Easycare
Conservation status
Other namesEasy Care
Country of originUnited Kingdom
Usemeat
Traits
Weight
  • Female:
    average 60[3]: 803  or 65 kg[4]
Wool colourwhite
Face colourwhite
Horn statuspolled

The Easycare or Easy Care is a modern British breed of easy-care sheep. It was developed in Wales in the second half of the twentieth century by cross-breeding between Welsh Mountain and Wiltshire Horn stock, with the aim of combining the meat-producing qualities and natural moulting characteristic of the latter with the hardiness of the former.[3]: 803  It is reared for meat production.

History

In the latter twentieth century the price of wool in the United Kingdom fell so low that its value did not always cover the cost of shearing the sheep that provided it.[3]: 803  The Easycare was bred from the mid-1960s by Iolo Owen on the island of Angelsey in North Wales. He cross-bred Welsh Mountain and Wiltshire Horn stock, with the aim of developing a sheep that would combine the hardiness of the Welsh Mountain with the meat-producing qualities of the Wiltshire Horn, and would also be polled and moult naturally without needing to be shorn.[3]: 803  By the end of the century the number of breeding ewes was over 10000;[3]: 803  in 2012 the total population was reported to be 150000.[2]

There is a breed society, but no flock-book; stock is not registered.[5]

Characteristics

Use

References

  1. ^ Barbara Rischkowsky, Dafydd Pilling (editors) (2007). List of breeds documented in the Global Databank for Animal Genetic Resources, annex to The State of the World's Animal Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture. Rome: Commission on Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture, Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. ISBN 9789251057629. Archived 23 June 2020.
  2. ^ a b Breed data sheet: Easy Care / United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland (Sheep). Domestic Animal Diversity Information System of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. Accessed December 2022.
  3. ^ a b c d e Valerie Porter, Lawrence Alderson, Stephen J.G. Hall, D. Phillip Sponenberg (2016). Mason's World Encyclopedia of Livestock Breeds and Breeding (sixth edition). Wallingford: CABI. ISBN 9781780647944.
  4. ^ J. Vipond (2006). Easicare Sheep Systems. Penicuik, Midlothian: Scottish Agriculture College. Archived 21 July 2011.
  5. ^ Louise Hobson (10 November 2017). EasyCare Sheep – Take care when purchasing from social media sites. The Easycare Sheep Society. Accessed December 2022.
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