[Twotwo]

I have Dorset Downs .. lovely middle sized friendly sheep ( but then I’m biased!)
I use electric poly wire to graze in blocks that last about 16 days.. this helps with worms but it’s not as time consuming as moving to fresh grass every 2 or 3 days
Also I put my new lambs out in a small paddock at 2-3 days and they learn about electric fences very quickly .. I think their mums instruct them as well as the actual shocks. 

[SallyintNorth]

Haha, Dorset Downs were on the list in my head of suitable breeds for the purpose.  (If woolly is okay.)

Along with Hampshire Downs, Llanwenogs, Shropshires (see why I need to know where you are...!)  Dorsets can be found anywhere, probably Hampshires too, but Llanwenogs and Shropshires are rarer and probably more localised.  And there may well be other suitable options in your locale. 

Edited to add, all those breeds have nice fleeces for spinning too, which may give you another output - depending again on locale and whether there are lots of spinners in your area.)

[Kiran]

Thank you again, really informative. I'm in South Wales, the Swansea area to be more precise. I font have any objection to having a breed that need shearing, I was kind of attracted to the idea of shedding because in my head it would be one less thing to have to find someone that can do it for us. Kinda like having a car that cleans itself 😂. 

The good foot health was another factor, but if there is a breed that would be a better starter then I'm happy to take recommendations providing I can find them for an affordable price in the area.

So my thoughts about rotational grazing was to split it down and move them on, as they clear the area of grass, then move the chickens in behind them, albeit they would be a lot longer in the area as I would be having to fence them in smaller electric netted area.

[Richmond]

Have you thought about putting geese on after the sheep? They will close crop the grass, and won't dig massive dusting craters like chickens do. We let our geese clean up the lambing paddock and the grass comes through beautifully afterwards.

[SallyintNorth]

Chickens (or geese) following sheep would indeed be rotational grazing in my book.

Lots of potentially suitable Welsh breeds for you to consider, of which I know a little about a few, but there should be others on here in the country who can tell you more.

I think @BackinWellies has sold off all her Llanwenogs?  I've had friends kept them in Cumbria, and they seemed to be lovely middle-sized sheep, tasty, gorgeous wool for crafting.  I can't comment on feet or propensity to flystrike.

We've now got a Balwen tup.  He's producing stonking, strapping strong lambs from our mixed flock (lots of Shetland genes) but his fleece is good for the garden only.  He seems to have good feet.  Too soon to comment on propensity to flystrike or other factors.  I wouldn't class them as tame based on this one sheep, but will know more as his lambs grow up.  The chunkiness of his lambs at birth is a potential worry; from a lambing and ewe health point of view, I prefer lambs born tiny that grow fast once born. 

[SallyintNorth]

Some other Welsh breeds that I know something about.  (There are more, but I know nothing at all about breeds such as Clun Forest, South Wales Mountain, Hill Radnor.  Have a look at the RBST website for more info about the rarest.) 

Badger-faced Welsh Mountain sheep, Torddu.  From what I hear (but people always overstate the strengths and avoid mentioning the downsides of their own favourites...), they seem to have many of the attributes of the Shetland (which is the breed I would keep if I had to choose just one, and had only myself to consider.)  Torddu has lovely fleece for crafting.

Badger-faced Welsh Mountain sheep, Torwen.  Supposedly the "photographic negative" of the Torddu.  But as populations are bred, they diverge, so they may or may not have the same attributes as the Torddu.  The one Torwen fleece I've had wasn't a joy to handle or spin but I'd hesitate to damn the whole breed on that one example, particularly as I don't know who the sheepkeeper was, and whether they know anything about fleece for crafting.  (We acquired some through the Rare Breeds network for the first Tour of British Fleece in 2015.  Torwen was one of the most difficult to get hold of, and we don't know the origin of the one we eventually got.)

Lleyns are now used commercially, particularly in organic / grass-fed systems, so should be fairly plentiful across the region.  Excellent lambing and mothering (but can have a propensity to triplets), do well on grass only (even rearing triplets if on good grass), quiet / not flighty.  Nice enough fleece for crafting (but not particularly sought-after as quite plentiful.)  From my own experience with Lleyns, feet ok but not in the same league as some of the primitives, some propensity to flystrike. 

Beulah speckled-faced.  I know very little about these sheep, but the fleece we had was one of the most delicious of all the Welsh fleeces we had (for the Tour of British Fleece.)

Kerry Hill.  Striking-looking sheep, have quite a few devotees - and not just in Wales.  I've had only 1 fleece, and I know it came from someone with no knowledge of fleece, so it could have been a particularly poor example - but it was horrible! 

Black Welsh Mountain.  I believe (but not firsthand) that these are generally good hardy sheep, suited to outdoor lambing, decent feet, and good meat.  Probably not particularly tame though.  I've had one very delicious fleece, but I know that the majority will not be of that quality, and the fleece is not particularly popular with crafters. 

[SallyintNorth]

I'd suggest also being open to looking at Shropshires.  They are often chosen for grazing orchards as they are reputed to be less likely to bark trees than other breeds.  But I can't verify that claim, or otherwise.  I can say that the Shropshire fleece I've spun was lovely.

And personally, I recommend anyone going into sheep to consider Shetlands (which are to be found everywhere.)  Delicious strong-flavoured meat (but some people do not like the strong flavour.)  Good feet, lovely colours and fleece, in my experience and opinion the best possible lambers and mothers (my #1 piece of lambing equipment is a pair of binoculars, and I hardly ever have to help a ewe to lamb or to mother up), triplets very rare, some resistance to flystrike, generally can be tame if handled that way. 

[Kiran]

Have you thought about putting geese on after the sheep? They will close crop the grass, and won't dig massive dusting craters like chickens do. We let our geese clean up the lambing paddock and the grass comes through beautifully afterwards.

Yes, as it happens this was one of the options we looked at. I was also looking at putting geese in the orchard to keep the grass sown but it would mean protecting the trees. I've seen a method using galvanised fence material that looks promising there. Definitely wouldn't rule out the geese after sheep either. I had thought about the chickens and moving them in a more regular basis as they also seem to love ripping up weeds that may not have been eaten

[Kiran]

Wow, thank you. That's a lot if breeds to look into. The only one I have any experience around was the Black Welsh Mountains as the guy who used to do my tractor maintenance used to keep them. His 10 year old son used to handle them so his were relatively tame and had the other properties you described.

A bit more research this weekend I think