Oxford Down Sheep | Oxford Down Sheep Breeders Association

Worcester Sale - Catalogue now Available

46 OXFORD DOWNS ENTERED FOR WORCESTER 1st AUGUST 2026

The 24th annual Show & Sale of Oxford Downs at Worcester market on Saturday 1st August has attracted an entry of 46 head comprising 16 rams and 30 females consigned from the following registered flocks:

Applewick (P R & L Quick)

Horsley (R J & J Richardson)

Langrigg (A W Rutherford)

Longfriday (M G & J M Johnson)

Meadow Farm (F Dallas)

Monkstone (M F S Brown)

Montrose (H V Graham)

Rose-dene (J J Richardson)

Sundown (J A & C Porter)

Weeton (Mrs R J Steele)

Visit the sales page to view the catalogue

OXFORDS SELL TO £500 AT KELSO

Oxford shearling rams from Andrew Rutherford's annual Langrigg consignment from Guards Farm, Gretna, Dumfriesshire sold to a top of £500 at Kelso Ram Sales.

The top ram, a Billesdons Braveheart son, was bought by Highfield Farming, The Knock, Duns, Berwickshire. A further three Langrigg shearlings went to the same buyer at £400 each, joining two rams purchased from Langrigg at last year's sale. They will be used on the farm's large Cheviot x Shetland commercial ewe flock.

One Langrigg shearling went for pedigree work at £350 to Brendan & Amy Hall who run the Caston flock at Attleborough in Norfolk. This ram was sired by Greenlands Garrosh.

The Langrigg pen averaged £410 for five.

Auctioneers: C & D Auction Marts

Langrigg leads the Inaugural Northern sale of Oxford Downs at Carlisle

The inaugural Northern sale of Oxford Downs at Carlisle

took place on Saturday 30th August. A top price of 450gns

was achieved for a shearling ram from Andrew Rutherford,

Guards Farm, Gretna. The shearling ram was a son of

Billesdon's Braveheart and out of a Langrigg ewe and

had won champion in the pre sale show earlier that day.

He sold to Messrs Etherington, Pocklington.

Full report of the sale can be seen in the 'Sale Reports' page.

Andrew Rutherford and judge Andrew Amor with the pre show Champion who sold for 450gns

Entry of 25 Oxford Downs for Carlisle Show & Sale

The Show & Sale of Oxford Downs to be held on Saturday, 30th August at Harrison & Hetherington's Borderway mart, Carlisle has attracted an entry of 25 head comprising 7 rams and 18 ewes. The catalogue is in preparation.

Entries are as follows:

Greystoke (L Chance, Flock No. 1388):

2 shearling rams, 1 one-crop ewe, 3 gimmers

Langrigg (A W Rutherford, Flock No. 977):

1 two-shear ram, 2 shearling rams, 1 ram lamb, 2 two-crop ewes, 4 gimmers, 2 ewe lambs

Rose-Dene (J J Richardson, Flock No. 1297):

1 shearling ram, 2 ewe lambs

Weeton (Mrs R J Steele, Flock No. 1225):

4 ewes lambs

The entries from Rose-Dene and Weeton are MV accredited and Signet performance recorded.

This is an excellent opportunity for breeders to obtain pedigree Oxford ewes and rams for new or existing flocks, and for commercial buyers to purchase Oxford rams for crossing work.

Worcester sale attracts entry of 66 Oxford Down sheep

The Premier Show & Sale of Oxford Downs to be held at McCartneys Worcester market on Saturday, 2nd August..

There is an entry of 66 head from 12 flocks, comprising 44 females and 22 rams and including MV accredited and Signet performance recorded stock.

The flocks consigning to the sale are:

Applewick

Billesdons

Caston

Greyland

Horsley

Langrigg

Longfriday

Meadow Farm

Montrose

Pauntley

Rose-Dene

Weeton

The sale gives buyers the opportunity to obtain quality Oxford Down breeding stock, whether a new stock ram, foundation stock for a new flock, females to replenish an existing flock, or a ram for crossing work as a terminal sire. Bidding is available online through MartEye.

Link to catalogue here

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Full Show Results are now available for Devon County Show

Congratulations to Andrew Amor and Holly Plante of the Pauntley Flock who won the breed championship at Devon County Show, the first breed classes of the season.

Judge Mr R Vincent chose to put the homebred ram lamb as his champion.

Reserve Champion and Champion opposite sex went to Ms Rebecca Simpson and her ewe lamb.

Full results can be found at the link below.

(photo courtesy of Country Girl Media)

Full results

New Sale Date Added

A new association sale has been added to the list and will take place on Saturday 30th August at Borderway Mart, Carlisle. The sale will be open to all ages of Rams and Females for both MV and Non MV sheep. More details will follow soon.

Oxford rams perform well on RamCompare

The 2023 results from RamCompare, the large-scale on farm nationwide progeny test being run by Signet have again highlighted the value of the Oxford as a terminal sire, with impressive results from a Weeton-bred ram used in Northumberland and a Lydiard-bred ram used in Hampshire. In both cases the rams were run with groups of approximately 60 Lleyn ewes.

Weeton ram

A ram bred by Ruth Steele in her Weeton Oxford Down flock at Hull, East Yorkshire was used by Duncan Nelless at Thistleyhaugh Farm, Morpeth, Northumberland.

This tup was one of only three native breed rans that made it into the top 20 for carcase weight across all breeds tested. The results from this ram show that high genetic merit, performance recorded Oxford Down rams can easily outperform a run of the mill ram from any other breed.

The Weeton ram has a best-in-breed Lamb Value EBV of £4.21. Lamb Value is an index which takes into account days to slaughter, carcase weight, carcase conformation and fat classification. It uses this information to work out how much extra each finished lamb produced by this ram is worth in monetary terms.

In the case of the Weeton ram, his lambs are worth £3.28 per lamb more than an average Oxford Down sired lamb. This is achieved through quicker growth to slaughter, higher carcase weight/killing out % and better EUROP classification for conformation and fat class.

If a ram sires a conservative 60 lambs per season then that is an extra £197 per year or an extra £591 over three seasons’ work. For a 400 ewe commercial flock that would equate to an extra £1970 per year if all the rams used performed as well as the Weeton ram.

Lydiard ram

At the other end of England, Lindsay Rumming’s Lydiard Oxford Down flock at Swindon, Wiltshire provided a ram for use by Ian Robertson at Chawton Park Farm, Alton, Hampshire.

This ram stood out against the competition at Chawton Park by producing progeny that on average reduced days to slaughter by 10 days compared to the farm average for the year.

Profitability

Identifying the best genetics through performance recording pedigree flocks produces stock which when used by commercial sheep farmers can positively impact the profitability of their flocks.

Performance recorded Oxford Downs can be purchased from the flocks listed here: https://signetdata.com/flock-finder/oxford-down