How two Anglesey farmers developed UK’s newest sheep breed:
TWO farmers from North Wales have become the first in Britain to breed a goat-like sheep whose meat is popular with ethnic communities.
Peter Williams and Bedwyr Jones used embryo transfer technology to produce six purebred Damara lambs on their Anglesey farmland.
More than 50 Texel, Lleyn and Romney cross ewes were also inseminated, with a 75% plus success rate, so far yielding 65 Damara cross lambs.
The pair plan to retain the majority of lambs to build up numbers, test their hardiness and develop supply outlets.
The sheep’s unique tasting meat and fat is often used in traditional Middle Eastern cuisine – which Peter sampled when he managed a 13,000-ewe farm near Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, in the early 1990s.
He was keen to explore the breed’s potential as a post-Brexit diversification.
“There are many types of “fat tailed” sheep but all are renowned for their lean, distinctive tasting meat,” said Peter, who farms near Bryngwran.
“From my experience of working overseas, I knew it is particularly popular among ethnic communities.
“Although I’d put the idea on the back burner for many years, recent research soon convinced me this speciality meat would appeal to a niche market in the some of the UK’s biggest multicultural cities.”
Damaras can thrive in hostile environments and were raised by Namibian tribesmen for thousands of years.
They are known for their large “fatty” tails and hindquarters, which enables them to store energy as camels do with their humps.
With Bedwyr Jones, a Nant Gwynant hill farmer with land on Anglesey, Peter approached Farming Connect to set up a project under the European Innovation Partnership (EIP) Wales banner.
Joining them was Trisha Sutton, a former government vet from Rhosneigr with sheep expertise.
Overseeing the group is farm consultant Geraint Hughes, who helped source funding and sort paperwork both in the UK and in Australia, from where embryos and semen were imported.
He said: “The early signs are very promising in terms of their suitability, but it is very early days.”
Ewes were impregnated or inseminated in December and the lambs arrived earlier this month.
The purebreds include three ram lambs and three ewe lambs.
Despite the presence of more than 60 sheep breeds in Britain, Peter believes there is room for at least one more.
“As the flock is thriving well so far, we’re optimistic that we can now increase numbers steadily,” he said.
“We’ll see how they progress and then start to set up our supply outlets, both directly and through wholesale buyers.”
For updates on EIP Wales projects, visit the Farming Connect website.