I am thrilled to have been able to purchase a yearling ram privately from R & S Evans, Norfolk. This ram has top performance figures, alongside high worm resistance EBV’s. He is just the sort of ram that I like, good depth of body with length and a good backend with a tight fleece. His bloodline is new to the Bearwood Flock and I look forward to seeing his progeny next year.
A homebred yearling that is currently the highest rated Signet Recorded Lleyn yearling ram will be retained. His father is also currently the highest rated Signet Lleyn stock sire – 971:140661– (This ram was sold to P Aubrey, Devon last autumn). I have a number of 0661’s daughters in the flock already and 03592 will be used on the other bloodlines.
Adam Henson and the Countryfile team visited Bearwood yesterday to film the Lleyn flock. Adam purchased two rams to join his sheep flock at the Cotswold Farm Park. He was interested in performance recorded Lleyn rams that had good resistance to worms.
Countryfile were interested in the data recording I have been doing for the past 18 years and the new research project I am involved with looking at genetic resistance into sheep worms.
The film footage will be shown during the Countryfile episode on 28th August 2016.
In the latest National Lleyn Breeding Evaluation (5th July 2014) Bearwood Trooper stands 6th Top Stock Sire for the Maternal Index and 7th Top Stock Sire for the Carcase Index. This top performing ram who has a strong following of breeders coming back year after year to purchase semen or one of his sons sadly died at the beginning of the year.
I have a small amount of semen available plus yearlings and ram lambs for sale by Trooper. Please contact me if you require more information.
I will have 20 registered and 12 unregistered yearling Lleyn rams and 5 registered Blue Texel yearling rams available this year. All these rams have performance figures for maternal and carcase traits and the majority of them have figures in the Top 10% of the latest Breed Evaluation.
More and more customers come and buy rams off the farm; they can look at the breeding ewes and stock rams and see the farming system at Bearwood. They can also see the sale animals in their “working clothes” and not overfed like so many animals that go through the sale ring. These animals need to be fit to work immediately in the autumn. The yearling rams have access to Lifeline Ramcare and are out at grass. My aim is to produce rams that can utilize grass efficiently. If my order book is filled before sale entry deadline then I will not be selling anything through the sale ring.
There is still semen available from 5 year old stock ram BEARWOOD TROOPER who has maternal figures in the top 5% and carcase figures in the top 10% of the Lleyn breed. Customers come back year after year to purchase straws of TROOPER’s semen as they are very happy with the lambs that are sired by him.
In December I am taking 3 rams to Innovis to get semen collected and frozen and straws will be available for the 2014 breeding season.
Lleyn Ram – 599:1202851
2 Lleyn rams, ABRACADABRA (619:1100993) and BIONIC (599:1202851) both have maternal and carcase figures in the top 1% of the Lleyn breed and are carriers of the Myomax gene. ABRACADABRA is a great, great grand son of the famous Lleyn ram 172:T184 and BIONIC is a son of the top performing sire BRONALLT BIG DADDY.
Lleyn Ram – 619:1100993
The 3rd is the Blue Texel ram lamb, WARRIOR (BBD/13/00925) who was placed first in a highly competitive ram lamb class at the Royal Welsh Show 2013. I purchased this ram lamb at the Beili Blues flock production sale in Carlisle. WARRIOR has pure Dutch breeding so would be ideal for breeders who want to introduce a new bloodline to their flock.
During the summer I visited a couple of Lleyn breeders to look at their rams for sale. I was keen to view the rams in their working clothes and before they were being fed for the sales. I was fortunate to be able to buy two rams privately off the farm. It is difficult to find rams that you like that also have good performance figures behind them.
Lleyn Ram – 599:1202851
The first ram I purchased was a yearling ram from Dylan Jones of Lluest Wen, Comins Coch, Machynlleth, Powys. This ram is a Bronallt Big Daddy (50:061106) son and is a full brother to 599:100725 who I purchased off Dylan 2 years ago but sadly he died last winter. 599:100725 is the 5th top rated Lleyn stock ram in the latest National Lleyn Breed Evaluation and this yearling 599:1202851 has figures in in the Top 1% for Maternal and Top 5% for Carcase.
Lleyn Ram – 619:1100993
The second ram I purchased was a two year old from Marcus Bullock, Bank Farm, Abberley, Worcester, who used him last year on selected ewes. This ram, 619:1100993 is by a Jim Goldie ram (1312:061072) and it’s bloodline on the sire side goes back to the famous 172:T184. This ram has performance figures in the Top 1% for Maternal and Carcase and is also a Myomax Gold gene carrier.
