Welcome to the Badger Face Welsh Mountain
Sheep Society
Torwens
Welcome
Badger Face as a Hill sheep
Easy lambing
and low cost maintenance. "The Badger" is a hardy ewe fed only half
a kilo of concentrate with hay or silage. Producing up to 180% live lambs
weaned at about 16 weeks. Slaughter weights reach 40kg. Ewes in all locations
continue to produce good lamb crops for up to 10 years. Plenty of milk and
strong lambs with plenty of "get up and go" make "the
badger" an ideal low labour input breed for extensive lamb production
either bred pure or used to produce fat lambs straight from the ewe when
crossed with continental or Suffolk rams.
Badger Face as a Lowland sheep
All across
England & Wales (and now in parts of Ireland, France and Belgium) reports
of 200% live lambs are common place. The breed is ideal for small and
commercial flocks where the management ranges from "part of the
family" to "vacuum cleaners" following dairy cows or grazing
the hill where other breeds would not survive. The medium sized ewe weighing
40-60kg allows a higher stocking rate than larger breeds; this combined with
a good lamb crop and low concentrate requirement gives more lambs per hectare
producing a good cash return. Even when crossed with bigger terminal sires
the lamb birth weight of 3 –5kg results in very few problems.
Badger Face as a Crossing Sire
Some farmers
like to put a ram with ewe lambs. The Badger ram produces a strong lamb,
usually white and polled that is determined to live and chase the ewe that
often has a poor mothering instinct. Ease of lambing, a will to live and a
lamb that will grow to 35-40 kg by late autumn make this breed an ideal
choice for crossing with any breed. Reports of very successful crosses have
been reported. The best results have come from Suffolk, Texel, Blue du Maine
& Blue Faced Leicester. Ram lambs rarely have horns and mostly follow the
sires colouring or white. Few lambing problems and excellent growth rates can
be expected. Texel cross killed out @ 50% producing 19kg dead weight. 35-40kg
liveweight @15 weeks from Bleu du Maine. Suffolk
cross outperformed Rouge with consistent R3L grades @ 19kg dead weight.
Badger Face Mules make perfect mothers and produce superb lambs with any
continental sire.
Badger Face for the Butcher & Consumer
Quality lamb,
offering flavour, taste, succulence and unbeatable eating quality produced
from ewes fed mainly on grass. The lambs have the ability to grow and finish
on grass producing a completely natural product. Carcass weights of 12-14 kg
can be reached at 16 weeks from pure breds and 18kg
carcasses can be expected from late autumn finished lambs. Growth rates of
250gm per day are easily achievable. You will find customers always come back
for more.
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