Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
Scottish Blackface (Black Face Highland)
Another mountain sheep from Scotland, the Scottish Blackface is a hardy,
quick-maturing meat animal. The breed is one of the most numerous in the
British Isles and is raised where conditions are hard. Monastery records from
the twelfth century refer to this breed.
Scottish Blackface sheep are adapted to cool, damp conditions, and they do
well on sparse forage. The coat has outstanding water-shedding properties.
The ewes are excellent mothers. Although they are not prolifi c under “hill
conditions,” they are fairly prolifi c on good pastures.
These sheep have an attractive and stylish lightweight fl eece of long,
coarse wool. In addition to the attractive coat, the Roman nose and unusual
black-and-white face markings give these sheep a unique appearance. The
mottled faces are preferred over the solid-color black face in England, where
the markings are said to indicate greater resistance to disease. Both ewes and
rams have horns.
Shetland
An ancient breed raised on the Shetland Islands (located north of Scotland
and west of Norway in the Atlantic Ocean), Shetland sheep are quite hardy.
The rams have two horns, while the ewes are polled. Both sexes have short
tails that don't require docking. Their wool is fi ne, more durable than Merino
wool, and less likely to pill. A great range of colors adds to its value, especially
for handspinners; the many fl eece colors include sparkling white, shades of
gray, lustrous black, tan, and shades of a deep, dark chocolate brown. Many
of the colors are referred to by their traditional names, such as sholmit , shaela ,
eesit , mooskit , mogit , and moorit . Shetland wool is used for traditional wedding
shawls that can be pulled through the bride's ring.
Shetlands were imported into Canada in the 1980s and into the United
States later in the same decade. The value of these sheep to handspinners
resulted in a huge expansion of the breed, both in North America and in
Britain. Considered endangered only a short time ago, the breed has now
been removed from conservation lists on both sides of the Atlantic.
 
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