Breed: Galway
Species: Sheep
Colour: white
Weight: males : 95 kg/ females : 75 kg
Height: males : 80 cm/ females : 72 cm
Country: Ireland
Description: Galway is an indigenous uni coloured white Irish breed and deserves to be conserved for historical, scientific, cultural and agricultural reasons.
The Galway ewe is a good producer of finished lamb when bred pure and is
also used for crossing with Down and Continental lambs to produce early lamb.
The Galway ram is a good producer of crossbred ewes from hill breeds, and the Galway Greyface (Galway X Blackface) is particularly favoured in Ireland.
History: The year of origin was 1840.
The Galway breed was the predominant lowland type in the middle of the present century, but declined in importance from the mid-1970s as Suffolk-cross lambs became more popular for the production systems and associated markets. By the 1980s the number of Galway sheep was in serious decline.
Over the period from 1975 to 1992 national statistics show that the percentage of Galway ewes, relative to all lowland ewes, declined from 61% to 8%, a remarkable change.
The Galway is now officially listed as a "breed in danger of extinction".
Morphology: Head: Hornless;
Back of head between and under the ears covered with short wool and showing a medium bob tuft of wool on forehead.;
Ears of good length and fine texture, and free from black/brown sports; Nostrils dark in colour and wide; Ram with bold masculine head of medium size.
Neck: Thick, short & well set.
Chest: Wide, deep & well forward.
Ribs: Well sprung; Barrell deep, thick, long with straight underline.
Back: Long and level, backbone not prominent.
Rump, Tail, Hind Quarters: Rump, wide and well fleshed; Hind quarters,
deep, full, broad.
Legs, Feet, Hooves: Medium long, straight, square, well apart, good bone and covered with wool to the knees/hocks. Slight feather on hind legs below hocks permitted but not desired. Hoof black, with sound horn.
Belly: Well covered with short thick wool.
Fleece: White, moderately long. Fibre, wavy and fine textured; staple, broad,
closely set and free from tips. Fleece in general as uniform as possible in
fibre texture.
Specials: Polled
Uses: Meat
Performance: Fleece weight of 2,7-3,6 kg with medium wool (fibre diameters range from 20 - 40 microns).
Breed Organisation: Galway Sheep Breeders Society