Welsh farmer keeps Border Leicester sheep legacy alive after 100 years

Nearly 100 years after Border Leicesters were introduced to his family farm, North Wales sheep farmer Ben Hamner believes the traditional breed could play a growing role in modern, low-cost commercial systems.

The 34-year-old is continuing the family line under the Cedidog prefix first used by his grandfather, while building a flock designed to work in practical hill and upland conditions.

“Border Leicesters have been in the family for nearly 100 years,” he says. “I’m proud to play a part in keeping them going and give them a purpose.”

Mr Hamner farms 62 acres on Hope Mountain near Wrexham, where land rises to around 1,000ft. He keeps 17 Border Leicesters, with eight ewes put to the tup, alongside 85–90 Welsh Mountain ewes.

But for him, the real commercial strength of the breed lies in its crossing ability.

Border Leicesters are widely valued as a crossing sire, producing Welsh Halfbred females when put onto Welsh Mountain ewes — a type he believes is increasingly relevant.

“I think they’re a hardier crossbreed than other crosses,” he says. “There’s a little bit more longevity in a halfbred than other breeds. You’ll get her to a five-year-old ewe that’s still a great commercial ewe at that age.”

Longevity, he argues, is becoming more important as input costs climb and margins tighten.

With more producers looking at outdoor lambing and lower-cost systems, hardiness and ease of management are key.

“If people are going to do that, they’re going to want a hardier sheep,” he explains. “Either way, if the weather gets better or worse, it’s going to be a bonus.”

The Welsh Halfbred retains the easy lambing and resilience of the Welsh Mountain, while gaining frame, milk and hybrid vigour from the Border Leicester.

“They have a real sparkle and presence; that ‘look at me’ quality,” he adds.

The flock is run on a strictly grass-based system. Pedigree Border Leicesters lamb indoors in March, while the Welsh ewes lamb outside in April.

“I try and breed them as hardy as I can,” he says. “Everything’s grass fed.”

No concentrates are fed, only grass and mineral blocks. “They never had one bit of feed the last year,” he notes. “That’s the whole purpose — low input, easy management, and hopefully high output.”

His route back into farming was not immediate. After studying at Llysfasi College and completing a degree in Agriculture with Animal Science at Aberystwyth University, he worked across the sector before establishing his own flock in 2021, purchasing two pedigree gimmer lambs at Carlisle.

He now balances sheep farming with work as a mineral company sales agent.

“I quite enjoy renting at the moment because it’s all on the one business with the sales and the farming,” he says. “If more land comes up and it’s reasonably affordable, I would like to expand a little more.”

Breeding decisions are carefully planned. Rams are sourced from Scottish sales, particularly Lanark, as well as Welshpool, with new bloodlines introduced for the pedigree flock and homebred rams used on the Welsh ewes.

“The Border Leicesters come first in terms of the rams, and then I use them to go onto the Welsh,” he explains.

Crossbred lambs are marketed through store sales, private breeding transactions and a growing meat box trade supplying local customers.

Looking ahead, Mr Hamner hopes to increase his pedigree flock to around 15 lambing ewes annually while maintaining a strong commercial base.

“I’d say I’m fully stocked now for the amount of ground I’ve got,” he says. “You’ve got to make business choices and not throw money away.”

He believes the breed is beginning to regain recognition after losing ground in recent decades.

“The sheep industry had its head turned by the Bluefaced Leicester over the last 20 years and temporarily lost sight of the Border Leicester,” he says. “It’s great to see people going back to them or discovering them for the first time.”

Using the Cedidog prefix reconnects him directly with his grandfather’s beginnings.

“It’s a great feeling to be using my grandfather’s original prefix,” he says. “I would like to think that he would be proud that I am not only back farming but farming his favourites — Border Leicesters.”

For Mr Hamner, the breed’s future lies not just in heritage, but in hard performance figures.

“As sheep breeders we all want a ewe that lasts five years or longer,” he says. “The Border Leicester gives you that foundation — longevity, hardiness, and that hybrid vigour that makes them work in a commercial system.”

With input costs rising and resilience increasingly valued, he believes the traditional Border Leicester still has a firm place in the future of British sheep farming.