Monmouthshire family with a passion for Jacobs sheep head to the Royal Welsh Show

Based between Abergavenny and Monmouth, livestock auctioneer Lyndon Trumper runs a flock of 35 pedigree Jacob ewes with his wife, Jane and their three children Charlotte and twin boys, Ollie and Ed.

Lyndon first acquired Jacobs as a young boy on the family farm, Pant-y-Beiliau farm, near Usk.

The Trumper family breed two-horn Jacobs. Lyndon says: "As a rule, two horns are mostly bred in the Midlands, Wales, and South of the country, while in the North and Scotland more four horns are seen. The two types are very similar, however four horns are typically slightly stronger sheep and very difficult to breed with the correct horn placement."

He explains the Beiliau flock, named after the family farm, started off with just a few ewes. He says: "The flock was run at around 20-head of ewes, bred pure or crossed while I studied at the Royal Agricultural College, Cirencester ."

Once he finished studying, Lyndon started working for Abergavenny based auctioneers J. Straker Chadwick, which he now owns and and has a half share in Monmouthshire Market Auctioneers.

Throughout his auctioneering career, Lyndon has continued breeding Jacobs, and describes this as a family hobby run alongside his full-time employment. He adds this 鈥榟obby' has now been adopted by all three children, particularly the boys.

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Around 10 years ago, the family attended Chepstow show where they were awarded champion with their yearling ewe, and the boys caught the showing bug.

This enthusiasm is what has motivated the family to focus on their breeding choices, and the last year has seen the flock at its largest.

Now standing at a 35-head flock, the majority of females are home-bred with under 10 ewe lambs kept annually.

A very prolific breed, their flock often exceeds 200 per cent at scanning and twins and triplets are frequently seen when they lamb indoors.

Lyndon says: "We lamb in mid to late January, which is as early as our flock will naturally breed. We do not want to sponge ewes or carry out embryo work, which can put us at a disadvantage at earlier shows."

Lambing is very much a team effort, with the family mostly working off site. Time is booked off work to keep an eye on the sheep and the family have recently installed lambing cameras, which have been a great help.

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"We do not have many buildings, so the ewes and lambs are kept in for a day or two until they are sucking well, before they are turned out into paddocks by the house. But they are hardy sheep with good mothering ability, so this does not prove an issue," says Lyndon.

听The Trumpers say from a young age they are able to tell whether a lamb will make the cut.

Ed says: "Markings are very important for a Jacob, so if they are wrong, they will be sold fat. They require black horns and ears, a white blaze on the face, and a dark nose showing no pink. Markings on the body are preference but they must have white legs. The skin must also be pink where white wool grows and black for the darker wool."

The breed is known for its good quality fleece, and although the family do not breed solely for this, it is also something they like to produce.

Lyndon says that despite the markings being important, for any animal to be kept on, it must be a commercial animal, correct in the mouth, legs and feet and carry good conformation.

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"Over the years, I have seen the breed really improve the body of the sheep and the breed is much more commercially desirable because of it," he says.

Years of breeding have created some successful family lines for the flock.

The breed society sees ewes being registered under numbers and the rams by name. And despite there being no official rules around naming rams, the family follow the alphabet to help track their breeding, which is Ed's specialty.

But they are very critical when it comes to choosing which to register, and out of the 70 lambs a year, only five ram lambs make the cut.

"We are very conscious that selling males is our main market, so we only want to sell the best. This way, we only produce what we would use and hopefully when they work for breeders, they will come back to us," says Ollie.

A ram that has made major influence on their breeding was their former stock ram, Border Windrush, who they purchased in 2013 in shares with the Jones family, Builth Wells.

More recently they have purchased more Border bloodlines, with a ram lamb from Cumbria breeder, Clive Richardson, which has been used on the flock and his first crop of lambs are on the ground.

Traditionally, the family sold their males as ram lambs, however in recent years they have been keeping some on as yearlings, a strategy which has seen a great deal of success.

The last two years, they have topped the society sales. In 2023, they set a new centre and two-horn breed record of 4,200gns at the Scottish Regional show and sale held in Carlisle with their yearling ram, Beiliau Lancaster, which was a Hope Casino son, out of a home-bred Border Windrush sired dam.

The ram had been awarded reserve champion at the pre-sale show, and earlier in the season been male and overall reserve breed champion at the Royal Welsh show.

The year before, they topped the Worcester sale with another yearling ram, Beiliau Glenfiddich. Tapped out as male champion and overall champion, this ram went on to break the centre record at 3,200gns.

Its pen mate, Beiliau Glenmorangie was also reserve male champion and sold for 1,800gns.

These two records have been very significant to the family, as they have been awarded the Gordon Connor Memorial Salver two years on the bounce in honour of the late breed's national field officer.

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Lyndon says: "Gordon was a stalwart of the breed, and it is a real honour to receive the award, especially two years in a row."

But the family say things really changed for them after they bred Beiliau Freddie which sold for 2,600gns at Worcester in 2018.

"This was our first major sale with Freddie who was third prize in the pre-sale show. This gave our flock exposure and was the turning point for us," says Ollie.

Since then, they have gone on to sell sheep to Northern Ireland and across the country.

Showing is a family activity for the Trumpers who are seen in show rings across the local area.

Their showing season starts off at the Royal Three Counties, before heading to the Royal Welsh show and finishing off at their local show, Usk in September, where you need to live in Gwent to compete.

This year's show team saw success at the Royal Three Counties, which is made up of a yearling ram, ram lamb, yearling ewe and ewe lamb.

This show sees a large Jacob entry, this year with 150 entries and is a good trial run for their main show, the Royal Welsh.

"We are very involved in the breed society, especially the Welsh region, and the Royal Welsh is where we can all come together to compete. It is the pinnacle of the sheep showing year for most shepherds, especially those in Wales so we really enjoy taking our flock to compete among some of the best, especially if we can pick up a few rosettes along the way," says Lyndon.

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Preparation starts with shearing in January, followed by washing, halter training and trimming, all of which is done by Ed and Ollie.

"Presentation is key when we turn our stock out and we like to spend time getting it right," says Lyndon

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