SHEEP

We have flocks of 20 to 30 females of each of the breeds we keep at the Cotswold Farm Park and we selet a small group of each breed for display. In the early spring we exhibit yearling females while the breeding ewes are lambing. We lamb in March and April, shear in June, wean the lambs from their mothers in August and brgin the breeding cycle again in October.

There are no less than 65 distinct breeds or types of sheep in Britain alone, each adapted to a slightly different environment or selected for a different specialised job. In general the breeds fall into five major categories:

These ancient and ancestral breeds have remained unchanged for centuries by being isolated on islands around Britain. Like all indigenous Northern European breeds they are all small, light boned sheep with naturally short tails and they all shed their naturally coloured wool in the spring like any wild animal. Most, if not all the primitive breeds, are rare even though many of them are very efficient at surviving and producing in their own specialist island environment.

1973 - ENDANGERED (Isolated on one island, with less than 500 ewes in other flocks on the mainland)

Soay Ram

Soays are the ancestors of all modern sheep breeds and have remained unchanged since the Stone Age by being isolated on the islands of Soay and Hirta, off the West coast of Scotland. Because they are light weight and do not need intensive shepherding, they are ideal for grazing nature reserves, where rare plants need to be nibbled to maintain the botanical balance.

The flock at the Cotswold Farm Park is descended from a group brought from the island of Hirta in the 1960's, and selected by professor Peter Jewell from Cambridge University. Peter had spent many years researching the behaviour and ecology of the island flock and still takes an active interest in this group. We interfere as little as possible with the natural behaviour of the flock who still have a senior or 'king' ram, groups of breeding females with a clear hierarchical social structure and groups of young males who spend a good deal of time play fighting in anticipation of one day ruling the roost.

1994 - ENDANGERED (2 Island flocks and over 300 ewes on the mainland)

Descended from the Scottish crofters' sheep this breed has been isolated on the most northerly Orkney Island of North Ronaldsay for several hundered years. Here they live outside the sea wall, where they have adapted to a diet of the seaweed, 'kelp'.

In 1973 my father, Joe Henson, flew up to the Orkney Islands and bought the island of Linga Holm, which has big 'kelp' beds, on behalf of the newly formed Rare Breeds Survival Trust. He moved 150 sheep to Linga Holm as an insurance against the risk of an outbreak of disease or an oil accident destroying the North Ronaldsay flock. He also brought over 100 sheep south to found several mainland flocks and greatly enhance our own group which had been established in 1971. It was this project which led to the successful launch of the Rare Breeds Survival Trust.

Above: Kate and James meeting a Shetland Lamb

Also descended from Scottish crofters' sheep, the Shetland has been selected over many yeatrs for wool quality, and today produces the finest wool of any of our native breeds. It is said that a four foot square shawl made fron Shetland wool is so fine it can be pulled through a wedding ring.

Although Shetlands became rare in the 1970's they have become a popular breed for small flock owners who are interested in spinning, and producing lambs for the freezer. On the Shetland Islands most of the sheep are white but the Shetland is found in a beautiful range of colours from black through greys, browns and tans to white. Our flock was established in 1973 with sheep from the Shetland Islands and we have always specialised in maintaining and exhibiting induviduals with a wide variety of natural colours.

Four horned Hebridean ram

These impressive black sheep grow two, four and sometimes even six horns. The legends say that they were brought to this country by the Viking invaders and it is certainly true that there are multi-horned breeds, or the archaeological evidence of them, in many of the places the Vikings settled. These include the Manx Loughtan from the Isle of Man, and multi-horned sheep on Shetland, Iceland, and even North West Africa and their remains in the Canary Islands.

The Hebridean is no longer found on the Hebridean Islands of Scotland but has survived to this day as an ornamental parkland breed. Our own flock was established from the Whipsnade Zoo gene bank flock in 1969 and has been the foundation for the many small hobby flocks throughout the country. Like many of our once critically rare breeds the Hebridean is now greatly benefiting from the active support of an association of breeders promoting its' attributes.

Four horned Manx Loughtan ram

Like its cousins the Hebrideans, Manx Loughtans will grow two, four and sometimes even six horns. The word Loughtan was derived from two Manx words, 'Lugh' meaning mouse, and 'Dhoan' meaning brown. They are a beautiful rich brown when they are born, and when they are shorn, but the sun bleaches the tips of the wool, so that they appear tan in colour for much of the year.

