Breed: Lincoln Longwool
Species: Sheep
Weight: Ewes weigh around 80-120kg and rams, 120-160kg.
Description: The Lincoln Longwool is a hardy breed suited to dry and cold conditions. Anecdotal evidence suggests the breed has a level of resistance to footrot. The breed can easily be trained to come to the bucket. Although a large breed they are extremely docile which makes handling less of a challenge. Lambing percentage is usually around 150%. Lambs are small considering the size of the adult sheep. Few lambing problems are experienced.
Similar in appearance to a Leicester Longwool- A tall, massive sheep with a long and lustrous fleece.
Bare white head and both sexes are polled but unlike the Leicester the legs of Lincoln Longwools have a covering of wool.
History:
By 1750 the Lincoln sheep was firmly established and earning a good reputation for wool production.
Lincolnshire became an important wool producing area and the Lincoln breed was used by Robert Bakewell in his Leicester breeding programme.
The breed was also renowned as a mutton producer and was more popular than the new Leicester for meat production.
With the decline in the importance of wool and the rise of the Down breeds as quality meat producers the
Lincoln’s numbers fell and the breed remains rare to this day.
The Lincoln Longwool Sheep Breeders’ Association was formed in 1892 and the breed has been widely exported.
Uses: The Lincoln Longwool can be used as a crossing sire to produce half bred ewes. Like the Leicester Longwool the Lincoln can be used on commercial ewes to sire heavyweight lambs and hoggets.
The Lincoln Longwool produces one of the heaviest fleeces of any breed and is popular with hand spinners. Staple length- 15-35cm. Fleece weight- 8- 10kg. Quality 36s-40s.
The purebred Lincoln Longwool lamb can reach 21.1kg at 8 weeks old and will achieve 20kg deadweight by 5-6 months. The breed is suitable for taking onto heavier weights and remains lean- it is common to slaughter the animals at 9-12 months old to get around a 30kg carcass.