Breed Focus: Black Welsh Mountain Sheep

Helen Babbs meets this attractive and thrifty breed from Wales

- Helen Babbs

In everyday conversation, ‘Black sheep’ is usually a negative description. But for the Black Welsh Mountain sheep, their distinctive dark colouring is the key feature for which the breed was prized and developed. As their name suggests, these are the native sheep which have grazed on the Welsh mountains for centuries. Up until the mediaeval period, these were mixed colour flocks, with the black fleeces being highly valued for making patterned fabric without the need for dying the wool. But the developing commercial wool trade favoured white fleece, and so this became the predominant colour.

However, some breeders still valued their black sheep, and by the early 20th century, selective breeding had produced an all-black strain. The Black Welsh Mountain Sheep Breeders Association was founded in 1920. These sheep are now recognised as a distinct breed in their own right, with all the thriftiness and agility of a Welsh Mountain sheep but also the fine black fleece, known in their native country as “gwlan cochddu” – red-black wool.

THE FLEECE

“I keep them for the black fleece, as well as their heritage because I am Welsh,” says Deborah Williams, whose 18 Black Welsh Mountains graze the pastures of Armscote Manor in Warwickshire along with a flock of Portland sheep. “They make lovely greys when mixed with the cream fleece from the Portlands.” The Black Welsh fleece is short, thick and strong, with very few kemp fibres, making it extremely soft. Unlike some other coloured breeds, the black fleece does not fade or grey with age: lambs are jet black, while adults are a very dark black-brown.