Lleyn

Lleyn ewe with pure Lleyn twin lambs

This once little known breed of sheep is now the fastest growing non hill pure breed in Great Britain. The Lleyn originates from North Wales with its roots on the Lleyn peninsula.

So why has the Lleyn become so popular?

  • Medium sized white faced ewe
  • Milky, maternal and efficient grass converters
  • Easily rears 2 lambs
  • Scanning results regularly 180% to 200%
  • Pure bred lambs consistently achieve R3L grades and better
  • Can be crossed by any terminal sire to produce quality prime lambs
  • Breeding pure enables a closed flock to be easily achieved
  • Lleyn rams can inject maternal traits into a cross bred ewe
  • The Lleyn can be reared on lowland and upland farms

 

Let’s take a look at some of the Lleyn superior traits.

Lleyn ewe with Beltex cross twin lambs

Maternal 

The Lleyn ewe will easily rear 2 lambs, she is known for being milky with good mothering. Easily lambed with little assistance.

 

Efficient

The Lleyn ewe is an excellent converter of grass or forage into milk and meat. Lleyn ewes are durable and long lived. Due to her being a medium sized ewe, more ewes can be kept per an acre hence increasing production numbers. Lamb can be finished well on a grass based system. 180% to 200% lambing percentages can be seen regularly. Pure bred lambs consistently grade out at R 3L or better in the 18 - 22kg range.

 

High Health Status

The majority of Lleyn sheep sold at Lleyn Sheep Society sales are MV Accredited and originate from mainly closed flocks. Lleyn enables you to keep a closed flock producing your own breeding females.

 

Crossing Abilities

Pure-bred, Cross-bred and Carcase Quality
The Lleyn ewe delivers outstanding maternal performance and efficiency, whether bred pure or crossed with any terminal sire.
Pure-bred twins can be ready for slaughter at 14-16 weeks of age and with highly satisfactory carcases (R3L or better).
When crossed with any terminal sire, the cross-bred lambs grow and grade extremely well (typically Es,& Us ).
The Lleyn ram can inject maternal traits into your flock. Crossing less prolific or well muscled ewes with a Lleyn ram will inject the maternal qualities of the Lleyn breed into your ewes.

 

Performance & Recording  

The Lleyn Sheep Society has its own (simple-to-use) Ewe Efficiency Scheme (LLEYN GOLD), free to its members, enabling them to identify the most efficient ewes in their flocks

 

Low Environmental Impact

With the current climate change debate and the incentive to reduce methane emissions, Ewe Efficiency is of paramount importance. In this respect, the grass-fed Lleyn ewe really excels. Capable of rearing more than her body weight of lambs at 14 weeks and thriving under low input conditions (with minimal concentrate use), the Lleyn ewe’s efficiency is second to none. Being medium sized allows higher-than-normal stocking rates, more kg of lamb per Ha and, importantly, fewer methane emissions per kg of lamb produced.

 

Lleyn Rams

Lleyn rams are widely used for crossing on other breeds, particularly hill and upland breeds to increase lambing percentage of the resultant breeding ewes and to improve carcase quality. Lleyn rams have also been successfully used for the same reasons on commercial crossbreds with too-high terminal content.