Scottish Blackface

The Blackface or Scottish Blackface is a British breed of sheep. It is the most common sheep breed of the United Kingdom. Despite the name, it did not originate in Scotland, but south of the border.^: 156

History

The origins of the breed are uncertain. It originated south of the Anglo-Scottish border, and did not arrive in the Highlands of Scotland until the second half of the eighteenth century.^: 157 It replaced the earlier Scottish Dun-face or Old Scottish Shortwool, a Northern European short-tailed sheep type probably similar to the modern Shetland.^: 156

There are several types of Blackface in the United Kingdom, including the Perth variety, which is large-framed and coarse-woolled, and found mainly in north-east Scotland, in Devon, in Cornwall and in Northern Ireland; the medium-framed Lanark type, with shorter wool, found in much of Scotland and in parts of Ireland; and the Northumberland Blackface, which is large with relatively soft wool.

Characteristics

The Blackface is always horned. The face and legs are black, sometimes with white markings.^: 43

Use

The Blackface is reared principally for meat production, usually through cross-breeding. Blackface ewes are commonly put to Blue-faced Leicester rams to produce the Scottish Mule or Scottish Greyface. Ewes of this cross-breed retain some characteristics of each parent – maternal qualities and hardiness from the dam, and fecundity and meat quality from the sire – and are much used in commercial lowland sheep-rearing.^: 43^: 906

The wool is very coarse, with a fibre diameter of 28–38 μm and a staple length of about 250–350 mm. It may be used for mattresses, for carpets, or to make tweed.^: 43