Breeds We Raise

We maintain a registered flock of Scottish Blackface Sheep, we primarily raise this breed for market lambs but we also offer registered breeding stock for sale.

This old breed is very independent, tough and smart challenging for even the most dogged Border Collie!

All Blackfaces are horned, with black or black and white face and  legs. The fleece should be free of black fiber and can vary from short,  fine wool used for carpets and tweeds to strong coarse wool, which is  sold mainly for the Italian mattress trade. 

There are several  distinct types within the breed. These have evolved over the years,  influenced by climate, environment and grazing quality. This gives the  breed the advantage of being able to produce species to suit every  climatic condition. The Scottish Blackface, which are the most numerous,  are sub-divided into three types.  

The breed's origin is lost in the midst of time, but undoubtedly  emerged from the genetic umbrella of' horned sheep from which also  sprung the Swaledale, Rough Fell and other localized types such as the  Lewis and Mayo Blackface. 

Monastery records of the 12th century  tell of the Dun or Blackface breed of sheep. The monks used the wool for  their clothes, and also exported large amounts to Europe. 

In the  16th century, King James IV of Scotland established an improved  Blackface flock in Ettrick Forest. During the 17th and 18th centuries.  It was known as the Linton Sheep, West Linton in Peeblesshire being the  main sale for the type. 

In the early 19th century, the breed was  taken from Dumfriesshire and Lanarkshire and introduced into the north  of Scotland, but due to the high price of cheviot wool the Blackfaces  were cleared off the hills in favor of the cheviot. This continued  until 1860, when the wool prices reached the same level and the farmers  realized that the blackface, with its ability to survive and reproduce  in adverse weather conditions, was the best suited breed to utilize hill  and mountain grazing.  

In the late 19th century, there was an  upsurge in interest in breed improvement. Many of the farms that sold  high priced tups  (rams) and enthusiastically promoted the breed at that time  possessed names that are still well known today. 

Our heritage Black Welsh Mountain sheep are a registered conservation herd as well as sustainable livestock resource, they are a small dual purpose breed that provides excellent mild lamb and completely black, dense, durable fleece.

The Black Welsh Mountain Sheep breed was developed in the mountains of Wales about a century ago from black sheep that occurred in the Welsh Mountain breed which is white. The breed was recognized in 1922 with the establishment of the Black Welsh Mountain Sheep Society.

Black Welsh Mountain sheep are small to medium in size. Rams have  attractive horns that curl around the ears, while ewes are polled. The  wool is short, thick, and densely stapled. The staple length is 5-10 cm,  and the fiber diameter ranges between 28-36 microns. The average wool  clip is three to four pounds per sheep. Black Welsh Mountain wool is  attractive to handspinners. The natural black color makes it valuable  for use undyed or in combination with other wools, when it is used to  make grays or in the manufacture of tweeds and other patterns.

The breed is known for its hardiness and self-reliance, qualities that  were important in its native environment. Black Welsh Mountain sheep are  also excellent foragers and excellent mothers, able to raise lambs on  marginal pasture. Black Welsh Mountain market lamb is considered premium  meat in Britain.

Our newest breed here on the farm we have acquired a small flock with the goal of selling breeding stock and wool from this endangered English breed.

The fleece of the Leicester Longwool is prized by hand spinners and crafters for its curl, soft handle, and lustrous beauty. The fleece generally weighs from 11-18 pounds, although heavier fleeces have been recorded. The wool has an evenness of length with a spiral tipped staple length of up to 14 inches in twelve months growth. The wool dyes exceptionally well, maintaining the purity of color; the natural luster still shines through. This premium wool is very versatile, working well for combing for worsted products, carding for woolen products, and felting projects. The Leicester can be shorn twice per year. The Leicester Longwool is a medium to large polled breed with a high quality carcass, whose poll is well covered with locks of wool. Mature rams weigh 200-300 pounds and ewes weigh 150-200 pounds. The breed is white and natural in color.

We maintain a small registered flock of this very rare and ancient breed for conservation purposes in effort to help maintain genetic diversity in sheep breeds much the way people maintain heirloom vegetable varieties. 

The Soay has the most primitive appearance of any British sheep  breed and takes its name from the island of Soay in the St. Kilda group.

Soay means “sheep island” in Norse which suggests that there have  been sheep on the island since at least the time of the Vikings.

107 Soays were transported to the island of Hirta in 1932, two years  after the last human inhabitants had left and have been maintained as a  feral population ever since numbering around 1500 sheep nowadays.

Over the years Soays have been imported on to the mainland but remain rare.

 The Soay is exceptionally hardy and can survive in the most adverse  conditions. Anecdotal evidence suggests few footrot problems, low  incidence of flystrike (Soays can shed their own fleeces) and general  resistance to most health problems affecting more developed breeds.   Ewes can produce lambs at up to 10-12 years old. Depending on the  location, lambing percentages range from 80-90% when left to their own  devices but can reach 150% in the lowlands with good management. Lambs  are small, born easily and are quick to rise. A small, athletic looking sheep that has something of the look of a gazelle about it.

Ewes weigh around 25kg and rams, 40kg.

They are brown in colour (tan to chocolate) with lighter patches  around the eyes, the underside of the body, on the rump and under the  jaws.

Ewes are either polled or horned, ram usually horned. Some individuals are scurred (small, misshapen horns).