South Wales Mountain Sheep

The South Wales Mountain sheep has been around since the 20th century, or at least recognised as a separate breed since then, according to information from the British Wool Marketing Board.  Not to be confused with the Welsh Mountain (Pedigree) sheep, which whilst similar, is smaller and has a different type of fleece. They are sometimes referred to as a Nelson or a Glamorgan Welsh.  It has, for many years, been a self-contained sheep and a definite local type.

Ram and Ewe, both showing the distinct tan collar

The South Wales Mountain 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 are are native to the hills of Glamorgan, Gwent and South of the Brecon Beacons.

They are the largest of all of the Welsh Mountain breeds.  They are a hardy breed that are able to survive harsh weather.  They have a white head with tan markings on the face and legs, which are free of wool, and a black nose.  The rams have horns whilst the ewes are polled.  They have a distinctive tan/brown collar.

They produce a medium size fleece of 1.25-2kg that is dense with blocky staples with short tapering tips and contains a lot of kemp throughout the fleece. The staple length is 2-7 inches (5-17.5cm) and the average micron count is 35+. Any kemp that is in the fleece won't take the dye very well but the wool will take colour well.

This fleece can be spun from teased locks, it can be carded or combed.  Combing will remove the majority of the kemp.  If you leave the kemp in and spin it then you will get very scratchy yarn, if you remove it then you will get gorgeous soft wool

Yarns spun from South Wales Mountain fleece are good for next-to-skin garments, sweaters, hats. gloves and anything else you care to knit if you have removed the kemp.  If you have left the kemp in then it is only suitable for rugs, bags and other heavy use items.  

This was another breed that I had trouble getting hold of because of some confusion over the name and also the fact that some consider this breed and the Welsh Mountain (Pedigree) sheep to be one and the same breed but they're not, the fleeces are so very different.  I also encountered a lack of response from breed societies, possibly caused by Covid-19 and with people losing their lives to this virus. I was messaging and emailing the breed society for over 6 weeks with no response and eventually phoned the number provided and left a message. 

I eventually got a call back and was given a name and a phone number.  I called the number and had a good chat with Arthur Davies, who has won many Champion ribbons at shows, including the Royal Welsh Show, for his sheep.  His farm is located in Blackwood, Gwent Valley, on an exposed upland location and completely off-grid sitting approx 1200ft above sea level, rising to about 1440ft and winds can reach over 100mph.  These are the conditions that his sheep thrive in.  Although I only asked for 500g of fleece he sent me the whole fleece from a mature ewe that has recently reared a lamb and despite me badgering him to let me pay him, he has refused any payment for this and the postage cost. 

On arrival it was just under 1.7kg but after skirting and removing a bit of cotted fleece it was 1389g before washing and 1169g after washing.

Lots and lots of kemp, mostly white, but with red kemp down towards one end, most likely what makes the tan coloured neck ruff tan. 

There is some lovely wool hidden amongst it, not a whole lot, but I will be combing this as usual so all of that kemp will go and I will be left with whatever wool is in there.

I put this into 3 large plastic bags for temporary storage as I worked on combing it, one bag for each layer of fleece on my hanging drier. I picked the lightest bag to work on first and 326g of kemp rich fleece became 65g of fairly soft hand combed nests and it took me a couple of days to get that amount.

This clearly shows the waste compared to how much lovely soft wool I got from it

I was going to throw the rest of this fleece in the bin, as I had enough for the project, but the wool content is so soft that I feel its worth the hard work to remove the kemp. I did find a really small amount of hair in the last bag of fleece but it was really only about a handful and seemed out of place amongst the rest of the fleece.

All in all I got 248g of lovely soft wool from the original dry clean fleece of 1169g, which is about 21% yield.  It's not a lot but it is really, really nice.

My finished yarn is of good quality to the touch of the hand and there is no prickly feeling whatsoever because I removed all of the kemp to uncover just the pure wool.  I actually got 3 skeins from the fleece, two that weigh about 90g and one that was about 65g and in total there was 249g/562m of sport weight yarn. My knitted piece for the project took 43g/81m so I have a nice amount left to do whatever with.