Bluefaced Leicester - Misplaced Pages

Breed of sheep

Bluefaced Leicester
Traits
A Bluefaced Leicester ewe and her lambs
Country of origin	United Kingdom
Weight	Male: 110 kg (240 lb) Female: 89 kg (196 lb)
Wool color	White
Face color	Blue
Sheep Ovis aries

The Bluefaced Leicester (BFL) is a longwool breed of sheep which evolved from a breeding scheme of Robert Bakewell, in Dishley, Leicestershire in the eighteenth century. First known as the Dishley Leicester, and then the Hexham Leicester, because of the prevalence of the breed in Northumberland, the name Bluefaced Leicester became known at the beginning of the 20th century. In the 1970s, the Bluefaced Leicester was exported to Canada. Exported frozen semen from the United Kingdom is now used to expand the genetic diversity in Canada and the United States. It is raised primarily for meat.

Characteristics

BFL sheep have curly, fine, rather lustrous wool which is one of the softest of the UK clip. The fleeces are not very heavy, only weighing 1 to 3 kg (2.2 to 6.6 lb). They have no wool on the head or neck, although the pattern and shape of the wool is most like the Wensleydale, but having smaller, tighter curls.

Bluefaced Leicesters are recognisable through their Roman noses, which have a dark blue skin which can be seen through the white hair, hence the name. They are tangentially related to the original Leicester Longwool breed. BFL rams are put over hill sheep ewes to produce mules, which combine the prolificacy of the BFL with the hardiness and mothering ability of the hill sheep (- mules are the UK's most numerous sheep).

Fully grown Blueface rams can weigh up to 110 kg (240 lb) and ewes up to 89 kg (196 lb). At maturity and at the withers, rams are 90 cm (35 in) tall and ewes 85 cm (33 in) tall.

References

"Bluefaced Leicester". Breeds of Sheep. Oklahoma State University Dept. of Animals Science. Archived from the original on 2008-01-04. Retrieved 2009-03-27.
"Bluefaced Leicester". Sheep Breeds Be-Br. Sheep101.info. Retrieved 2009-05-18.
^ "Bluefaced Leicester/United Kingdom". Breed data sheet. Domestic Animal Diversity Information System. Retrieved 2009-05-18.

External links

Bluefaced Leicester Sheep Breeders Association - United Kingdom
www.blueleicester.de - Bluefaced Leicester Sheep Breeders' Association in Deutschland e.V.
Bluefaced Leicester Breeders Association - United States
Bluefaced Leicester Union of North America

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Livestock breeds of the British Isles

Cattle

Beef cattle	Aberdeen Angus Beef Shorthorn Belted Galloway Blue Grey Devon Dexter English Longhorn Galloway Hereford Highland Lincoln Red Luing Shorthorn South Devon Sussex Welsh Black
Dairy cattle	Ayrshire Dairy Shorthorn Guernsey Jersey Kerry
Dual purpose	Albion British White Droimeann Irish Moiled Glamorgan Old Gloucester Pembroke Red Poll Shetland Whitebred Shorthorn
Primitive	Chillingham Wild Cattle Tory Island Vaynol White Park
Extinct	Alderney Blue Albion

Sheep

Extant	Badger Face Welsh Mountain Balwen Welsh Mountain Beulah Speckled Face Black Welsh Mountain Bluefaced Leicester Border Cheviot Border Leicester Brecknock Hill Cheviot British Milksheep Cambridge Cheviot Clun Forest Cotswold Dalesbred Derbyshire Gritstone Devon Closewool Devon and Cornwall Longwool Dorset Down Dorset Horn Easycare Exmoor Horn Galway Greyface Dartmoor Hampshire Down Herdwick Hill Radnor Kerry Hill Leicester Longwool Lincoln Llanwenog Lleyn Lonk Masham Norfolk Horn North Country Cheviot Oxford Down Portland Romney Rough Fell Ryeland Scottish Blackface Shetland Shropshire Southdown Suffolk Swaledale Teeswater Welsh Mountain Wensleydale Whiteface Dartmoor Whitefaced Woodland Wiltshire Horn
Primitive	Boreray Castlemilk Moorit Hebridean Jacob Manx Loaghtan North Ronaldsay Soay
Extinct	Devon Longwool Scottish Dunface South Devon

Pigs

Extant	Berkshire British Landrace British Lop British Saddleback Essex Gloucestershire Old Spots Large Black Large White Middle White Oxford Sandy and Black Tamworth Welsh Wessex Saddleback
Extinct	Cumberland Dorset Gold Tip Grice Irish Greyhound Pig Large White Ulster Lincolnshire Curly Coat Small Black Small White Yorkshire Blue and White

Goats

Poultry

Chickens	Croad Langshan Derbyshire Redcap Dorking Ixworth Indian Game Legbar Modern Game Modern Langshan Nankin Bantam Norfolk Grey Old English Game Old English Pheasant Fowl Orpington Rosecomb Scots Dumpy Scots Grey Sebright Sussex
Ducks	Abacot Ranger Aylesbury Orpington Khaki Campbell Magpie Shetland Silver Appleyard Welsh Harlequin
Geese	Brecon Buff Shetland

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