British Sheep Breeds
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British Sheep Breeds - Susannah Robin Parkin
CONTENTS
THE HISTORY OF SHEEP AND SHEEP FARMING
SHEEP BEHAVIOUR AND WOOL CHARACTERISTICS
ANCIENT AND PRIMITIVE BREEDS
MOUNTAIN, HILL AND UPLAND BREEDS
LOWLAND AND DOWN BREEDS
LONGWOOL AND CROSS-BREEDS
FURTHER INFORMATION
PLACES TO VISIT
THE HISTORY OF SHEEP AND SHEEP FARMING
BRITISH SHEEP THROUGH THE CENTURIES
ALTHOUGH IT APPEARS the dog was the first animal to be domesticated, it is thought that sheep followed the domestication process approximately two thousand years later. Domestication of sheep occurred around eleven thousand years ago and throughout history has played an integral role in British farming. Over the centuries sheep farming has faced many challenges, mainly owing to climate change and market demand. However, the evolution and adaptation of sheep breeds have ensured its survival.
Since prehistoric times sheep have provided mankind with fibre, pelts, meat and milk. This versatility combined with their behavioural characteristics is probably the major reason this species was so adaptable to domestication. Their origins can be traced to the wild Mouflon in Mesopotamia, a breed that is said to be the forebear of all sheep.
When the Romans first arrived in Britain in 55 BC, the sheep they found were a small primitive breed that had been introduced into Europe in the early Neolithic era (8000–6000 BC) – these subsequently became confined mainly to the island of Soay (pronounced ‘so-ay’), from which the breed takes its name, and where the crofters traditionally made its fine wool into clothing. The Romans also brought their own long-woolled breed of sheep into Britain. Their sheep were small, hornless and white-faced, and their fleece was lustrous and wavy (crimp). It was these traits that the Britons favoured, so farmers cross-bred the Roman sheep with the indigenous Soay and the development of the early native breeds began.
There is little information about the arrival of sheep similar to the Soay between about 4000 BC and the eighteenth century AD. However, it is acknowledged that traders, raiders, invaders and voyagers transported sheep, and thus the distribution of domesticated sheep began. These travellers introduced the northern European short-tailed breeds such as Boreray, Castlemilk Moorit, Manx Loaghtan, North Ronaldsay and Shetland. Travellers from the south of Europe, the Romans, contributed to the ancestors of the English longwools and the Down breeds such as Dorset Down, Hampshire Down, Oxford Down, Cambridge Down, Shropshire and Suffolk. These breeds were introduced in the first century AD, initially by trading and then through invasion.
After the departure of the Romans in AD 410, the Vikings invaded Britain between the eighth and tenth centuries, bringing with them their own sheep. The Viking breeds developed into the Blackface, Swaledale and Herdwick and it is from these three groups of primitive strains that the diverse variety of British breeds originated.
From the twelfth century until the seventeenth, Britain’s textile industry flourished, sheep providing the wool for the cloth. During this period farmers had already started selective breeding to improve wool quality.
During the reign of Elizabeth I (1558–1603) the wool trade was the primary source of tax revenue and until the eighteenth century wool (rather than meat or milk) continued to provide the main source of income for the sheep farmer. It was the Industrial Revolution at the end of eighteenth century, accompanied by a population increase, which changed the course of sheep production. An era of high-production farming developed in which meat became the main commodity, milk and wool becoming by-products. Selective breeding became more widely practised and characteristics different from those desired in Roman times prevailed.
TEXTILES HAVE BEEN made by the tribes of northern Europe since 10,000 BC and, even before the arrival of the Romans and their sheep, Britain had a reputable wool industry. Great Britain became famous for textiles such as worsted, Scottish tweed and Axminster carpets. Many of the original British breeds had enormous influence, particularly in