Blackface Ewes And Lambs. Photo Credit: Blackface Sheep Breeders Association

The main purpose of Blackface sheep in the United Kingdom, is to utilize the hill and mountain grazing to best advantage.  They produce lambs which are suitable for short or long keep, finishing off grass, rape, turnips or in-shed.

Off better hill grazing, many lambs are sold direct off their mothers at carcass weights of 30-40 pounds.  The smaller hill lamb is ideal for the markets of Italy and Spain, which require carcass weights of 16-25 pounds.  Blackface lamb is naturally reared, symbolizing the purity and goodness of the land and has a reputation for its unrivaled sweet flavor and tenderness.  Available from September on, it is without doubt “naturally good”.

Blackface Ewe With Twin Scotch Mule Lambs. Photo Credit: Blackface Sheep Breeders Association

Of equal importance, the Blackface ewe is at the summit of the pyramid of stratification of the British sheep industry. The hills produce a reservoir of females, which are drafted to marginal or upland farms either as ewe lambs or five or six year old ewes.  They are crossed with a Bluefaced Leicester ram to produce the ever popular Scotch Mule ewe, or a Border Leicester to produce the Greyface ewe.

Then crossed with a terminal sire such as a Texel or British Suffolk, the Scotch Mule ewe produces a top quality market lamb.

Scotch Mule Ewe With Texel Sired Lambs (Internet photo)