I seem to be getting loads of hits recently on “Bowmont sheep”. So, here is a summary of information people might be looking for both as wool users and farmers thinking of keeping the animals.

The Bowmont was developed 25 years ago by The Macaulay Institute in Scotland to be an extra source of income for struggling Scottish hill farmers. The idea was to produce a hardy hill sheep with the finest possible quality wool. To that end they crossed white Shetland ewes with Merino rams and crossed the resulting females back to more Merino rams largely by AI to ensure the best quality genetics. That was only the beginning because the resulting animals needed years of refinement and hard work to produce the Bowmonts I have here today, i.e good consistent animals which produce fleeces between 15 and 20microns.

There was never much interest in the project by Scottish hill farmers largely because they wanted bigger meat lambs from the Bowmont (which will produce a hill type lamb if run at a minimal level) and kept crossing them out to other breed rams so losing the wool quality. They were also not as tough as was thought at first and failed to thrive in the harsh hill environment. The same problem arose more recently in Wales when ADAS bought some and promptly lost many through weather conditions and Johnes disease. They also crossed out to more Shetland rams to increase hardiness and lost wool quality. The small Bowmont flock in Wales is now  mainly first cross rather than pure Bowmont sheep and may not last much longer since there is only one ram which they bought two years ago from me. The sheep are not ideal for a commercial hill farm as ADAS have discovered.

The sheep I have here were bought from the research farm in Scotland after a great deal of thought. I was conscious of some pressure on me by the staff up there to keep the breed going. They knew I had their cashmere goats and was interested in fibre quality above everything else. It was a big commitment, taking on the result of 20+ years work by a very dedicated, high powered team of staff. I am very fortunate that they have all continued their strong interest in these animals (and the cashmere goats) and fall over backwards to help me at every turn.

I did it with considerable trepidation since I had never kept sheep, and now have the only pure Bowmont flock in the country. Each sheep has a pedigree longer than mine and can be traced back to the original Shetland/Merino cross. Each sheep also has full fibre test details. This is something which in my view is not an “optional extra” but an essential part of maintaining a wool flock. Claims of quality are meaningless unless they can be backed up by pure science.

I currently have a flock of 50 sheep and will be increasing as rapidly as the girls can manage! The three rams I shall be using for breeding this year have Mean fibre Diametre results of 16.7, 17.0 and 17.4microns respectively with a CV of under 20. (Consistently fine for those who don’t have in depth knowledge of this type of statistic. This puts these rams in the Super Fine Merino class and, on a world stage, classes their wool as fine as cashmere.  (My own cashmere here is much lower than this but the international accepted upper limit is 18.5 microns. )

From a management point of view, the sheep require no more care than any other breed but they do thrive much better in our gentler climate. We are 700ft up here and have frosts through till May so we are hardly the mild climate of south Devon. We are however gentler than the 1500ft they were running them at in Wales and Scotland. Lowland or moorland is fine but not high hill country.

I have the highest possible health status here and belong to umpteen expensive schemes which require blood tests at regular intervals. I have also embarked on semen storage with Innovis, the livestock breeding company. I  am committed to keeping this breed going.At the moment it is costing me money because of the health schemes and artificial breeding techniques I am investing in etc but very shortly that will cease. They are , to my mind, well worth it!

Going back to basics and starting new bloodlines in no longer an option to increase numbers. I’ve had long discussions with the original scientists involved and all have said the same thing – a few animals (which is all I could do it with) would be pointless. When they started they had HUNDREDS of ewes bred to Merinos. It was from that point that there was 25 years of selection work done. Far better then to continue with very careful breeding and line breeding with the excellent, stable stock I already have. Many historic rare breeds  have recovered from the brink of extinction with far less genetic material than I have here in my Bowmonts.

From a personal, rather anthropomorphic viewpoint, I find the sheep very attractive. Once I accepted that, having spoken ” goat” for several years, I was going to have to learn “sheep”, I hit it off with them. They do speak to me in a very different way but speak they certainly do and as long as I listen, all is well. I have the whole flock bucket trained although they will move easily with Belle, my dog. A couple of bottle fed lambs each year mean there is always someone who will come to see me in the field and the rest of the flock will happily allow me to walk among them. They are not flighty, nor do they jump so the Merino side is definitely dominant over the Shetland. However, they have lost the appalling mothering that Merinos are notorious for. I have never had mothering up problems of any kind. This is fortunate when you consider that only 25% of the genes are Shetland in the original cross. I find their feet absolutely excellent. We never footbath and have never had foot rot.

The wool of course is to die for!!! I have small amounts of fleece for sale to handspinners each year but the vast majority goes to my company buyer which is backing me all the way and is committed to the sheep for the forseeable future. I have to honour that commitment to me and the breed by giving them as much fleece as possible so the amounts for handspinning are limited. This is the trade off I must make in order to ensure a future for these sheep. So to those who have asked for whole fleeces and been offered 100g, that’s the reason!!

I am always happy to see people with a genuine interest in the sheep, particularly anyone interested in keeping them under contract to me. I am currently thinking of offering my wether flocks to people who will keep them and maintain them in return for a guaranteed exceptional income from the wool with of course, a little leeway for sale to handspinners. Anyone interested – get in touch!!

Type Bowmont into the SEARCH button on the RHS of this Blog to find all my posts about the sheep.