About Wiltshire Sheep

Characteristics of the Wiltshire Sheep

Wiltshire sheep are a large white faced breed sheep that moult (shed their wool) naturally in the spring-summer.
They have no wool on their heads, bellies, legs, and around the perineal region. All these regions are covered in short white hair.
The underside of the tail is bare skin.
The wiltshires have high fertility. Twins are common.
The ewes are good mothers.
Wiltshires can be horned, polled or have scurs (small horn buds)
They are a free moving active sheep.
Lambs have good growth rates and start moulting in their first summer.

History of the Wiltshire Sheep

The Wiltshire Sheep Breed can be documented as far back to the 18th century in Britain. Here Wiltshire sheep were the predominant type of sheep farmed on the Wiltshire Downs. There is archaeological evidence that the Roman settlements in this region farmed a similar type of sheep.

Earlier archaeological evidence tells us the first domesticated sheep where in Britain about 3000BC and they where similar to the Soay Sheep (one of the few of today's breed of sheep that moult). These early sheep were brown and hairy with a thin layer of wool that moulted. Wool was harvested from these sheep by "rueing" or plucking it from the sheep. Wiltshire sheep may of descended from these early sheep .
Wiltshire sheep were exported from Britain to Australia in 1952. Due to some clever breeding the polled gene was introduced the Wiltshire breed. This gave the breed all the positive traits of the Horned breed with none of the commercial disadvantages of the horns. In the1970's Polled and Horned Wiltshire sheep were imported into New Zealand. The breed increased in numbers rapidly but then the price of wool rose to new heights and the breed lost popularity. Today the low wool prices and high labor costs have made the breed a viable alternative sheep breed.

History of our Wiltshire Flock

We have been breeding Wiltshires since 1988.Our flock is mostly polled. Initially we where fortunate to buy two existing flocks and we have we have purchased rams from a variety of other Wiltshire Breeders. We keep our ewe flock numbers at 600