Our flock was established in 1971 with sheep from the Whipsnade 'gene bank' and a ram collected by our director John Neave in a light plane he flew over to the Isle of Man himself. We have produces some outstanding sheep over the years and taken championships at the Rare Breeds Survival Trust National Show and Sale in 1977, 1978, 1986 and 1987.

The Jacob is a spotted, multi-horned breed, but it is not really a primitive breed, because it has a long tail and does not shed its wool naturally in the spring. However, it is a cousin of the Manx and the Hebridean and the breed most peoplr think of when you mention rare breeds although it is in fact no longer classified as rare thanks to the enthusiastic support of hundreds of small flock owners throughout the country.

Joseph's coat of many colours is thought to have been made from the wool of Jacob sheep and The Bible certainly records advice given by God to Joseph's father Jacob, on how to breed spotted lambs. The advice included putting spotted sticks around the water holes and using only spotted rams. (Genesis 30 and 31) This is probably the first written record of selective breeding !

We began breeding Jacobs in 1969 and like so many of our breeds were too attached to them to give them up, even when it was clear they were no longer critically rare.

Jacob lambs

The Castlemilk Moorit breed was developed in the Castlemilk Estate Park in Dumfriesshire by the Buchanan Jardine family, during the early years of this century. The breed was created from a number of breeds which are now all rare, and it was intended to be an easy care breed that would produce top quality moorit coloured wool for the family's own use. In 1973 the flock was dispersed with only 10 survivors. Six sheep were evacuated to the Cotswold Farm Park and four others were bought by a neuighbour. By the use of a very careful breeding programme the nimbers have gradually increased, and it is hoped that we have managed to save them from extinction.

Castlemilk Moorit sheep

A very large part of Britain is mountainous land which produces little more than rough grazing for sheep. The harsh weather and sparse grazing has helped to create breeds able to survive in these conditions. They are intelligent sheep whose hardiness, thrift and mothering ability have been the basis of our sheep industry for centuries. Traditionally mountain flock masters have pure bred self replacing flocks. The lambs learn the terrain and how best to use it from their mothers so that when farms change hands the flock which is acclimatised to that farm or 'Hefted' is sold with it. Those ewes not needed to breed flock replacements are mated with prolific longwool breeds to produce half-bred ewes. These ewes retain some of the hardiness and mothering ability of their mountain dams, together with the ability to milk well and have twins from their father's breed. They are the speckled faced, loose wooled sheep you wil have probably driven past on your way to the Cotswold Farm Park.

Each of the moubtain regions of Britain has developed its own breed, such as the Scots Blackface, Swaledale, Cheviot and Welsh Mountain. The latter breed has a number of rare colour variations, the Black Welsh Mountain, the black bellied Badger Faced Torddu, white bellied black Torwen and the Balwen with a black body and white blaze and feet.

The hardiest British breed, adapted to live in the wettest part of the country is the lovely 'blue' Herdwick sheep from the Lake District. Born dark they tend to get lighter each year of their lives. They have a very coarse wool which makes into hard wearing carpets and they are a goodexample of the genetic extremes found within domestic sheep. They are not classified as a reare breed because they are still quite common in the high mountains around the lakes of Cumbria. They are, however, restricted to a very small geographical ranmge, which makes them potentially vulnerabler to disease, or changes of fashion. Our flock was established in 1973 and we go back to the Lake District every two years to buy a new ram or 'tup' as they are called.

Herdwick ram (NB: No larger image available. Sorry!)

Large long wooled sheep were originally brought to Britain by the Romans and were then regionally specialised into a number of breeds. The rams are traditionally used to cross with mountain ewes to produce prolific half bred females for prime lamb production. These half bred ewes in turn are crossed with rams of the Down or meat breeds to produce best prime English lamb. The commercial sheep industry is therefore based on cross or half bred sheep, but in order to create these it is essential that the pure strains with all their special characteristics are maintained as separate breeds.

Champion Cotswold ewe

These sheep, decended from Roman stock, once roamed the Cotswold hills in their thousands, and were known as the 'Cotswold Lions'. In fact the hills take their name from the sheep. These were the 'wolds' or bare hills of the sheep 'cots' or sheep enclosures. During the Middle Ages their wool was sold to produce great wealth, enabling local merchants to build beautiful Manor Houses and Churches.

