The Merino is a breed or group of breeds of domestic sheep, characterised by very fine soft wool. It was established in Spain near the end of the Middle Ages, and was for several centuries kept as a strict Spanish monopoly; exports of the breed were not allowed, and those who tried risked capital punishment. During the eighteenth century, flocks were sent to the courts of a number of European countries, including France, Hungary, the Netherlands, Prussia, Saxony and Sweden.
The Blackface or Scottish Blackface is a British breed of sheep. It is the most common sheep breed of the United Kingdom. Despite the name, it did not originate in Scotland, but south of the border.
The Coopworth is a modern New Zealand breed of sheep. It was developed by researchers at Lincoln College in the Canterbury region of the South Island between about 1956 and 1968, the result of cross-breeding of New Zealand Romney ewes and Border Leicester rams. It has become the second-most numerous sheep breed in New Zealand, and has been exported to Australia, some European countries, and the United States.
The Border Leicester is a British breed of sheep. It is a polled, long-wool sheep and is considered a dual-purpose breed as it is reared both for meat and for wool. The sheep are large but docile. They have been exported to other sheep-producing regions, including Australia and the United States.
The Jacob is a British breed of domestic sheep. It combines two characteristics unusual in sheep: it is piebald—dark-coloured with areas of white wool—and it is often polycerate or multi-horned. It most commonly has four horns. The origin of the breed is not known; broken-coloured polycerate sheep were present in England by the middle of the seventeenth century, and were widespread a century later. A breed society was formed in 1969, and a flock book was published from 1972.
The Shropshire breed of domestic sheep originated from the hills of Shropshire, and North Staffordshire, England, during the 1840s. The breeders in the area used the local horned black-faced sheep and crossed them with a few breeds of white-faced sheep. This produced a medium-sized polled (hornless) sheep that produced good wool and meat. In 1855 the first Shropshires were imported into the United States (Virginia). This breed is raised primarily for meat.
The Lonk is a British breed of domestic sheep. It belongs to the group of black-faced hill breeds of northern England, and is found in the hills of the central and southern Pennines of Lancashire and Yorkshire. It is documented from the mid-eighteenth century; a flock book was started in 1905.
The Dorper is a South African breed of domestic sheep developed by crossing Dorset Horn and the Blackhead Persian sheep. The breed was created through the efforts of the South African Department of Agriculture to breed a meat sheep suitable to the more arid regions of the country. It is now farmed in other areas as well, and is the second most common sheep breed in South Africa.
The Oxford Down is a British breed of domestic sheep. It was developed in the 1830s by cross-breeding of Hampshire Down and Southdown ewes with Cotswold rams. It is reared primarily for meat.
The Romney, formerly called the Romney Marsh sheep but generally referred to by the local farmers as the Kent, is a breed of sheep originating in England. The Romney is a "long-wool" breed recognized in England by 1800. Exported to other continents, the Romney is an economically important sheep breed, especially to the sheep-meat and wool export trades of New Zealand.
The Texel is a Dutch breed of domestic sheep originally from the island of Texel. It is a heavy and muscular sheep, and produces a lean meat carcass. It is polled, clean-faced and clean-legged, with white face and wool. The fibre diameter of the wool averages about 32 μ, with a staple length of 8–15 cm; it is used mainly for knitting and hosiery wools.
The Bluefaced Leicester (BFL) is a longwool breed of sheep which evolved from a breeding scheme of Robert Bakewell, in Dishley, Leicestershire in the eighteenth century. First known as the Dishley Leicester, and then the Hexham Leicester, because of the prevalence of the breed in Northumberland, the name Bluefaced Leicester became known at the beginning of the 20th century. In the 1970s, the Bluefaced Leicester was exported to Canada. Exported frozen semen from the United Kingdom is now used to expand the genetic diversity in Canada and the United States. It is raised primarily for meat.
The Shetland is a small, wool-producing breed of sheep originating in the Shetland Isles, Scotland, but is now also kept in many other parts of the world. It is part of the Northern European short-tailed sheep group, and it is closely related to the extinct Scottish Dunface. Shetlands are classified as a landrace or "unimproved" breed. This breed is kept for its very fine wool, for meat, and for conservation grazing.
The Wiltshire Horn is a breed of domestic sheep originally from Wiltshire in southern England raised for meat. The breed is unusual among native British breeds, for it has the unusual feature of moulting its short wool and hair coat naturally in spring, obviating the need for shearing. They are good mothers and have high fertility.
Bond sheep are an Australian sheep breed that was developed around 1909 near Lockhart, New South Wales by Thomas Bond when he mated Saxon-Peppin Merino ewes to stud Lincoln rams for primarily wool production. The resulting progeny was selected on the basis that they would be more suited to the Riverina environment. Initially these sheep were known as ‘the Commercial Corriedale’.
Sheep or domestic sheep are a domesticated, ruminant mammal typically kept as livestock. Although the term sheep can apply to other species in the genus Ovis, in everyday usage it almost always refers to domesticated sheep. Like all ruminants, sheep are members of the order Artiodactyla, the even-toed ungulates. Numbering a little over one billion, domestic sheep are also the most numerous species of sheep. An adult female is referred to as a ewe, an intact male as a ram, occasionally a tup, a castrated male as a wether, and a young sheep as a lamb.
North Country Cheviot is a common breed of sheep raised mainly for meat production. Originated from Scotland.
The Heidschnucke is a group of three types of moorland sheep from northern Germany. Like a number of other types from Scandinavia and Great Britain, they are Northern European short-tailed sheep. The three breeds of Heidschnucke are:
The Van Rooy, also known as the Van Rooy White Persian, is a breed of domestic sheep native to South Africa. The Van Rooy was first developed in 1906 by J. C. van Rooy, a South African Senator and farmer in the Bethulie district. The Van Rooy is cross between indigenous Ronderib Afrikaner sheep, and Rambouillets. It is a fat-tailed sheep and also a hair sheep, removing the need for shearing and crutching. They are generally kept for meat production, and are very well-suited to arid climates. Van Rooys are polled, have drooping ears, and are entirely white. The breed is relatively rare, even in South Africa, but has also been exported to Namibia and Zimbabwe.
The Eliottdale is a breed of domestic sheep originating from Tasmania. It is a carpet wool breed raised primarily for its wool. Due to the amount of wool grown by the Eliottdale, it needs to be shorn twice per year.
