Rough Fell

It is very hardy and, as its name suggests, has proved to be well-suited to endure the hardships of exposed and high moorland and mountains.

Mature ewes weigh 70 kilograms (150 lb) on average and rams 90 kilograms (200 lb)[4] As hill sheep roam freely over hundreds of acres of communal grazing on open fell land, their meat is as near to that of a wild animal as one can get in a farmed animal.

The hardy constitution of the breed enables a ewe to mother and rear her lambs whilst feeding mainly on the poor upland grasses and heathers found on her native moorland.

Rough Fell sheep can be recognised for the broad white patch across their black faces, and both rams and ewes are horned.

The ‘Rough’ is probably descended, along with its ‘cousins’ the Scottish Blackface, the Swaledale, the Dalesbred and the Lonk, from a sheep called, the ‘black faced heath breed’, mentioned in William Youatt's ‘Mountain Shepherds Manual’ in 1837 and 1883.