Newfoundland sheep

The Islands of Newfoundland are mainly supported through fisheries, but a persistent population of sheep has been present since the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, and a native landrace has developed since that time.

Of the information that is documented, the author has concluded that the Border Cheviot characteristics were the most prominent breed while Blackface Highland and Portland sheep were also present.

These sheep have survived through extensive management and natural selection and have been recorded to be continuous breeders, easy lambers, good mothers and late maturing lambs.

A breeding program needs to be set up to guide the producers into preserving the Local Newfoundland sheep.

In recognizing that there has been an effort made to find what the physical phenotypic characteristics of the "Local" Newfoundland breed of sheep are (by weighing, measuring and recording of these measurements) it is the author's opinion that there are some similarities and differences in the flock of sheep across the province.

In the general appearance of the face, the bulk of the animals resemble North Ronaldsay sheep in color and distinct appearance but in a larger size and a Border Cheviot body while there are a minority group with some resemblance to Finn sheep or Romanov mountain or island breeds which would be very new to North America.

The overall body Many people have helped in the collecting of blood samples, including Marg Zillig, Roy MacKenzie (NSDAM), Mike Wallace (US Meat Animal Research Center, Nebraska), Brian Magee (Cornell University, NY).

DNA from Red Maasai was kindly provided by Dr. Alan Teale and Dr. Olivier Hanotte, the International Livestock Research Institute, Kenya.

Many of the Newfoundland Department of Forest Resources and Agrifoods' staff assisted in data and blood collection and in particular Ben Pungtilan, Morley Hann and Michelle Ralph Spears.

Many sheep breeders across Newfoundland and Canada need to be thanked for without their kind collaboration it would not have been possible to complete this experiment.

Financial assistance for this project was provided by the Canada/Newfoundland Green Plan, and Canada/Newfoundland Agricultural Safety Net Program.