My parents started our Beulah flock with unregistered ewes in 1973 using registered rams purchased from Builth Market Society sale every year. In 1981, 40 registered ewes were bought from the Beulah sale on the Royal Welsh Showground. These were the last ewes bought into the flock and except for rams the flock has been closed since then.

We began individually recording the flock in 1986 and have records of the sire and dam of every sheep in the flock since then. We became fully registered in 1988 and were one of the founder members of the Beulah Sire Reference Scheme in 1996. As part of this we weigh all lambs at around 8 and 21 weeks and scan eye muscle and fat depth at the second weighing.

The flock now runs to around 620 ewes and ewe lambs which is one of the largest individually recorded hill flocks in the UK. Since our early days of recording, lambing percentage has risen from 90% in the early 1980s to 150/165% now and carcase weights have risen from 13.5kg dead weight to around 20kg.

The flock is reared under strictly commercial conditions, running up to just over 1400 feet on the hill for most of the year. Ewes are served in individual tupping groups at the home farm for 17 days then moved into larger groups, returning to the hill in late November. They come down from the hill in late January for housing, scanning and winter shearing.

Over the years we have culled hard for any problems such as difficult lambings, prolapse, bad teeth and now rarely have problems as a result.

We sell draft ewes, ewe lambs and rams and are pleased with our high level of repeat custom as our sheep are not fed up for sale and have been bred to perform in commercial conditions, regularly producing gross margins of £650/Ha.