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There are well over 40 breeds of British sheep ranging from
the very small and primitive Soay to the very large Oxford Down. The
former is a sheep which has evolved naturally and the latter owes its
shape, size and all its other qualities to the intervention of
man. We keep a small commercial flock of cross-bred Suffolks at
Baylham as their forebears were the sheep that we started with many
years ago and we have fond memories of some of their mothers,
grandmothers and even great grand mothers. We also keep seven
flocks of pure bred sheep, five of which are officially classed as
British Rare Breeds.
Generally speaking we will have the
greatest choice of potential breeding stock during the summer, however,
many people let us know what they are looking for before we start
lambing in February and we then give them first choice of the lambs
born, keeping them here until they are weaned .
We currently have the following sheep
for sale: A choice of various rare breed ewe and wether hoggets (ie 2007 lambs now weaned). Give Neil a ring on 01473 830264 to discuss the breed and sex of sheep best suited to your needs. or email neil@baylham-house-farm.co.uk Breeding quality ewe hoggets will be registered. Some unregistered lambs available at reduced cost
The Norfolk Horn is the sheep that produced the wealth that
much of East Anglia derived from wool. In the 18th Century it was
crossed with the Southdown and this cross was developed into the
Suffolk. Both the outstanding success of the Suffolk and the
development of new agricultural practices led to the decline of the
Norfolk to such a degree that, in the early 1950's, their total
population had declined to less than 15 animals. Since that
time, when a determined rescue programme was started, the total
numbers have steadily increased to such an extent that the breed has
been able to move from Category 1 ( Critical ) to Category 2 (
Endangered ) on the British Rare Breeds Register. They produce a
very fine fleece and a nice carcass lamb which will finish well on
grass alone and even on poor grazing.
Greyface Dartmoor A sheep from Dartmoor in the South West of the UK. You
might like to note that it is a "Greyface Dartmoor", not a "Grey Faced
Dartmoor" - [you can now impress your friends with your
knowledge of British livestock]. Of all the sheep we keep at
Baylham House, the Greyface has the heaviest fleece. It is called
a lustre wool as the individual hairs are long, straight and shiny with
very little crimp and, consequently, is not easy to spin.
Castlemilk Moorit At the time of writing, the Castlemilk Moorit is Britain's rarest sheep, being
the only breed in Category 1 ( Critical ) on the UK Rare Breeds
Register. The breed does not have an ancient history,
having been bred to provide an interesting and attractive animal to
grace the parkland on the Castlemilk Estate near Dumfries in
Scotland. Moorit is the Gaelic word for the mousey brown colour
that they are. The breed was developed using Shetland ewes and
mainly Manx Longhtan rams with a bit of Mouflon ram blood; the
Mouflon being a small wild sheep native to Corsica and Sardinia.
The Castlemilk Moorit should have what are called Mouflon markings
giving it light coloured patches, under the chin, round the eyes, on
the knees, on the belly and on its rump. Though we still have
Castlemilk Moorit sheep, we do not breed from them any more.
The Balwen is a sheep from Wales being mainly confined to
one small area round the upper reaches of the River Tywi. It is a
variety of the Black Welsh Mountain breed but having specific
markings. It should ideally have a black or dark brown fleece
with a white blaze down its face, four white socks and half a white
tail. All lambs have to be inspected before they can be
registered and ram lambs must have perfect markings. The marking
requirements for ewe lambs are slightly less severe and work on a
penalty points system with a maximum total number of penalty points
allowed for registration. The fleece when it is long tends to go
brown but if you part the wool you will find that the under fleece is a
lovely velvety black but this is normally only seen for a few months
after shearing. We shear all the Baylham House rare breeds in
late May.
Llanwenog
 The Llanwenog is another Welsh breed which is currently
becoming very popular as people are discovering its many excellent
qualities. We always have a waiting list for our Llanwenog ewe
lambs. It is the most prolific of all the native British breeds,
is an excellent milky mother, has a lovely soft spinning fleece
and produces a medium sized, quality carcass. They say you can
tup Llanwenog ewes to lamb at one year old as they mature quickly;
however, it does set the ewe back and at Baylham we let them mature
fully and therefore wait until they are shearlings before we put them
with the ram. Our original Llanwenog ram, being Welsh, was called
Llarry and we used to be very wary of him when he was younger. Llarry's
successors also tend to be a bit macho and we have found that a sheep's
bell round the ram's neck makes sure that a charge from behind never
arrives without warning.
Herdwick
The Herdwick comes form the mountains and high hills of the
Lake District in North West England. According to the breed
description, the Herdwick is the hardiest British breed being capable
of withstanding, cold, wind and incessant rain; however, we find that
our Herdwicks are amongst the first to seek shelter when it starts to
rain. The Herdwick is not classed as a rare breed but we keep
them because they are so nice, being quite unlike other British sheep
in both character and appearance. It is thought that they are probably
of Viking origin. (We have heard that about a third of the national
Herdwick flock in the Lake District was slaughtered in the last Foot
and Mouth outbreak.) The Herdwick has a thick coarse fleece which
is of carpet or felting rather than spinning quality. I have a
jumper knitted from Herdwick wool and though a bit scratchy on bare
skin, it is totally weather proof. Of all the lambs that we
produce, the Herdwicks are the most gentle and friendly being very
popular with children as they will sit on laps and be cuddled
for ages.
Ouessant
The Ouessant is supposedly the smallest natural breed of sheep in the world. Man (in the USA) has miniaturised one or two breeds by selective breeding to satisfy a curiosity and pet market but the Ouessant is naturally tiny. The breed comes from the Island of Ouessant off the coast of Brittany in France. The breed was kept by the Ouessant Islanders for its wool which used to be black or brown but white mainland sheep were introduced to the Island in the last Century in order to try and increase the size of the indigenous stock. Before the cross breeding began to have any significant effect, some of the original Island stock had been moved to the French mainland and it is the survivors of this mainland stock which retain the original characteristics of the Ouessant sheep. The original Baylham House Ouessants arrived in December
2001 and since then we have bought another small Ouessant flock and now
have 10 ewes and lots of rams and wethers. The breed is still extremely
rare in the UK and the current Ouessant strongholds are in
Holland and Belgium where they have an enthusiastic following. A
British Ouessant Breed Society was formed in 2005.
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