Watchlist |
The Rare Breeds Survival Trust | Cattle | Pigs | Sheep | Goats | Equines | Poultry |
Sheep
Devon and Cornwall Longwool
2008 Watchlist; Category 3, Vulnerable.
Two long-established native breeds of South-West England, the South Devon and Devon Longwool, were amalgamated in 1977 to form the Devon and Cornwall Longwool. The breed is dual-purpose, producing a good carcass lamb and heavy fleece of wool. It is particularly suitable for the production of heavy lambs finished on fodder crops for the winter marker, while the hard-wearing quality of the wool renders it valuable for carpet manufacture.
It is a large animal with rams weighing well over 100 kg. Both sexes are polled. The head and body are well covered in long curly, white wool. The average fleece weight for a ewe is 7 kilos and rams around 12 kilos but some fleeces have been known to weigh almost 20 kilos. Unusually for a British sheep breed Devon and Cornwall Longwools are shorn as lambs, producing a particularly warm, resilient and valuable fleece.