South Yeo Farm East: Rare & Traditional Breeds

We keep 2 pure breeds of sheep, both Welsh in origin: The coloured Balwen Welsh Mountain and the strikingly marked Kerry Hill. We sell registered ewes, lambs and rams for breeding, and unregistered stock for fattening or for customers who want a few pretty sheep to brighten up their holding! For information on our flocks, Balwen Welsh Mountain can be found directly below, or Kerry Hill can be found by clicking here.

The De Dwr flock of registered Balwens at South Yeo Farm; Flock number 313

When trying to decide on a native breed of sheep that would suit our needs, we were immediately taken by the attractive little Balwen from Wales. We wanted a versatile rare breed that was ‘different’, pleasing to look at, small and easy to handle, whose wool could be used for spinning / felting and whose skins could be made into lovely rugs. Each flock is given a flock name, usually Welsh in origin; ours is ‘De Dwr’ which is Welsh for ‘South of the Water’ from our farm name ‘ South Yeo ’.

The Balwen fleece is black but fades throughout the year to a deep chocolate brown; when they are shorn in the spring, the black under-wool is revealed once more. Well marked registered animals have a white blaze on the face running from the poll of the head down to the nose, four white socks, and a half-white tail. Other variations of these colourings – fewer or missing socks, no white in tail, broken blaze etc – mean the animal cannot be registered or bred, but they make excellent eating lamb with a small carcass that is more than made up for by an exquisite succulent flavour. Rams have classic curling horns while the ewes are naturally polled.

There are 102 registered breeders in Britain and fewer than 1500 breeding ewes known to the Rare Breeds Survival Trust. To our knowledge there are only 2 other Balwen breeders in the Southwest, most flocks are still based in the mountains of Wales. Balwen sheep are often mistaken for Zwartbles, a breed from Holland which is much larger and has big mule-like ears – not that we’re biased...

Balwens are excellent mothers, having very few lambing problems but are inclined to be a bit flighty – hailing back to their hardy mountain dwelling roots; fields need to be well fenced.

We manage the sheep with minimal need for medications through using careful stock management techniques. We manage the sheep in groups and move them from field to field every 10 days to help break the worm cycle. We run a closed flock which means that once our foundation breeding stock was purchased we have not brought any more animals on to the farm, helping to prevent the potential for importation of pests or disease. An exception is the rams; we buy in new bloodlines every year or 2 to prevent in-breeding as ewe lambs are kept on, but quarantine and closely monitor the new arrival before introducing him to the ewes. We currently keep around 50 registered breeding ewes and replace some each year with the previous year’s ewe lambs in order to constantly improve the flock.

MALES:
The base colour should preferably be black, but dark brown or dark grey is acceptable. An unbroken white stripe should run from the poll of the head to the nose. The lower two thirds of the tail to be white. A small quantity of white is acceptable on the lower jaw but it must not extend below the top edge of the breastbone. Males must have black noses and no white is allowed in or on the ears. Males must have four clearly defined white socks. A white sock must not extend above the hock or the knee. All males must have horns.

FEMALES:
As for rams, but some faults are allowed on a sliding scale of points. Females should ideally have four white socks. (In order to be fully registered females must have at least two clearly defined white socks.) Some black is acceptable within the white sock for the current time. Females should have black noses. No horns are allowed on the females

Animals which conform to the breed standard are inspected and registered by the Breed Society's inspectors at annual inspections held in Wales. Each registered animal is given a unique number and ear tag and recorded in the annual flock book along with details of its dam and sire. Balwen lambs can only be registered if they are born to registered parents.

In 2007 we decided to keep a second breed of sheep and looked around to find another that would fit in to our management system and ethos. We have always found the native Kerry Hill attractive and so different from the Balwen that it would make telling the 2 apart easy! In the autumn the ‘ South Yeo ’ flock was established when we bought in 11 pedigree registered in-lamb ewes from the Cannapark flock as foundation stock along with 3 ewe lambs to breed the following year. The intention is to breed up to 50 ewes to run along-side the Balwens, so for the time being we regret we wont have any female registered breeding stock for sale. Any poorly marked or male lambs will be sold for fattening or to provide meat for our own lamb boxes.

When they first arrived, the Kerrys seemed daunting as they are so much bigger than the Balwens but they have soon settled down; although the breed apparently has a reputation for being flighty - funny how folks tell you these things afterwards… with a bit of careful management and attention we have found that most sheep can be tamed so this is not an issue.

The breed originates from the Powys region of the English/Welsh borders. They are white with black upright ears, eye patches, muzzle, knees and feet. The wool is thick and exceptionally soft and we intend to have it spun to use and sell for knitting. Both the rams and ewes are hornless. Further details of breed standards can be found on the Kerry Hill Society website. The Society was formed in 1892. They mature at 55-65Kg for ewes and 65+ Kg for rams and produce a high quality lean meat. Although no longer on the Rare Breeds Survival Trust watchlist they are still not that numerous although they are well distributed around the UK . They are now classed as ‘Traditional’. They reportedly have a high prolificacy ranging from 175%-200%; indeed our first 10 ewes produced 16 lambs. The lambs are quick to mature.

