The Bluefaced Leicester is a British

breed A breed is a specific group of breedable domestic animals having homogeneous appearance (phenotype), homogeneous behavior, and/or other characteristics that distinguish it from other organisms of the same species. In literature, there exist seve ...

of longwool sheep. It originated in north-east England in the late nineteenth or early twentieth century, and derives from the white-faced

Border Leicester The Border Leicester is a British breed of sheep. It is a polled, long-wool sheep and is considered a dual-purpose breed as it is reared both for meat and for wool. It is known for its distinctive upright ears. The sheep are large but docile. ...

, with some influence from the blue-coloured

Wensleydale Wensleydale is a valley in North Yorkshire, England. It is one of the Yorkshire Dales, which are part of the Pennines. The Dale (landform), dale is named after the village of Wensley, North Yorkshire, Wensley, formerly the valley's market tow ...

and possibly also from the Teeswater. It was bred specifically for use as a terminal sire to be used on ewes of hill sheep breeds to produce

mule The mule is a domestic equine hybrid between a donkey, and a horse. It is the offspring of a male donkey (a jack) and a female horse (a mare). The horse and the donkey are different species, with different numbers of chromosomes; of the two ...

s. By about 1920 it was known either as the Bluefaced or as the Hexham Leicester, for the town of

Hexham Hexham ( ) is a market town and civil parish in Northumberland, England, on the south bank of the River Tyne, formed by the confluence of the North Tyne and the South Tyne at Warden nearby, and close to Hadrian's Wall. Hexham was the administra ...

Northumberland Northumberland ( ) is a ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in North East England, on the Anglo-Scottish border, border with Scotland. It is bordered by the North Sea to the east, Tyne and Wear and County Durham to the south, Cumb ...

History

The Bluefaced Leicester originated in the late nineteenth or early twentieth century in the north-east of England, mainly in the valleys of the

Tyne Tyne may refer to: __NOTOC__ Geography *River Tyne, England *Port of Tyne, the commercial docks in and around the River Tyne in Tyne and Wear, England * River Tyne, Scotland *River Tyne, a tributary of the South Esk River, Tasmania, Australia Peopl ...

and

Wear Wear is the damaging, gradual removal or deformation of material at solid surfaces. Causes of wear can be mechanical (e.g., erosion) or chemical (e.g., corrosion). The study of wear and related processes is referred to as tribology. Wear in ...

rivers and in parts of

Cumberland Cumberland ( ) is an area of North West England which was historically a county. The county was bordered by Northumberland to the north-east, County Durham to the east, Westmorland to the south-east, Lancashire to the south, and the Scottish ...

, to the west of the

Pennines The Pennines (), also known as the Pennine Chain or Pennine Hills, are a range of highland, uplands mainly located in Northern England. Commonly described as the "Vertebral column, backbone of England" because of its length and position, the ra ...

. In that area a preference had developed – in rams used for

cross-breeding A crossbreed is an organism with purebred parents of two different breeds, varieties, or populations. A domestic animal of unknown ancestry, where the breed status of only one parent or grandparent is known, may also be called a crossbreed though ...

– for a dark skin, rather than the pale skin of the

, which at that time was the principal crossing sire. Bluefaced sheep were bred from Border Leicester stock, with some influence from the blue-skinned

and possibly also from the Teeswater. By the 1920s these were well established and were known either as the Bluefaced Leicester or as the Hexham Leicester, so named for the town of

. A

breed association Breed clubs are associations or clubs with activities centered on a single, specific breed of a particular species of domesticated animal. The purpose of the association will vary with the species of animal and the goals and needs of the members ...

, the Bluefaced Leicester Sheep Breeders Association, was formed in 1962 or 1963. At about this time there were some ewes of breeding age; by the end of the twentieth century that number had risen to almost . Small numbers have been exported; there a few hundred head in the United States, while numbers in Canada, Holland and Ireland are unknown or negligible.

Characteristics

It is a large sheep, among the tallest of British breeds, and long in the body: ewes stand some at the

withers Withers are the ridge between the shoulder blades of an animal, typically a quadruped. In many species, this ridge is the tallest point of the body. In horses and dogs, it is the standard place to measure the animal's height. In contrast, catt ...

, rams about ; average bodyweights are and respectively. It is naturally polled; the head is broad, with a markedly convex profile and long upward-pointing ears. The head and legs are without wool; the characteristic blue colour of the face results from the blue-grey skin showing through the fine white hair that covers it. The wool is of longwool type, forming long curled ringlets; the fleece is light and fine, markedly different from that of the Border Leicester or Wensleydale, and the skin is delicate. The sheep may need shelter during the winter months.

Use

Rams are put over hill sheep ewes to produce mules, which combine the prolificacy of the tup with the hardiness and mothering ability of the hill sheep (- mules are the UK's most numerous sheep).

References

Sheep breeds Sheep breeds originating in England {{bots, deny=Citation bot