The Courier & Advertiser (Fife Edition)
‘Great improver’ changed face of sheep farming
The classic Border Leicester has an impressive history in shaping today’s versatile flocks
Like its classic profile, the Border Leicester sheep can proudly hold its head high in the annals of British agriculture, with a long and distinguished history going back more than 250 years.
Sadly its use as a provider of breeding rams to put to Cheviot ewes to create the half-bred type, or to a Blackface to create the greyface, has declined due to the popularity of the Bluefaced Leicester and Texel breeds. However, it has a sound pedigree by being a type bred through close selection by one of the key figures in British stock breeding – Robert Bakewell who lived between 1726 and 1795. 7
Bakewell transformed the landscape of farming with better crops and livestock, and is thought to have begun to improve the large leggy, heavy-woolled sheep native to his lands at Dishley in Leicestershire during the mid-1700s when he selected sheep to form this type, with local climate and soil types all having an influence.
The new turnip crop, which allowed the feeding of large numbers of stock through the winter months, was also a driver for Bakewell’s selection.
The old sheep, traditionally bred for their wool, were transformed into a compact symmetrical animal with early maturity and an ability to put on flesh. Bakewell’s rams soon demanded high prices for both sale or hire to other sheep breeders who were using them to improve their stock.
His disciples– the Culley brothers from County Durham – followed his methods religiously and, in 1767, they moved north to farm at Fenton near Wooler in Northumberland.
From this period, they, and other northern breeders, as well as breeders from the Scottish borders, went south to bring these Leicester sheep north for their own flocks. Soon Leicester sheep were being crossed with the native Cheviot breed and became known as the Border Leicester.
Eventually it became a separate breed and by the 1850s the practice of going south for Leicester rams discontinued.
The Border Leicesters differed from the English Leicesters chiefly in the head, with the Border type having a white face of full muzzle, with wide nostrils, an aquiline nose and erect ears.
The English type had a slightly blueish white face with a tuft of wool on the forehead.
In 1898 the breed society was formed with the intent of producing an annual flock book.
All through this period the breed had found its niche as a ram for crossing with Cheviots and Blackfaces to produce breeding ewes.
Northern England and the Scottish Borders were the main strongholds for the breed, but the whole of the east of Scotland and the area south of Glasgow – in fact a great many dairy farmers in the west were prominent breeders – also had great numbers.
As the breed is less hardy than Cheviot, Blackface and other hill breeds, it has remained a low ground breed, although the grey face cross from the Blackface often inhabited hillier areas.
Buyers seeking Border Leicester rams had the biggest choice at the famous Kelso Ram Sales every September with huge numbers put forward.
Other sales for the breed were held at Edinburgh, Perth, Aberdeen, Glasgow, Ayr, Lockerbie, Carlisle and Rothbury.
Although the Border Leicester, while not at the forefront today, is still recognised as the “great improver”, sadly the Dishley or English type, now known as the Leicester Longwool, is listed as a rare breed.