Herdwick

[1] Though low in lambing capacity and perceived wool quality when compared to more common commercial breeds, Herdwicks are prized for their robust health, their ability to live solely on forage, and their tendency to be territorial and not to stray over the difficult upland terrain of the Lake District.

[3] Severely threatened by the 2001 outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease in England and Wales, the breed has survived due to the intent to preserve this unique animal as a crucial part of traditional Lakeland agriculture.

[1] Although a piece of local folklore once suggested that it came from a wrecked Spanish Armada ship,[5] it appears that the Herdwick was an important breed in the Lake District by the end of the 12th century.

Lake District farmers in particular receive subsidies for operating in a designated Less Favoured Area from the England Rural Development Programme.

The outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease in 2001 led to the destruction of many flocks, and to fears for the survival both of the breed and of the typical Lakeland sheep farming industry.

More than the old drystone walls that quarter the fells, the packhorse bridges or the whitewashed farmsteads, the little grey Herdwick sheep typify the Lakeland.

[13] The destruction of entire flocks meant that the shepherds were forced to undergo the process of again heafing (the local term for hefting) their new sheep to the hills.

[1][14] The Cumbria Hill Sheep Initiative was set up to "reassess the position and circumstances" in the aftermath of the disease; tough government restrictions in order to prevent another outbreak are still in place.

They are normally left to graze freely on the hillsides (without any additional feed), but each ewe tends to stay in her heaf (the local term for heft), the same small area of fell.

[19] Herdwick ewes also commonly produce desirable market lambs and mules by cross-breeding with Suffolk, Cheviot, Charollais and Texel sheep.

[2] Herdwick lambs are born black and, after a year, they lighten to a dark brown colour (the sheep are called hoggs or hoggets at this stage).

Rams are also ruddied when put out with the ewes to show which have been mated and the dye is also one method (called a smit) of marking sheep for ownership.