Balwen Welsh Mountain sheep

The Balwen Welsh Mountain sheep is one of a number of varieties of Welsh Mountain sheep. It originates from the Tywi valley in Wales.

Appearance

The Balwen sheep has a base colour of black, brown or dark grey. It has a white blaze on the face, four distinct white feet (referred to as "socks"), and white covering half to two-thirds of its tail. All Balwen should be of a good Welsh Mountain type of sheepclarifyme . Males have horns, and females are naturally polled.

Etymology

The name "Balwen" comes from the Welsh elements "bal", "forehead spot", and "wen", "white". This suggests that the original Balwens, instead of having a white blaze, may have had a white spot on their forehead. This would explain why many strains tend to replace a blaze with a white poll only.

Origins

Balwen Welsh Mountain sheep originate from one small area of Wales – the Tywi valley. This area was hit badly by the very severe British winter of 1946-1947, and the breed was nearly wiped out – only one ram was amongst the survivors. All modern Balwen sheep are therefore presumably descended from this one ram, although it is possible that some of the ewes may have been in lamb to rams that did not survive the winter. Outcrossing with other types of Welsh Mountain sheep may also have occurred, and this would have increased the genetic diversity of the breed. During the 1950s and 1960s a steady increase took place, and in the 1970s people outside the valley began to take an interest in the breed. The Balwen Welsh Mountain Breed Society was formed in 1985, and numbers are gradually increasing further.

The breed is listed by the Rare Breeds Survival Trust as "Vulnerable".

Characteristics

The Balwen is becoming popular among smallholders and farmers alike, mainly due to its pretty markings, hardiness, ease of care and excellent meat.The ewes make excellent mothers, having very few lambing problems and plenty of milk to feed the lambs. At their first lambing, most ewes have single lambs. But after that, under the right conditions many twin, and some have even reared triplets.Their wool is graded as "soft/medium", and with a medium length staple of 5 - 7.5 cm (micron count 32.3), it is easy to spin.