Devon and Cornwall Longwool

Continuing my series on sheep breeds, the next breed is the Devon and Cornwall Longwool. They were once two different breeds, the South Devon and the Devon Longwool, but are now the one breed, which is fairly exclusive to the south west.
They are also currently a rare breed.
It is a large and hardy breed, normally used for specialist wool because of its distinctive long wool. They are also used for crossing with other breeds because they are a very fast growing breed, and usually lambs at around 150%.
They are all white and both sexes are polled sheep, they are a little shorter than some other breeds however they are also bulky, which means they produce much more fast growing lambs.
The ewes make extremely good mothers and are often crossed with terminal sires, commonly the Dorset Horn to produce excellent lambs at a high lambing rate.
They produce a lot of wool, often being sheared as lambs as well as older, and the wool has a staple length of around 20 cm. It is not of very high quality however is very good for carpets and rugs, hence why wool is one of the breeds main qualities.
What breed of sheep do you keep? Let me know in the comments below and I will cover them on this blog whenever possible. If you have anything else you would like to see on here please let me know in the comments.

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