Clun Forest sheep
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The Clun Forest sheep is a breed of domestic sheep originally native to the Clun Forest area in Shropshire , UK . Characteristic for this breed is its dark brown face, herds of this breed are not only kept in Great Britain but also in North America, France and the Netherlands. Much like many other British highland sheep breeds, the Clun Forest sheep is a tough, adaptable, and long-lived sheep that can cope with limited food. With their narrow head and wide pelvis , Clun Forest sheep have a reputation for lambing very easily. The fiber length of the wool is short to medium.
The Clun Forest sheep is considered a so - called three -purpose breed that is kept for both its meat, its wool and its sheep's milk. Due to its quality, the wool is suitable for traditional spinning with a spinning wheel or hand spindle . Because of their attractive appearance and their robustness, Clun Forest sheep are popular with both hobby farmers and commercial sheep keeping. She is still on the watch list of the British Rare Breeds Survival Trust .
History of the breed
The breed is named after the old town of Clun and the woodland surrounding it in the south-west of Shropshire , England. In 1803 the Rev. Joseph Plymley first mentioned when he wrote about the agriculture of the county. He quoted from an older report in which this breed of sheep was mentioned. He noted that the flocks of sheep were polled on hills near Wales, but also noted that their faces were light. Another report from 1937 also mentioned that this breed had a fair face. However, this report also mentioned that their appearance was gradually changing. Other local races would be crossed, so that the face would become darker.
In 1925 the Club Forest Sheep Breeders Society was founded with the aim of preserving the purity of this breed and spreading its qualities beyond the typical breeding area. The breed of sheep became extremely popular after the end of the Second World War and its popularity lasted until the 1970s. During this period, the Clun Forest sheep was at times the third most widely kept breed of sheep in Great Britain. For example, more than 75,000 pure-bred Clun Forest sheep were sold at the four-day cattle market in Craven Arms in the mid-1950s alone . Some of the herds of sheep that consisted only of this breed of sheep are said to have been so large that their owners were able to sell more than 1,000 sheep from the offspring every year. The holding area of this breed expanded significantly. Not only were they kept in the east of England, but large flocks were kept in Scotland and Ireland.
Clun Forest sheep were also imported to North America for the first time in 1970. In 1974 the North American Clun Forest Association was founded in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. There were other imports in the late 1970s and mid-1980s. The import of live sheep into the United States and Canada is now banned, but semen from some particularly prominent bucks was imported in the mid-2000s.
In the UK, the number of Clun Forest sheep has decreased. However, this breed has become increasingly popular in North America as well as in the Netherlands. There are now herds of this breed of sheep in the Czech Republic, the Netherlands and France.
features
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The Clun Forest sheep is a medium-sized, dark-faced sheep that is known for its robustness, longevity, high fertility and for the great reliability with which the ewes care for their lambs. A ewe usually gives birth to two lambs, which grow quickly due to the high fat content of the milk.
The most striking feature of the Clun Forest sheep is the dark and narrow face, which is almost completely uncooled. The ears are always erect, which gives the sheep a lively, attentive appearance. The neck is strong, the back is long and wide. The legs are hairless below the front knee or the ankle. The wool is of uniform length, texture and color.
Clun Forest sheep are grazing sheep. In the pasture, lambs can weigh around 45 kilograms in seven to eight months. The meat is low in fat and has a mild taste.
The wool is of uniform length, texture and color. When shearing a single sheep, three to four kilograms of new wool are obtained.
Since the milk from Clun Forest sheep has one of the highest butterfat contents, it is often crossed with milk sheep such as the East Frisian milk sheep in order to obtain higher fat milk and to obtain larger slaughter lambs that can be sold earlier in pure milk sheep herds.
Web links
- Clun Forest Sheep Breeders Society (UK)
- North American Clun Forest Association
- Clun Forest sheep association in the Netherlands
- The Damburgh Flock of Clun Forest Sheep
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c Clun Forest . In: Breeds of Livestock . Oklahoma State University Dept. of Animal Science. Archived from the original on December 8, 2007. Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Retrieved May 23, 2015.
- ^ A b c Paula Simmons, Carol Ekarius: Storey's Guide to Raising Sheep . Storey Publishing LLC, North Adams, MA 2001, ISBN 978-1-58017-262-2 .
- ↑ Breed Origins . Clun Forest Sheep Breeders Society, Ltd. Archived from the original on November 21, 2008. Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Retrieved May 22, 2009.
- ^ Rudell, Rosemary: History of the Clun Forest Breed . North American Clun Forest Association. Retrieved May 22, 2009.
- ^ Turner, RAK "Tony": The History of Clun Forest Sheep in North America . North American Clun Forest Association. Retrieved May 22, 2009.
- ^ Templeton, Klara: A Special Word About Clun Fleece . North American Clun Forest Association. Retrieved May 22, 2009.
- ↑ Falk, Mary: The Clun Forest - The Jersey of the Dairy Sheep . North American Clun Forest Association. Retrieved May 22, 2009.
