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40 years of sheep breeding in the UK
Geoff Pollott
Senior Lecturer in Bioinformatics and Genetics
Survey 2012 Headlines
Decline in purebred ewe numbers continues
Increase in ad hoc crossbred ewes
The continuing rise of the Texel as a terminal sire and as part of a crossbred ewe at the expense of the Suffolk
Further imports of new breeds to Britain and the decline of established British breeds
Yet more new composites
Background
June and December Census data collected annually (well almost!!!).
No information on breeds or matings.
In 1970, the newly formed MLC set up study groups to determine technical direction of each species.
No comprehensive information was available on sheep breeds in Britain – initiated 1st survey at tupping 1971.
Subsequent surveys carried out in 1987,1996, 2003 and 2012.
The last 40 years in context
Total sheep numbers in Britain – June census
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
35
40
45
1860 1880 1900 1920 1940 1960 1980 2000
Mill
ions England
WalesEngland & WalesScotlandBritain
30 breeds
90 breeds
75 breeds
60 breeds
The rise of the crossbred
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
1971 1987 1996 2003 2012
Perc
enta
ge o
f ew
es
Purebred
Crossbred
Britain - Source: MLC/Defra/EBLEX Sheep Breed Surveys
Changing hill breed numbers
0
0.5
1
1.5
2
2.5
3
3.5
1970 1975 1980 1985 1990 1995 2000 2005 2010 2015
Mill
ions
Scottish BlackfaceAll CheviotsSwaledaleDalesbredRoughfellHerdwickExmoor HornWelsh MountainHardy SpecklefacedBeulahHill ewes as a proportion of all ewes
declined from 57% in 1971 to 31% in 2012
Disappearing purebreds?
1971 1987 1996 2003 2012
Border Leicester 12 28 13 5 4
Romney Marsh 294 217 159 165 201
Devon Closewool 127 51 6 7 4
Devon and Cornwall Longwool 290 28 4 2 2
Whitefaced Dartmoor 39 1 6 5 4
Greyfaced Dartmoor 33 4 3 4 4
Hampshire Down 1 15 2 8 7
Southdown 7 4 9 7 9
Clun Forest 401 124 44 12 10
Dorset Horn 59 124 17 12 11
Kerryhill 209 47 2 13 10
Llanwenog 20 3 10 6 7
Total 1,492 646 273 247 273
Overall breed changes in 40 years
Year UK ImportedNewly
importedLost
importedCompo
sites
New composites
Lost composites Total
1971 ~50 1 1 ~52
1987 58 1 8 0 1 5 0 73
1996 58 7 6 2 4 0 2 75
2003 58 13 10 0 4 3 0 88
2012 59 18 5 5 5 3 2 90
30 12
The era of the imported breed?
30 breeds imported over 40 years
- 5 not found in 2012
~ 545,000 ewes of imported breeds found in 2012
~ 20% of all non-hill ewes
The rise of the Texel ewe
Texel not found in 1971 survey
“In 1973, thirteen Lanarkshire sheep breeders joined forces with ABRO to import twenty-seven Texel females and thirteen rams from France.”
0
200
400
600
800
1,000
1,200
1,400
1,600
1,800
2,000
1971 1987 1996 2003 2012
Thou
sand
s Estimated purebred Texel ewe numbers
Estimated crossbred Texel ewe numbers
Terminal sire purebred ewe numbers
0
50
100
150
200
250
300
350
400
450
500
1971 1987 1996 2003 2012
Thou
sand
s Suffolk
Texel
Charollais
Terminal sire crossbred ewe numbers
0
200
400
600
800
1000
1200
1400
1600
1800
2000
1971 1987 1996 2003 2012
Thou
sand
s SuffolkTexelCharollais
Changes in regular crossbred ewe types (000) 1971 1987 1996 2003 2012North Country Mule 311 3,233 3,809 1,915 2,094Welsh Mule 370 631 738 330Scots Mule 502 263 610 231Greyface 214 332 156 212 90Welsh Halfbred 304 410 250 130 28Scottish Halfbred 590 346 162 100 19Masham 406 249 162 56 32Suffolk x Mule/HB type 550 603 495 590 622Texel x Mule/HB type 0 32 220 307 862Suffolk x Hill 154 182 115 81 154Texel x Hill 0 25 28 92 76
Total 2,529 6,284 6,291 4,831 4,538
A move towards more efficient sheep?
050
100150200250300350400450500
1971 1987 1996 2003 2012
Thou
sand
s
Lleyn
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
1971 1987 1996 2003 2012
Thou
sand
s
Bluefaced Leicester
Charollais
Composites – many a dashed dream?
12 composites introduced in 40 years
- 4 disappeared
Meatlinc - the most enduring ~ 3,000 ewes
Easycare - the up and coming ~ 20,000 ewes
Conclusions and discussion points
Stratified crossbreeding structure still found
Balance shifting towards crossbreds
Many ‘irregular’ crossbreds
New breeds and composites still appearing
Breeds with real traits to offer find a place
Questions?
Demographic changes - flocks
40
45
50
55
60
65
70
75
80
85
90
1970 1975 1980 1985 1990 1995 2000 2005 2010
Nu
mb
er
(000
)
No. of flocks (000)
Source: BWMB
Demographic changes – breeding ewes
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
1970 1975 1980 1985 1990 1995 2000 2005 2010
Nu
mb
er (
mill
ion
s)
Ewes mated (Millions)
40
45
50
55
60
65
70
75
80
85
90
1970 1975 1980 1985 1990 1995 2000 2005 2010
Nu
mb
er
(000
)
No. of flocks (000)
Britain - Source: Defra December census
Demographic changes - Britain40
45
50
55
60
65
70
75
80
85
90
1970 1975 1980 1985 1990 1995 2000 2005 2010
Nu
mb
er
(000
)
No. of flocks (000)
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
1970 1975 1980 1985 1990 1995 2000 2005 2010
Nu
mb
er (
mill
ion
s)
Ewes mated (Millions)
50
100
150
200
250
300
350
1970 1975 1980 1985 1990 1995 2000 2005 2010
Nu
nb
er o
f ew
es
Average flock size
Distribution of ewes and farms by breeding flock size
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
35
1 to 19 20 to 49 50 to 124 125 to499
500 to999
1 000+
% of farms
% of ewes
54% of ewes are on 13% of farms
UK - Source: Defra June census 2012
Breeding ewe numbers by country
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
1971 1980 1987 1996 2003 2012
Mill
ion England
Wales
Scotland
Older ewes - Source: Defra December census
Scottish Hill ewes
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
100
0
0.5
1
1.5
2
2.5
3
3.5
4
4.5
1971 1987 1996 2003 2012
%
Mill
ion Scottish Blackface
All CheviotsTotalPercentage
English hill ewes
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
100
0
0.2
0.4
0.6
0.8
1
1.2
1.4
1.6
1.8
2
1971 1987 1996 2003 2012
%
Mill
ion Swaledale
DalesbredRoughfellHerdwickExmoor HornTotal England HillPercentage
Welsh hill ewes
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
100
0
0.5
1
1.5
2
2.5
3
3.5
1971 1987 1996 2003 2012
%
Mill
ion Welsh Mountain
Hardy Speckle FaceBeulahAll Welsh HillPercentage
