Kerry Hill Sheep

The first written record for the Kerry Hill Sheep dates back to 1809 in Powys, Wales and the breed takes its name from the village of Kerry, near to Newtown, close to the Welsh/English border. It is thought to have been developed from the local landrace breed with the Beulah Speckled Face with infusions of genetics from Shropshire bloodlines from just over the border in England.

The Kerry Hill sheep, at the time of writing, is in the Rare Breeds Survival Trust category 6: "Other UK Native Breeds" (over 3000) registered breeding ewes.  They were once extremely numerous and then they declined before making a comeback in popularity in recent years.  They are found mostly in the Welsh Borders but can be found elsewhere

The Kerry Hill is a sturdy and adaptable medium build sheep with distinctive head markings.  It has a black nose and well defined black and white patches on the head and legs and black/black and white/white high set ears.  Both sexes are naturally polled.

They produce a medium size fleece of 2-3kg with a staple length of 2.5-5 inches (6-12.5cm) but usually around 4 inches.  The fleece is dense with locks that not particularly distinct but they can be separated out  by looking for the slightly pointed tips and pulling on them to release them from the mass. The fleece is clear white but will sometimes have dark fibres and small amounts of kemp, both of these are undesirable within the breed.  It has a small amount of lustre and will take dye beautifully.  

This fleece can be spun from teased locks, it can be carded or combed using Viking combs.  If the staple is long enough you can spin from the fold.  Spinning worsted style will make the most of the the slight shine and still produce a yarn with loft and warmth.  Spinning woollen style will give a more matte appearance and trap more air and produce extra warmth.  Yarns will be relatively lightweight for its thickness and they will bloom during the post-spin wash.

Yarns spun from Kerry Hill fleece are soft but hardwearing and makes reliable knitting yarns that are soft enough and durable enough for a wide range of everyday garments such as sweaters, hats, socks, mittens, blankets, pillows etc.

I have bought this breed in as an amount of raw fleece. It weighed 705g on arrival but there were some second cuts and lots of vegetable matter (VM).

Locks were 4 inches long

After I washed it it weighed 459g and after I combed it I was left with 268g of lovely hand combed nests.

My finished yarn is of good quality to the touch of the hand.  It is soft, with a slight crisp feel but has a lot of bounce and it definitely plumps up after it's washed so you need to spin it a little finer than you would normally do for your intended final yarn thickness.  My yarn is 61g/146m of sport weight.  My knitted piece for the project took 15g/36m so I have some left to do whatever with.  I also have the rest of the fibre to spin.