Beltex
The Beltex or Beltex sheep is a modern breed of sheep developed in Belgium. This was developed in the 1970s and was also used in Great Britain, among others. There has been a breed association for this breed since 1991.
features
The Beltex is a white-faced sheep with a medium- staple wool . It is particularly known for developing a very well-muscled hindquarter. Bucks of this breed reach a height at the withers of 60 centimeters and an average weight of 90 kilograms. The females stay a little smaller and reach an average weight of 50 kilograms with a height at the withers of 50 centimeters.
Breeding history
The development of sheep breeds is often influenced by the prices that can be obtained for the wool and meat of the animals. The Beltex was developed in the 1970s when wool prices were so low that they did not cover the cost of sheep shearing, but there was also a demand for lamb. The Beltex was developed by Belgian breeders with the help of Roger Hansen, professor at the University of Leiden. Several different breeds of sheep died, but the Texel sheep played the largest part in the development of the breed . The second syllable of the breed name indicates this origin.
In his history of British sheep farming, Philip Walling describes the Beltex as the most extreme manifestation of a meat sheep breed that has been developed to date:
“[The Beltex] represents a further development from Bakewell's vision of an ideal sheep to a surreal meat performance that has lost all ties to its region. It was bred uncompromisingly to satisfy the urban customer's demand for meat ... But in this uncompromisingness there is also beauty. It's an honest sheep, the existence of which reveals the hypocrisy of the modern world, which pretends to prefer meat from some nice old breed. It is comparable to the situation in which the residents of a friendly town resist building a supermarket because they do not want to lose their independent local businesses, but as soon as the supermarket opens, they turn their backs on their wonderful butcher and fishmonger. "
See also
The Easy Care is a breed comparable to the Beltex, bred for meat performance, which was developed in Great Britain in the 1960s and whose original breeds include the Wiltshire Horn , an old English short wool breed, which does not have to be sheared.
literature
- Philip Walling: Counting Sheep - A Celebration of the Pastoral Heritage of Britain . Profile Books, London 2014, ISBN 978-1-84765-803-6 .
Web links
Single receipts
- ↑ a b UK Breeding Association website , accessed June 14, 2015
- ↑ Beltex / Ireland . In: Breed data sheet . Domestic Animal Diversity Information System. Retrieved June 14, 2015.
- ^ A b Philip Walling: Counting Sheep , p. 234.
- ↑ Philip Walling: Counting Sheep , p. 234. The original quote is: [The Belte] takes Bakewell's vision of the ideal shell to surreal heights of meetings that gossiping all connection with its terrain. It has been bred to satisfy the urban consumer's demand for meat, without compromise. ... There is stark beauty in its brutalism. It is an honest Shell whose existence exposes the hypocrisy of a modern urban world that Perzents it would like its meat to come from some lovable old breed. It is like the residents of a charming market town resistant a Tesco supermarket that they say will rein the independent shops, and yet as soon as it opens abandoning their wonderful butcher and fishmonger.