There are few other sheep farmers as admired and talented as Lionel Organ, who has enjoyed a very successful career running not one, but two renowned pedigree flocks – but latterly, he has been recognised for his contribution and dedication to the Lleyn breed for almost 40 years.

Farming in Llandysul in the Carmarthenshire countryside, Lionel founded the Southam flock of pedigree Lleyn sheep in 1985 following his introduction to the breed through his shepherd at the time.

“I didn’t know anything about the breed until my Welsh shepherd arrived at my door with three little white tup lambs in the back of his van. He was adamant that I should try these tups over my Suffolk ewes at the time, so I took a gamble and decided to follow his advice – eager to examine the cross lambs they would eventually produce,” explained Lionel.

“I was delighted to find out that the outcome was very pleasant. The Lleyn-sired lambs thrived and grew very well. It was at that point that I decided I needed to keep the first cross of lambs from those rams – and true to form, those replacement female’s had tremendous mothering abilities and milk in abundance.

“I then sold a lot of the Lleyn-sired ewe lambs to a big commercial breeder, who was also my neighbour. He was so impressed with the outcome of Lleyn cross that he bought enough Lleyn sheep to total some 700 – buying from all over the country just to get the right genetics.

“His son, Donald Gilder, then came along and he started keeping them. Donald was a great breeder and was recognised for many years within the breed. So, the Lleyn really began to catch on with commercial farmers up and down the country, which was great promotion for the breed,” added Lionel.

Having ran the pedigree flock of Charollais and Lleyn sheep side by side, Lionel set out with an aim to continually improve the breed’s size and ability to attract the commercial farmer.

“The Lleyn breed was small back in the day, but the breed has developed, and farmers have done a great job at standardised them. With improving size on my mind, I set about selecting my own ram lambs – the fastest growing and biggest ones I had – to put them over my own ewes,” Lionel explained.

“I couldn’t go out and buy biggest tups so decided to let nature do its thing at home, and having followed that route for a few generations, the size of my stock increased. I now have a medium-sized ewe which is perfect for me – I don’t believe that Lleyn sheep need to be too big. Ewes can produce 45-50kg lambs consistently off grass alone, which is exactly what you want them to be doing,” he added.

With so many other maternal breed options available to farmers these days, Lionel believes that the Lleyn is a true stalwart against all others:

“With the Lleyn being smaller than a Mule, you can keep more ewes per acre than that of other big maternal breeds. If you run a commercial system and choose to keep Lleyn, you can cross them to whatever you like as the breed is very compatible with most terminal sires available. Lleyn lambs can grade out at R3L and U3L standard – they really do rival other commercial breeds.

“The Lleyn ewe is very economical: she is not a hungry breed but very productive. If you can lamb down at 200%, then what more could you want. You don’t have to have a massive ewe to get 45-50kg pure lambs reared on nothing but the ewe and grass alone. The Lleyn ewe does more than any other commercial ewe out there, but she does is whilst remaining pure – you don’t need to cross her to improve performance. The Lleyn is a semi-hardy breed that is also prolific, milks well, with unbeatable mothering ability which is so deeply ingrained – you just cannot beat her,” he said.

Over the years, Lionel has run a flock of up to 500 Lleyn ewes at tupping time, with lambing usually taking place inside, in March, for ease of management.

But when it comes to selecting new genetics for the flock, Lionel’s high standards ensure only the best are brought back to the Southam flock.

“When buying a ram, I always set out with the mindset that I wanted something that would increase the size of my ewes. The tup must be cosmetically and physically correct, with a tight skin and a leg in each corner. Over the years, the standard of rams present at Society sales has improved and I do believe that is down to our ram inspections – ensuring breed standard and quality always remains at the fore,” stated Lionel.

“I have to add that I am very impressed with the standard of Lleyn present across the country, mainly due to enthusiastic breeders everywhere keeping the breed moving in the right direction,” he added.

Lionel has also enjoyed notable success with his own stock through Society sales and shows, winning titles from the Royal Welsh Show, Three Counties Show and English Royal Show on numerous occasions.

“One of the most influential rams I ever bred was a ram called Black Adder. He was years before his time, and he had everything you looked for in a Lleyn ram. Great conformation, a good fleece, the right amount of bone and a great topline. He was as white as snow and black as ink where you wanted him to be, and he stood square with a great head on him.

“Back in the 1990’s, I also bred a ram, called Ernie, which grew into a big powerful shearling – during the time that I was trying to get the breed bigger in size. I believe he was Black Adder’s sire or grandsire, but I took him to the English Royal Show, which was being judged by a traditionalist breeder from the Peninsula. The breeder whispered in my ear “I don’t know what you’ve got there but it’s not a Lleyn”, and so unsurprisingly, I ended up at the bottom of the line. However, I took that same ram to the Royal Welsh Show a few weeks later, where he stood first prize ram in his class before going on to land the breed championship. It just goes to show how far the breed has come over the years, and size does matter,” explained Lionel.

“One of the proudest moments throughout breeding Lleyn sheep is winning the breed championship at the Royal Welsh Show. There is just something about that show that has such a buzz and excitement about it.”

Looking to the future of the breed in an ever-changing industry, Lionel concluded:

“I support farmers who look to pursue more variation in types of Lleyn and proven breeders are producing the right type to take the breed forward into the future. I don’t believe in straying too far away from breed characteristics in regard to variation, but I think we have hit the target on the size of the ewes – the sheep are big enough without going too big that they aren’t viable to have at home.

“In regard to encouraging potential breeders, I would say this: if you want easy management, easy lambing and excellent mothering abilities – the Lleyn is for you. Even if you choose to tup your ewe lambs, they always have plenty milk, so you haven’t got a big worry on that count. Ultimately, you have a ewe that can rear and produce two lambs, and rear them well to slaughter weight. She will have milked herself down to 60kg and will wean 90kg of lamb – how many breeds can do that? You can’t wish for anything more from any other breed. You just can’t beat a Lleyn.”