Wensleydale sheep

The Wensleydale is a British breed of domestic sheep.

[1][2] It is named for the Wensleydale region of North Yorkshire, in the north of England, where it was bred in the early nineteenth century by cross-breeding a Dishley Leicester ram with local long-woolled sheep of a breed that is now extinct.

[3] It has a blue-grey face and long purled wool, and is among the heaviest of British sheep breeds.

Today this breed is established throughout the United Kingdom and extends into mainland Europe, this breed is also being established in the United States of America.

They are naturally polled and have a tuft of long wool on top of the head which is not typically shorn (for aesthetic purposes).The wool that falls between the ears and across the face is known as the topping.