A Cotswold sheep produces a fleece weighing an average of 5.5kg (12 lbs) of long lustrous wool each year and this wool is still made into traditional rugs or 'throws', dyed in the colours of our local Cotswold stone, lichens and mosses. By 1969 there were only a handful of flocks remaining. My father Joe Henson encouraged me to but a small group when I was only 11 years old, having been forced to sell my pony after a riding accident. I soon became enthusiastic about the breed, especially after winning several prizes at our local agricultural show.

I was secretary of the breed Society for a number of years and was honoured to be it's Chairman for the Societies centenary year in 1992. With the help of that Society the breed has been gradually increasing in numbers and has created a local demand for Cotswold woollen products and quality Cotswold meat which may be purchased in some local buchers and hotels.

Wensleydale cheese was once made from the milk of Wensleydale sheep and they grow beautiful wool which hangs in long shiny ringlets and is often called 'poor man's mohair'. They were develpoed in Wensleydale in Yorkshire where they were used to cross with the hardy mountain ewes. Their half bred daughters were more prolific than their mothers, had more milk to feed their own lambs, and better fleeces. Wemsleydale crosses have no brittle kemp fibres in their fleece, a problem which is common in the mountain breeds. A black register was recently established for Wensleydales and our first black lamb was born here in 1992. Our lamb flock is now registered in the name of my son Ewan, who was born the same week, thereby continuing a family tradition of "starting 'em young !"

Wensleydale ewe

The 'hill' sheep are pure breeds which fulfil the same prolific role as the mountain cross longwool half bred ewes.

This breed was develpoed in the Welsh Border counties and is only now becoming rare. They are excellent mothers, often produce twins and have enough milk to ensure those lambs grow well. Sadly they are reducing in numbers due to changes in local fashions and markets, which currently favour faster growing leaner lamb for the supermarket.

They are strikingly attractive sheep with a white fleece. The face and legs are also white with black ears, nose, eye patches, knees and feet. Thirty years ago my father had a large commercial flock of Kerry Hill sheep, on the farm he managed before moving here. They are the newest addition to the breeds at the Cotswold Farm Park, introduced in 1989.

Kerry Hill sheep

The Down breeds are the specialist meat breeds of the sheep industry developed to produce quality lambs. They have tightly crimped wool and a rather teddy bear appearance. Because they have been protected from harsh environmental conditions by careful management, and develpoed for carcase and wool quality, they now need high lebvels of feed, and careful management throughout the year, but particularly at lambing time when they are housed and cared for 24 hours a day.

This is the traditional breed of the Brecklands of Norfolk where they were used to create the Suffolk, our most famous and popular British meat sire. The Norfolk Horn was an extensive ranging breed which did not take well to the modern enclosure and penning of sheep. Their numbers declined until by 1968 only 4 rams and 5 infertile ewes remained.

The Cotswold Farm Park's Bemborough flock of Norfolk Horns was established in 1969 and was part of an emergency breeding programme organised with Reading University and The Royal Agricultural Society of England. The idea was to breed the last remaining rams with Suffolk ewes and 'grade up' to try to save what was left of the breed. By this time the last remaining rams died we had a small population of sheep which were over 80% pure bred Norfolk. A closed breeding programme was developed and maintained for nearly 20 years. Our own flock is divided into four bloodlines each descended from one of the last remaining pure bred rams. The project has been very, very successful although the breed is still very rare and great care must be taken to avoid the breeding of close relatives. Despite all these problems in 1993 we were able to hold the largest sale of Norfolk Horn sheep this century at the Cotswold Farm Park selling 42 surplus animals bred here to establish new flocks.

Norfolk Horn ewe and lamb

Norfolk Horn ram

The legends say that the ancestors of the modern day Portland swam ashore from the sunken ship of the Spanish Armarda. Sailors often carry livestock for fresh meat, but usually pigs and chickens, rather than sheep, and probably not into battle.

Portland sheep

It is most likely that the Portland is all that is left of the Western Tanfaced horn, common in the South west during the Middle Ages. It has indoubtedly got Spanish blood, and was the first breed of sheep in Britain able to have lambs at any time of the year, but it is more likely that this characteristic was introduced through trade. Our native breeds are only fertile in the autumn, and have their lambs in the spring. The Cotswold Farm Park flock was established in 1970 when the gene bank of rare breeds was moved from Whipsnade Zoo to make room for their breeding herd of White Rhino.