Welcome to the Bearwood pedigree sheep website. Bearwood Lleyn flock (Flock 981) which was established in 1998. The flock has gradually reduced over the last 10 years due to changes in farming policy and grazing land being lost, from 600 ewes to 150 ewes and 75 replacements. The flock started performance recording when it was established, which led to Ed being nominated as one of the finalists for the Farmers Weekly Sheep Farmer of the Year award in 2013, and in 2016 the flock was awarded the Signet/AHDB Better Returns Award for the Lleyn breeder that had made the greatest improvement in breeding potential in 2015.
The sheep are kept on 80 acres of rented permanent pasture adjoining Bearwood and are managed by one person, so all the easy care traits and most importantly ease of lambing are taken into account when selecting replacement ewes and rams.
The Lleyn ewe is very versatile. She is a medium-sized ewe, prolific, lambs easily, is a good mother, a good forage converter and is long lived. You can breed her pure or put another breed on her. Lleyn rams are used, and the majority of lambs going for meat meet the R3L classification or better with an average carcase weight of 20 kg.
The Lleyn flock is performance recorded with Signet BreedingServices. Lambs are weighed at birth, 8 weeks and 21 weeks, where lambs are also scanned for back fat and muscle depth. Yearling ewes are weighed at 18 months to get an idea of mature weight. All ewes are recorded for “lambing ease” at lambing. This data is evaluated and each animal is given an Estimated Breeding Value (EBV) for the most important genetic traits. These are 8-Week weight EBV, Mature size EBV, Litter size EBV, Maternal ability EBV, Scan weight EBV, Muscle depth EBV and Fat depth EBV.
Bearwood Lleyn is a member of Performance Recorded Lleyn Breeders (PRLB); a group of like minded breeders that are working closely with the scientific community and industry bodies. The flock is currently involved with two research projects. The first looking at worm resistance in sheep, identifying lambs that are genetically more resistant to the common British round worm, and the second finding the best way to breed ewes with a lower carbon footprint.
Performance data in conjunction with an assessment of breed type and confirmation are used to select stock as replacements and for sale.
These EBVs can assist breeders and ram buyers to identify stock for a specific breeding objective. Please contact me to discuss your requirements or for help with understanding Estimated Breeding Values.
At Bearwood, all sheep are sold “off the farm”. The lambs are reared off permanent pasture and the only time supplementary food is used, is at lambing time, where Rumenco blocks are provided. Customers visit the farm and are able to look at all the sheep, including ewes, stock rams, yearling rams and lambs. They are also able to see the type of grassland the sheep are reared on and view the flock in their “working clothes”.
Bearwood Farm is also home to Inbalance Coaching. Ed has a MSc in Sports Coaching and is a British Triathlon Level 3 HPCP (High Performance Coach 
Programme) and an accredited Swim Smooth coach, who has coached amateur triathletes to win Gold Medals at British, European and World Triathlon Championships. A High Performance Endless Pool offers swimmers the opportunity to have their swim stroke videoed and analysed. The correction of small faults in technique can improve performance and enjoyment massively. Bearwood Farm also has a running trail, where a three race 10k trail series takes place in August.
I have a presence on various social media sites, notably Facebook and Twitter
For further information, please contact Ed Collins. Telephone: 01544 388438 or on my mobile: 07970 015186