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.