and therefore it is imperative that we all follow Government and medical advice. Now is the time for us all to pull together, support each other and be kind.

Diolch / Thank you

Malcolm

The 2019 Royal Welsh Show saw the Society’s patron attend the show on the Monday. HRH Prince Charles met with the Society Chair and Vice-Chaired and also presented awards to the two champions.

========================================================================================

HRH Princess Anne attended the 2018 NSA Ram Sale. The Society was privileged to be one of the breeds visited. She spoke to the two champions and was presented with a gift from the Society.

===========================================================

The Badger Face sheep stand set up at the NSA sheep event in Malvern.

=====================================================================