WHY BADGERS?
When we first started out with sheep we had all colours, sizes and breeds of sheep. Amongst these were Welsh Mountain sheep and these were the sheep which performed the best in our outdoor system. I thought it would be more rewarding if some of our lambs were sold for breeding rather than for meat and also fun to visit a few shows. So out of all the Welsh breeds we chose the Badger Face because of their smart looks and handy size.

DISTINCT PATTERNS
Badger Face Welsh Mountain have two distinct colour patterns. Torddu, a white bodied sheep with distinct stripes above the eyes and a black band running from the chin, under the belly to the tip of the tail, and Torwen, which are black bodied with a white belly and neat white stripes over the eyes. The Meads flock has both Torwen and Torddu colour patterns all originating from sheep purchased at the Breed Society show and sale.

LAMBING
The flock spend the whole year outside, lambing in late March or early April. This year 15 ewes were put to the ram and we had 25 lambs. The ewes lamb easily, but I like to be around just in case. This year we had 6 shearlings lambing for the first time and 2 of them needed assistance with large single tup lambs. The ewes are excellent mothers with abundant supplies of rich milk; the lambs are lively with a good birth coat, so they are soon 'up and doing'.

SHOWS
Badger Faces are intelligent and inquisitive individuals so they are easily trained to halter. There is not a tremendous amount of brushing or trimming required either, so you soon have your 'Badger' ready to show. Our first outing to a show this year was to the Royal of England with a ram and 3 shearlings, where the ram, Jess, was reserve champion male. At Ripley show Tabitha went one better than last year to be champion, with Jess in reserve. We entered the "any other breed classes" at Masham Sheep Fair.

PEDIGREE BREEDING SHEEP FOR SALE
If we see you at shows we are always happy to discuss the sale of sheep. We have had some smashing ewe lambs this year which we look forward to showing in 2007. Again we were unlucky with scrapie genotypes as non of the lambs were ARR/ARR. We took two ramb lambs to the Breed Society Sale in Builth Wells one selling for 280gns, the other not being sold. The females we took sold well,up to 190gns for a shearling.

SHEEP FOR MEAT
We usually get a really high percentage of ram lambs (this year 55% male) and they can't all go for breeding. The Badger Face breed, though, is unrivalled when it comes to producing finished lambs off grass. Our first batch of lambs went at the end of June (approx. 13 weeks old) and the last batch went in the second week of August. The carcasses averaged at around 35lb each. They are light boned with a good eye muscle and a nice covering of fat. Most of all the meat is delicious ...we have a waiting list for our lamb!

WE HOPE you have enjoyed your visit to the 'Meads' flock. If you would like to find out more about this versatile and rewarding breed please click the contact us button.