The Perendale was developed in the 1950s as a dual-purpose meat and fibre breed for use in steep hill situations by Geoffrey Peren at Massey University in New Zealand. Peren crossed Cheviot rams on Romney ewes to produce this breed. Although Perendales were first imported into the USA in 1977, they are still rare in North America. They are a medium-sized longwool sheep that does well in cold and wet climates. Both sexes are polled.
The number of this breed has increased since the 1980s because hill-farming has increased and these sheep are perfectly adapted to that kind of terrain. Rams generally weigh 100kg-118kg and ewes weigh substantially less at 54kg-68kg. These are very much a commercial breed of sheep that were bred to replace the pure breed Romneys that had deviated from its original type over the years and were no longer doing so great in the hilly areas of the north island of New Zealand, despite the fact that they had been on the land since 1853. Perendale's are bred for their meat and wool and it is hard to find any really good concise information about them as they are not really the kind of sheep that people take to shows.
Perendale is a bouncy wool, which will spin up with a spring to it, as opposed to the compact sleekness of English longwools. This lofty quality can add warmth to sweaters or cushioning qualities to rugs, depending on the fineness of the fibre and your plans for using it.
There are both finer and coarser ranges within the breed, and New Zealand standards have moved toward the coarse end of the scale lately in response to market demands and husbandry realities. Thus some sheep are producing wools for general knitting yarns whilst others grow fleeces best suited for harder wearing textiles like rugs, bags and upholstery.
Fleece weigh 3.4kg-5kg with staple lengths of 4-6 inches (10cm-15cm). The fibre diameters are usually 28-35 microns but in New Zealand there is a shift more towards 30-37 microns.
The fibres have even crimp with low lustre and free of kemp or black hairs. They are usually white, although there are some coloured flocks. The fleece will take dye well but not with the same clarity that other longwools do and without any shine. It can be spun straight from the lock, be flicked or combed although if you have a fleece that is short you can card that. The fibres will capture air and be bouncy, if you are spinning worsted you may need to spin finer than you would usually to allow for bloom. Yarns will be slightly crisp and will be good for texture stitches and patterns.
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I brought this breed in as 100g of pre-prepared fibre from World of Wool ready to spin in May 2022.
