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.
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
Photo - Country Girl Media
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
Cancelled - Society AGM 2021
Breed Record at the Society Sale
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
Please click here to download a copy of the catalogue.
RBST Support
Committee Meeting - Sale update
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.
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
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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.
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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.
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The Badger Face sheep stand set up at the NSA sheep event in Malvern.
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Want to join?
Join the Society to participate in the shows and sales, register ewes and rams, and share your interest and enthusiasm for this fascinating breed with over 300 like-minded members. It costs just £25 to join the society or £10 for under-16s. Complete the online form or download it here.
Ear tags
Please send your lamb registration forms & payments to the society registration secretary http://www.badgerfacesheep.co.uk/officers-and-contacts.html
To buy the female portion of your ear tags tel: 0800 838 882 or email sales@dlid.co.uk