If you are interested in this breed, please contact me by email or telephone. Every year we have lambs for sale! We only breed with ARR-ARR rams from Scottish imported bloodlines.

A brief history of the Blackface breed.

The breed's origin is lost in the midst of time, but undoubtedly emerged from the genetic umbrella of ' horned ' sheep from which also
sprung the Swaledale, Rough Fell and other localised types such as the Lewis and Mayo Blackface.
Monastery records of the 12th century tell of the Dun or Blackface breed of sheep. The monks used the wool for their clothes, and also
exported large amounts to Europe. In the 16th century, King James IV of Scotland established an improved Blackface flock in
Ettrick Forest. During the 17th and 18th centuries, it was known as the Linton Sheep, West Linton in Peeblesshire being the main sale
for the type. In the early 19th century, the breed was taken from Dumfriesshire and Lanarkshire and introduced into the north of
Scotland, but due to the high price of cheviot wool the Blackfaces were cleared off the hills in favour of the cheviot. This continued until
1860, when the wool prices reached the same level and the farmers realised that the blackface, with its ability to survive and reproduce
in adverse weather conditions, was the best suited breed to utilise hill and mountain grazing. In the late 19th century, there was an
upsurge in interest in breed improvement. Many of the farms that sold high priced tups and enthusiastically promoted the breed at that
time possessed names that are still well known today.

A description of the Blackface breed

All Blackfaces are horned, with black or black and white face and legs. The fleece should be free of black fibre and can vary from short,
fine wool used for carpets and tweeds to strong coarse wool, which is sold mainly for the Italian mattress trade. There are several
distinct types within the breed. These have evolved over the years, influenced by climate, environment and grazing quality. This gives
the breed the advantage of being able to produce species to suit every climatic condition. The Scottish Blackface, which are the most
numerous, are sub-divided into three types. The Perth type, a large-framed sheep with a medium to heavy wool, is found mainly in
north-east Scotland, south-west England and Northern Ireland. The Lanark type, which is dominant in much of Scotland and areas
of Ireland, is of medium size, with shorter wool than the Perth type. Over the past thirty years, a strong influence of Newton Stewart type
has been introduced, the integration of Lanark and Newton Stewart bloodlines, as well as benefiting both milking ability and hardiness,
has helped create a more uniform and identifiable breed. In the north of England, the large-framed, soft wooled Northumberland
Blackface is popular and influential in breeding the North of England Mule.