Ryeland sheep
The Ryeland sheep is a breed of domestic sheep that originated in the Herefordshire area in western England and was bred in the 14th century. It is one of the oldest sheep breeds in England and was valued primarily for its high-quality wool, but also for its meat ( dual-purpose breed ). Today it is mostly only kept by hobby breeders in Great Britain, Australia and New Zealand. In addition to the white Ryeland sheep, there is also the gray to black, but also brown colored Ryeland sheep.
features
The Ryeland sheep is a dual-purpose sheep with a wide, deep trunk and straight and wide back. The pure white and dense fleece is thicker in rams than in ewes and also covers the entire abdomen. The hairs of the wool are 23 to 26 micrometers thick and up to 10 centimeters long. Hairless parts of the body, with the exception of the black nose, are white. The relatively wool-free, white-skinned head is hornless and set on a strong and broad neck. The black nose, like the eyes, is surrounded by black skin, with the skin around the eyes covered with white hair. The upright and slightly recessed ears have a dark skin, but appear brownish to white due to their growth with short white wool. The legs are straight below the knees and have compact claws.
White Ryeland sheep can occasionally give birth to colored lambs. These pass on the color systems to their offspring, so that pure white sheep can no longer be bred from them. The colored Ryeland sheep are called "Colored Ryeland sheep". They resemble the pure white Ryeland sheep in stature, but differ from them in color. The fleece can have different colors, ranging from gray to black, but also brown. The hairless parts of the body are dark in color, but the head also has white areas. White teardrop-like spots on the eyes are considered a feature of this breed.
Breeding history
The exact origins of the Ryeland sheep are unknown. It was probably bred from Spanish merino sheep in the area around Ross-on-Wye in Herefordshire in western England from 1340 onwards . The wool of the Ryeland sheep was considered to be of very high quality and achieved high prices in the Middle Ages. Medieval records show that the monks of Dore Abbey tended around 3,000 sheep and sent the wool to Hereford , from where it was shipped. The biggest buyers for Ryeland wool were Flanders and Italy. In the 14th century Ryeland wool reached its highest commercial value and other types of wool had to measure up to it as a quality standard. During the 16th century, the interest and with it the importance of wool increased. One of the reasons for this was probably that Queen Elizabeth I was so enthusiastic about a pair of stockings made from Ryeland wool that she swore to wear clothes made from this wool only. At that time, people began keeping this breed in the area around Leominster , one of the centers of the wool trade, and because of its high value, the wool was also called Lemster Ore , along with other types of wool .
In addition to their wool, the Ryeland sheep were also valued for their meat. With the increase in other breeds bred for meat from the second half of the 18th century, such as the Border Leicester and Suffolk sheep , the Ryeland sheep came under increasing competition. However, it was mainly kept for meat production in Herefordshire until the second half of the 19th century and beyond. The Ryeland sheep was crossed with the Border Leicester sheep, the Cotswold sheep , the Dorset meat sheep and the Lincoln sheep in breeding experiments for new meat breeds . It is also one of the original breeds for the Poll Dorset .
Due to newly bred and more productive breeds at the beginning of the 20th century, the interest in pure-bred Ryeland sheep was visibly lost. In 1903, the Ryeland Flock Book Society was established by eight breeders with the aim of promoting the keeping and breeding of purebred sheep in the UK and other areas. The Society began publishing a herd book of registered sheep and pedigrees each year, soon after its inception . The first edition of this herd book listed 14 herds with 14 to 280 ewes and 135 rams each. The number of herds rose to around 80 by the 1920s, before falling back to 40 by 1952. At the beginning of the 20th century, Ryeland sheep were exported worldwide, mainly to New Zealand from 1903 and to Australia from 1919. Breeding associations have also been set up in these countries. In 1974 the breed was classified as "rare" by the Rare Breeds Survival Trust , as there were only 980 registered ewes. Thanks to the joint efforts of the Rare Breeds Survival Trust and the breeders, the number of sheep has increased again and the breed is now on the Trust's watch list. The Colored Ryeland Register has also existed since 1989 , in which breeders of Colored Ryeland sheep can register. Furthermore, the Colored Ryeland Group , an association of the Colored Ryeland breeders, was founded in 1996 , which existed until 2010. In that year, the Ryeland Flock Book Society put the Colored Ryeland sheep on an equal footing with the pure-bred Ryeland sheep in terms of breeding value, and the Colored Ryeland Group was integrated into the Ryeland Flock Book Society . Today the breed has hardly any commercial significance and is mostly kept by hobby breeders.
Web links
Individual evidence
- ^ A b c d Ryeland Flock Book Society: A Potted History. In: ryelandfbs.com. Retrieved October 27, 2015 .
- ↑ Heritage Sheep Australia: Ryeland. In: heritagesheep.org.au. Retrieved October 27, 2015 .
- ↑ Ryeland Flock Book Society: Ryeland Sheep - Breed Characteristics. In: ryelandfbs.com. Retrieved October 27, 2015 .
- ↑ Ryeland Flock Book Society: Ryeland Sheep - Breed Characteristics. In: ryelandfbs.com. Retrieved October 27, 2015 .
- ↑ Ryeland. In: dad.fao.org. Retrieved October 27, 2015 .