The David Maunder Perpetual Cup has been awarded to Michael Ware of Burn Farm, Silverton, for his production this year of almost 600 lambs.

The cup, together with a bottle of champagne, was presented at the Mid Devon Show by Mr Peter Maunder, a director of Lloyd Maunder, and Ed Chudley, a member of the livestock procurement team.

Michael, who farms beef and a flock of 420 Dorset ewes in partnership with his brother and father has been sending lambs to Lloyd Maunder for 18 years, all of them for the premium West Country and New Season range of lamb products.

A total of 98.4% of the lambs met the target grades of E, U or R, 2 and 3L, the ideal conformation for the Lloyd Maunder range of retail packed products.

"Michael has been such a consistent producer of high quality lambs, which he finishes to perfection for us, it is a real pleasure to see him win the trophy this year," said Ed Chudley. "Almost 100% hitting the target grades is a considerable achievement and one which we value highly."

As part of a continuing drive to develop export sales of West Country Lamb, Lloyd Maunder is taking a leading role in supplying lamb for a major promotion through Intermarche stores in France.

Supported by EBLEX, the lamb will appear on the French supermarket shelves under the Intermarche brand "Jean Rose" and featuring the St George's flag of England and an English countryside scene. Recipe cards featuring the same logos and pictures are being used in support and together mark a major change in French attitudes to English lamb since the end of the foot and mouth disaster two years ago.

"We are progressing well in our drive to find new customers for lamb, both at home and abroad," said Richard Maunder, "and we hope to be able to make some further announcements soon."

Although the company lost a major lamb supply contract with Sainsbury's earlier this year, they expect to be buying at least the same quantity of lambs from South West farmers next year, to meet the increased demand from other customers.

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