Blue Texel Ram Lamb – BBD/13/00925
I also needed a Blue Texel ram to put onto my home bred yearling Blue Texel ewes. I managed to purchase a ram lamb (BBD/13/00925) at the Beili Blues production sale at Carlisle. This ram has new pure Dutch breeding on both Sire and Dam sides and was the 1st prize winner of the Blue Texel ram lamb class at this years Royal Welsh Show.
What a difference a couple of months make. Back in May we had no grass and all the animals were in need of warm temperatures and sun. How they have all altered since the heatwave during July. The grass has grown and all animals are blooming.
Hay and good quality haylage has been made and stored to be fed this coming winter and lambs weaned from the ewes. Lambs ready to go for meat were sold through Hereford market and replacement ewe and ram lambs have been sorted.
Bearwood Blue Texel Ram Lamb
July has been a busy month showing prospective purchasers round the Bearwood flock. More buyers are coming to the farm to buy their replacements; they like to see the sheep in their “working clothes” and look at the farming system to make sure it will compliment their system.
The upshot of this is that 16 yearling rams have already been sold and 100 ewe lambs reserved to go to a couple of breeders. Semen from Bearwood Trooper has also been purchased by a breeder that had used Trooper’s semen last year.
I also have visited a couple of flocks to view
Bearwood Lleyn Ewe Lamb
rams as I require 2 Lleyn stock rams this year. Registered Lleyn rams with good performance figures and the right bloodlines are difficult to find but I hope to have both rams purchased within the next couple of weeks. I prefer to buy off the farm for the reasons mentioned above.
I hope to also purchase a few more Blue Texel ewes and a Blue Texel ram so my shopping spree has not finished yet! More details of my purchases will follow when the sales have been concluded.
The sale season is fast approaching. I hope to go to Ross on Wye with ewe lambs in September and Welshpool in October. I am attending fewer sales this year due to the number of sheep I have sold off the farm.
Bearwood Blue Texel Ewe Lamb
I have purchase a new weigh crate designed by Martin Tompkins of Border Software and a True Test reader which reads the animals EID and records it’s weight. I am weighing more often now to get a better idea of live weight gain of lambs and mature weight of ewes. It is also useful to see which ewe is producing her own body weight in lamb meat when we weigh ewes and lambs at weaning.
The sale season is well under way. Yearling rams and ewe lambs have been sold at Lleyn Sheep Society Sales at Exeter, Ruthin and Ross on Wye so far with the yearling rams averaging £945.00.
Ewe lambs have been sold off the farm to start pedigree Lleyn Flocks in Sussex, Herefordshire and Gloucestershire and rams have gone to Derbyshire, Staffordshire, Sussex, Devon, Shropshire, Worcestershire and Cambridgeshire to name a few. Many customers are repeat customers with one person coming back for the 10th year.
I am selling ewe lambs and yearling rams on the 29th September at the Lleyn Sheep Society Sale at Welshpool. This will be my last sale of the season.
I am keeping all my Blue Texel ewe lambs to build up the flock and 2 ram lambs. One yearling ram, Millend Thunder Bold has been sold to Staffordshire and a couple of ram lambs are heading to commercial flocks in Herefordshire.
The Lleyn Yearling rams were inspected yesterday at Ross Livestock Centre. There will be 14 registered rams and 11 unregistered rams available for sale privately or at the Lleyn Sheep Society Sales at Exeter, Ross on Wye, Ruthin and the NSA Ram Sale at Builth Wells. A four year old stock ram, Bearwood Steen (picture of this ram can be seen on the “Stock Rams and Myomax Page”) that I have used extensively on the flock will also be for sale.
Blood tests for Scrapie and Myomax will be taken on all the registered rams shortly and the results will be posted here when I receive them.
To look at the individual ram’s performance figures please go to the “Lleyn Sheep For Sale” page.
Signet Breeding Services have published their final breeding evaluation analysis for the Lleyn breed for 2011. A Bearwood Lleyn ram sold as a yearling at the Lleyn Sheep Society Sale at Ross on Wye in September 2010 to Ifor and Ann Jones, Abergele, North Wales is 3rd highest rated Lleyn ram in the stock sires list. Congratulations to Ifor and Ann.
Adam Henson and the Countryfile team visited Bearwood yesterday to film the Lleyn flock. Adam purchased two rams to join his sheep flock at the 
