Badger Face Welsh Mountain - Torwen

This breed, the Badger Face Welsh Mountain - Torwen, has long been considered to be the reverse colourway of the Torddu that I blogged about last week and in the books that I have the two breeds are clumped together as one and that is not the case.  They are similar, come from the same place and they may well have common ancestors but they are two separate breeds and not just the same breed but different colours.

Top: A ewe and a lamb
Bottom: Ewes and a ram

The Badger Face Welsh Mountain Sheep, according to the British Wool Marketing Board, was established in the UK during the 1st century but they don't specify which one they are referring to.  This post is specifically about the Torwen and it is easy to see how it may be presumed that they are the same but in different colours but if you look closely the white stripe above the eye is not as pronounced and in a different position to the Torddu.  They also have white under the chin but then it seems to stop there and there is not a definite stripe down the breast as there is in the Torddu.  It does definitely have a white belly though and the rest of the fleece is dark brown to black.

At the time of writing, the Badger Face Welsh Mountain - Torwen, also known as the Torwen Badgerface Welsh is in the Rare Breeds Survival Trust category 5: Minority (1500-3000) registered breeding ewes and so there are far less of the Torwen as there are of the Torddu.

They are usually found in mid-wales but there are small specialist flocks in other parts of the UK too.

Because they are primarily raised for meat, the fleece is usually secondary and most often little attention is given to it.  Kemp may be present and many take this as a theoretical indicator to the hardiness of the sheep whilst others find it undesirable.  Generally the fleece weigh 1.5 to 2kg with a 3-4 inch (7-10cm) staple length, I presume this is for both breeds from what I can find out.

Because the quality of the fleece can be so varied I will not comment generally on how best to prepare the fleece because that really does depend on what type of fleece you have and how much work you want to put in in preparing it and what type of yarn you hope to get from it.  It is not a fleece that should be prepared by the inexperienced, that is for sure! 

I have bought this breed in as 100g of pre-washed fleece, presuming that this would be enough but it was so awful that I didn't get enough combed top from it and so purchased a second lot of 100g.  It felt really yakky to the touch, still felt greasy and coarse and just really really nasty.  Once my combs had done their magic in removing all the yakky stuff I was left with 62g of really nice soft downy wool, softer than the white Torddu.

My finished yarn is of soft quality to the touch of the hand.  My knitted piece for the project only took 31g/77m so I have a small amount left to do whatever with.