We often have young stock available in season, please contact use for availability or see the ‘For Sale This Week’ section

As we are a smallholding, not a commercial farm, we do not always have a continuous supply of stock or meat, so please contact us for availability.

Meat
Our sheep are reared and finished slowly at their own pace on grass and are truly succulent. The breeds do vary in texture and flavour; primitive breeds such as the Balwen are quite different than other lamb, the meat is darker and denser and appears more like venison. One repeat customer has said that she compared a Balwen shoulder joint with other local lamb and found there was such a taste difference that she will only buy Balwen from now on! Balwen meat is lean and tender and as the carcass is smaller than most breeds, we usually have the shoulders and legs kept as whole joints rather than halved. The Kerry produces a larger flavoursome carcass that is also lean and widely sought after - why not try both and form your own opinion!

Our sheep are taken to a local abattoir, thereby minimising any stress to the animal, and are then butchered and packaged by a professional butcher. Lamb is sold by the half or whole animal, and orders can be taken in advance to ensure the butcher cuts to your specification. Fresh lamb is seasonal and is usually available from October to February; the Kerry tends to grow quicker and is available earlier and because of its slow development, we often keep Balwen on into its second year as hogget (midway between lamb and mutton) which is another taste sensation altogether! Mutton is also occasionally available; if you’ve not tried it, it has a more intense flavour but it should be cooked slowly as it can be tougher and have more fat cover than lamb, the slow cooking helps to render away the fat.

For a copy of our meat leaflet with latest prices, please click here - Adobe PDF file - 2,129kb

Each ½ or whole lamb can be cut by our skilled butchers to your specification. Some options are as follows:

We have foundation in food hygiene certificates and follow HACCP procedures.

If you would like us to let you know when we are due to have fresh lamb available, just send us an email and we can add you to our contacts list. Please be assured that we will not pass on your details to any third parties.

As with the pigs, we are often asked why, if the sheep are a rare breed, we do not keep them all rather than sending them to the butcher. In order to preserve the breed, only the very best and registered animals should be kept or sold for breeding and surplus stock can be reared for food. There are also always more males than are required – such is their bad luck!

Sheep Skins
We believe in making use of the whole animal and consequently have all our lamb skins tanned to make beautiful soft rugs in the natural Balwen colours which range from deep black to a light chocolate brown. We use a local Dartmoor tannery that has been professionally preparing skins for over 200 years.

The sheepskins are taken fresh to the tannery and are first washed in clear moorland water before the tanning process begins. Traditional wooden paddles gently circulate the skins through the tanning solution, which is held in large wooden vats. The tanned skins are then pegged onto racks before passing through a large drying oven. A circular granite wheel is used to buff the back of the skin to a fine level.

Each sheepskin is then individually softened. The fleece is combed and polished on a warm cylinder before a final trimming and hand brushing.

The rugs are easy to clean and maintain. They can be washed in a machine - use a cold or woollen cycle, with just a teaspoon of your normal powder – but no tumble drying!

Our sheepskin rugs add a touch of luxury to any part of your home; they can be used on the floor, on your settee or even sewn together to make beautiful larger rugs. Just remember that the Balwen is a small rare breed so please don’t be disappointed in the size of your rug!

Skins cost £40 plus P&P – to order please telephone or email us your contact details

Wool
This year we plan to have the Balwen and Kerry lambs wool professionally cleaned, carded and spun and made available as bags of carded fleece for spinning, spun wool in various weights on the cone or in 50g balls. All will be available to buy by collection or sent through the post. If you are interested in purchasing some natural wools, please contact us and we will let you know when it becomes available; further information will be posted here at that time. The lamb’s wool is untreated and the colours will vary from sheep to sheep as the sun bleaches their fleece through the year. The Balwen will be dark brown to black with some flecks, while the Kerry will be white.

Fleeces
We also sell naturally coloured fleeces for spinning, weaving, felting and other craft uses. The Kerry fleece has a Bradford count of 54-56 and is one of the softest of British wools. The staple length is approx. 10cm and fleece weight is around 2.7Kg and is remarkably kemp free. Balwen wool is shorter, surprisingly soft and springy and does have some kemp providing an interesting texture. The Bradford count is 40-50 microns, staple length 5-7cm and average fleece weights in the range of 1.5-2Kg. Here’s what one spinner had to say about working with Balwen
http://riverrim.blogspot.com/2007/07/rare-treat.html

All fleeces are sold as shorn and come from animals that have not been dipped in chemicals. We will endeavour to make sure the fleece is as clean as possible with any large pieces of soiled wool, twigs, grass, straw etc removed prior to packaging.

Roll it with the cut ends outside
Avoid contaminating good fleece
Do not tie up
Put in a suitable bag - plastic is OK for a short period but they should not be stored in these for any longer as they will sweat
Fleece is best stored in paper bags, nets or cotton pillow cases - moths are less likely to penetrate cotton and spoil the fleece
We have found that our border collie is particularly partial to pulling fleece from storage sacks and playing with it, so try to store them out of reach!

Older sheep fleeces (will have a mix of colours including grey fibres) £5 + P&P