Norfolk Horn Sheep

The Norfolk Horn is one of Britain's oldest sheep breeds, dating back to at least the 13th Century, and was developed in East Anglia from an old Saxon black-faced sheep that were small, feral and deer-like. It does well in dry, cold conditions and will forage on sparse vegetation and thrives without loosing condition.  It is known to walk long distances to find grazing so can be used to maintain large sites.  They were used in the foldcourse rotation system of farming, grazing on the stubble of harvested cereal crops and fertilizing and improving the soil with their manure as they grazed, which then produced better crops in following years.  They were historically concentrated to the heathland areas of the Breckland, North West Norfolk and the Suffolk coastal region.

Top: Norfolk Horn Ewes
Botton: Norfolk Horn Ram

Prior to the late 18th century, little attention was paid to pedigree breeding or improving livestock by selective breeding.  When attention began to be paid to such matters the breed was not held in high regard and other breeds were introduced to the area, such as the Southdown.  Some flocks were replaced by the Southdown whilst others chose to cross-breed the Southdown and the Norfolk Horn to improve the breed and this ultimately led to the development of the Suffolk, which is a very successful and important breed today and the Norfolk's involvement in creating this new breed would ultimately lead to its own demise and near extinction.

The numbers of Norfolk Horns declined throughout the 19th century until there were only about 300 left in existence.  One man saved the breed from extinction.  Mr J D Sayer kept a flock from 1895 and built it up and in 1919 his was the only known flock of Norfolk Horns left in existence.  This would obviously have genetic and inbreeding consequences.  He maintained this flock for 30 years until 1947 when the remaining 13 sheep were sent to the Cambridge Animal Research Station for them to study the inheritance of Cryptorchidism, a characteristic sign of inbreeding and is the term used for undescended testicles, a condition which decreases fertility. By the end of the 1960's only 14 seriously inbred individuals existed and the last pure breed ram died in 1971.  

This situation was the catalyst for the formation of the Rare Breeds Survival Trust and careful back-crossing using a Suffolk ram (genetically a descendant of the original Norfolk Horn) began and ensured the recreation of the Norfolk breed to be as genetically close as possible to the original breed. Continuation of careful breeding resulted in an increase in numbers and a wider gene pool but still fewer than 300 by 1994 and there is still a risk of inbreeding. 

The numbers have increased since 1994 but they are still rare and are found mostly in an around East Anglia with other flocks dispersed across the UK, which helps if there should ever be another outbreak of Foot and Mouth Disease.  The Norfolk Horn sheep, at the time of writing, is in the Rare Breeds Survival Trust category 4: At Risk (900-1500) registered breeding ewes.  

They are a medium sized sheep with a long body, black face and long black legs and ears. Mature ewes weigh about 70kg and rams about 90-95kg. Both sexes have horns, the ewes have smaller horns than the rams, who have large spiral horns.

They produce a fleece that is short stapled and white in the adult, although lambs are often darker or mottled.  A small amount of black fibres or black spots is permissible in the adult fleece.  The staple length is between 3 and 4 inches long (7-10cm long) and can be anything from 1.75 to 2.25 kilos in weight. The fine fleeces were used in the Middle Ages for the East Anglian worsted industry upon which most of the regions wealth was based.

This fleece can be spun from teased locks or it can be carded or combed. It's a versatile fleece to work with.  If you dye this fleece it gives clean colours.

Yarns spun from Norfolk Horn fleece are durable but relatively soft and can be used to make hats, mittens, sweaters, socks, blankets and similar items.  

I have bought this breed in as 100g of pre-washed fleece ready for me to prepare for spinning and then spin.

There were a few small clumps of black fibres which I removed and then I combed the rest and I got 56g of hand combed top.  There are still a large number of black fibres in the hand combed nest, some contain a lot more than others.  I removed as many of these as I could using a pair of tweezers to clean them up before, during and after spinning.

My finished yarn is of medium quality to the touch of the hand and is a lot like the downs breeds and other similar breeds.  When next to some of the other "white" yarns, it leans more towards a pale pink/beige tone whilst others lean towards the pale creamy/yellow tone.  Very few head directly towards pure white.  My knitted piece for the project took 21g/55m so I have some left to do whatever with.