Too far for us and anyway there is only ONE multihorned Hebridean sheep in the catalogue. We have found that sheep bought so far south do not always thrive up here. We go for the Ancient Type Hebs, most of which are found in the north.
And I don't think the multihorned was even forward. Interesting what you say about south bred sheep not thriving up north Fleecewife. I think it is a shame that multihorns are frowned on especially in the show ring. Surely, the carcase and fleece are more important than the number of horns?
Interesting that multihorned tup wasn't forward. We went to the Scottish HSS Breed Show and Sale at Lanark and bought ourselves a nice 4 horned tup lamb and 2x4 horned ewe lambs. We wouldn't normally buy tup lambs as it is so difficult to tell how they will turn out, but the other 2 4 horned tups in the sale were not so good, so we took a chance.
With the multihorned Hebs, their lack of popularity is historical within the breed society, where two or three individuals took a dislike to multihorns and, being influential they made sure to warn against them and mark them down in the show ring. We have gone back to the pre-showing Ancient Type, which goes down well in Scotland, trying to preserve them as a rare breed within a now slightly less rare breed!
With Hebs, fleece for craft use is not important really as most folk don't like it, too coarse. In the ring, jet black and long is now the norm, whereas in the past grey and brown within the darker colour was the norm. The carcase for meat is more incidental than in many breeds. Hebs are light boned and small, so it's the quality not quantity which is desirable. There are a few large flocks around, bred for meat, mainly using unregistered stock which can be as large or small as you like. They cross well too. Multihorns have a slightly lighter, leggier body, so maybe that is one of the points against them - 2 horns look meatier!
Did you buy anything at MM harmony?
Sally, you soon learn how to handle multihorns to protect their horns when small, but ewe lambs do tend to break their horns, especially in fences, tups rarely. We haven't seen fly strike on broken horns other than in a Shetland tup, but then we clean up the blood if there is a broken horn. We did have two tup hoggs which got their side horns caught together and twisted them out of their heads. Gruesome! One died, one survived, both needed expensive vet care. That could have happened in 2 horned sheep too.
Topic: Melton Mowbray Native Breed Show/Sale 13th/14th Sept (Read 7660 times)
