Scandinavia is believed to be the country of origin of the Herdwick breed.
They now lives entirely on the herbarge of the high mountain ranges throughout
the English Lake District, hardy enough to need no supplementary feed during
the winter.
Its most remarkable characteristic however, is it's heafing instinct: These sheep
will spend their entire lives near the place they were born. (Perhaps this intimate
contentment of being near their birth place is one of the reasons why they live so long).
Beatrix Potter, the famous children's autor recognised the importance of
Herdwick sheep. It was Potter's love of these stocky fell animals that ensured their
future in the Lakes by breeding them and entering them into the local Cumbrian
competitions. In her will she bequeathed all her properties to the National Trust,
so today when the land and property of these Lakeland Farms are sold, the
incoming tenant must take on the heafing flocks of Herdwick particular to that
farm, thus ensuring the breed is sustained in it's natural environment.
Herdwick description: Face and ears white, with an arched nose. Legs are covered
in short bristly hairs. Lambs are born with an almost black wool, which turns
lighter with age. The Herdwick fleece is coarse and kempy on the sheeps' back,
but once it has been washed, scoured and spun into an appropiate and specialist
yarn, it can be made up into an attractive woolly rug. The two natural grey yarns are
undyed from sheep of different ages, the darker of the two coming from the younger sheep. |
