Badger Face Long Links to NSA Wales & Border Ram Sale
14th September 2018
Torddu judge, farm secretary and NSA Wales & Border Ram Sales committee member, Lucinda Levinge, has been involved with the event for most of its history. Her mother, Stella Levinge, went to the sale back in the early 1980s to buy Suffolks and came back with a couple of Badger Face ewes as a present.
Lucinda lives with her partner and two children on a mixed livestock farm in Herefordshire. And she says she now has a flock of a hundred pedigree Torddu, some of which sell very successfully as Suffolk x commercial lambs and others into the specialist, hobby and smallholder market.
She says: “I have always enjoyed the NSA Wales & Border Ram Sales. It’s where my mother bought me my first Torddu ewes. I also think it provides the best opportunity to see a wide variety of breeds in one place.
“The Badger Face is a very versatile sheep and hold up very well in today’s market. You can cross them with any terminal sire. I put more than 50% to Suffolk rams and the carcasses are as good as any from a Welsh Mountain x Suffolk.
“I pick different sheep for different markets.”
Lucinda grew up in Llanthony, near Abergavenny, on a small hill farm managed by her father, Gerald Levinge, for Farmers Weekly. She currently works as a self-employed farm secretary, covering bookkeeping, payroll and Basic Payment Scheme applications.
She is a past National Council Member for the IAgSA (Institute of Agricultural Secretaries and Administrators) and was General Secretary for the Badger Face Welsh Mountain Sheep Society for five years (2005 – 2010). A member of the RWAS Herefordshire Advisory Committee, she sits on the Membership and Spring Festival Committees.
Lucinda runs a flock of a hundred Torddu ewes, as a separate enterprise from the main farm. She also breeds Welsh Cobs under the “Broadley” prefix, jointly with her mother, Stella.
Lucinda’s daughter, Ellie, shares her keen interest in showing. The Welsh Winter Fair is a particular highlight and they regularly exhibit, Torddu, Suffolk x Torddu and Welsh Half-breds.
Lucinda is also on the Judging Panel for The Badger Face breed. She is judged the Torddu at the Royal Welsh Show 2017.