Texel sheep

Texel

Conservation status	FAO (2007): not at risk [1] : 148  DAD-IS (2023): not at risk [2]
Other names	Texelaar Texelse Improved Texel Verbeterde Texelse
Country of origin	Netherlands
Use	meat, wool, cheese
Traits
Weight	Male: average 95 kg [2] Female: average 75 kg [2]
Height	Male: average 70 cm [2] Female: average 68 cm [2]
Wool colour	white
Face colour	white
Horn status	polled
Sheep Ovis aries

The Texel is a Dutch breed of domestic sheep originally from the island of Texel off the north coast of the Netherlands. It is a heavy and muscular sheep, often exhibiting extreme muscular hypertrophy, and tends to produce leaner lambs than some other breeds. It is polled, clean-faced and clean-legged, with white face and wool.

The Texel is distributed in approximately thirty-five countries in Europe, the Americas and Oceania, with estimated populations of over 5000 head in Argentina, Brazil, Chile, the Czech Republic and the United Kingdom. ^[3] It is reared primarily for meat.

A number of other breeds or sub-types derive from it. These include the Blue Texel, a colour variant with breed status; the British Texel, developed in Scotland in the latter twentieth century; the French Texel, developed in France from about 1930; and the Beltex and Swifter breeds.

History

The Texel originated on the island of Texel, the largest of the Wadden Islands off the north coast of the Netherlands. The original sheep of the island were relatively long-legged animals of polder or marshland type, not dissimilar to the Fries Melkschaap. ^{[4] : 931  [2]} From the early years of the nineteenth century, these were systematically cross-bred with imported British stock of various breeds – among them the Border Leicester, the Leicester Longwool, the Lincoln Longwool and the Wensleydale – with the aim of improving meat production qualities. ^{[4] : 931} A herd-book was established in 1909. ^[2]

In the twenty-first century the Texel constitutes approximately 70% of all meat sheep in the Netherlands. ^{[4] : 931} A number of other breeds or sub-types derive from it. These include the Blue Texel, a colour variant with breed status; the British Texel, developed in Scotland in the latter twentieth century; the French Texel, developed in France from about 1930; and the Beltex and Swifter breeds. ^{[4] : 932}

Stock imported from France by the Animal Breeding Research Organisation in Scotland in 1970 was cross-bred with a variety of British breeds including the Border Leicester, Hampshire Down, Leicester, Lincoln and Southdown, leading to the development of the British Texel; a herd-book was started in 1972. ^[5] It is larger and heavier than the original Dutch stock, with weights to 120 kg for rams and 85 kg for ewes. It is the most numerous British breed, with a population in the early twenty-first century of some 350000 ewes. ^{[4] : 932} Some of the sheep are valuable: a ram lamb was sold in Lanark in 2009 for £231000, and in 2020 another was auctioned for almost £368000. ^{[6] [7]}

Characteristics

The Texel is a heavy and muscular sheep, often exhibiting extreme muscular hypertrophy, and tends to produce leaner lambs than some other breeds. It is polled, clean-faced and clean-legged, with white face and wool. ^{[4] : 932} Average body weights are approximately 95 kg for rams and about 75 kg for ewes; average heights at the withers are about 70 cm and 68 cm respectively. ^[2]

A mutation in the 3' UTR of the myostatin gene in Texel sheep, which creates target sites for the microRNAs miR-1 and miR-206, may be the cause of the muscular hypertrophy seen in the breed. ^[8]

Use

The Texel is reared primarily for lamb's meat, often by use as a terminal sire. ^{[4] : 931}

Fleece weights are usually in the range 3.5–5.5 kg. The fibre diameter averages about 32 μ (Bradford Count 46s–56s), with a staple length of 8–15 cm; the wool is used mainly to make yarns for knitting and for hosiery. ^{[4] : 932}

Gallery

• 
  Ewe with lamb on Texel
• 
  On the island of Texel
• 
  British Texel ewe with twin lambs in Norfolk

References

1. Barbara Rischkowsky, Dafydd Pilling (editors) (2007). List of breeds documented in the Global Databank for Animal Genetic Resources, annex to The State of the World's Animal Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture. Rome: Commission on Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture, Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. ISBN   9789251057629. Archived 23 June 2020.
2. Breed data sheet: Texelaar / Netherlands (Sheep). Domestic Animal Diversity Information System of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. Accessed February 2023.
3. Transboundary breed: Texel. Domestic Animal Diversity Information System of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. Accessed February 2023.
4. Valerie Porter, Lawrence Alderson, Stephen J.G. Hall, D. Phillip Sponenberg (2016). Mason's World Encyclopedia of Livestock Breeds and Breeding (sixth edition). Wallingford: CABI. ISBN   9781780647944.
5. Breed data sheet: British Texel / United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland (Sheep). Domestic Animal Diversity Information System of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. Accessed January 2025.
6. [s.n.] (28 August 2009). £231,000 sheep sets price record. BBC News: Scotland. Accessed January 2025.
7. [s.n.] (28 August 2020). World's most expensive sheep sold for £368,000. BBC News. Accessed January 2025.
8. Alex Clop, Fabienne Marcq, Haruko Takeda, Dimitri Pirottin, Xavier Tordoir, Bernard Bibé, Jacques Bouix, Florian Caiment, Jean-Michel Elsen, Francis Eychenne, Catherine Larzul, Elisabeth Laville, Françoise Meish, Dragan Milenkovic, James Tobin, Carole Charlier, Michel Georges (2006). A mutation creating a potential illegitimate microRNA target site in the myostatin gene affects muscularity in sheep, letter. Nature Genetics. 38 (2006): 813–818. doi : 10.1038/ng1810.