Shropshire Star

Resurgence of Shropshire sheep

Its entry into the world might symbolise new life and the approach of spring, but the newest lamb at the Sansaw Estate, near Shrewsbury, is not your common or garden woolly – because the progeny carries the county name: this is a Shropshire sheep.

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Its entry into the world might symbolise new life and the approach of spring, but the newest lamb at the Sansaw Estate, near Shrewsbury, is not your common or garden woolly – because the progeny carries the county name: this is a Shropshire sheep.

Down on the farm, under the watchful eye of head shepherd Ioan Hughes, the mothers and their new offspring are doing well.

James Thompson, of the Sansaw estate, points into a pen and says: "Number 42 is a lovely ewe – a nice square shape like a box with legs in all four corners and a nice backside, because that's where the meat is. You'd get good chops off that.

"And she's alert and interested, lightly fleeced with woolly head – a characteristic of the Shropshire."

Sansaw has one of the largest flocks of Shropshire sheep in the county, and it's growing.

It is a timely return for a resurgence of the Shropshire. This year it will feature in the annual National Show and Sale for native breeds, an event which in July will move back to Shrewsbury market for the first time in decades – possibly the first time since the 1940s.

And the flock itself at Sansaw reinstates a tradition of Shropshire sheep dating back more than 120 years, with a number of James's forefathers appointed as presidents of the Shropshire Sheep Breeders' Association.

"My great, great, great grandfather started the Shropshire flock on Sansaw in the 1880s, so it's a great tradition," says James Thompson as he dashes about the Sansaw estate in his battered Land Rover, his two ever-present dogs in tow.

"The Shropshire sheep was very important in the 1880s for wool and meat, and it was exported to New Zealand, South America and Europe."They don't need a lot of feeding to do well and they are good for farmland – they don't eat trees and they keep the grass down.

"The flock here was at the cutting edge of breeding and agricultural development and they did very well."

Indeed, James's great, great, great grandfather James Jenkinson Bibby who started the breeding flock all those years ago was succeeded by family breeders Frank Bibby, Captain Brian Bibby, then James's grandmother Cynthia Bibby, nee Thompson, and penultimately James's father Robin, who kept Shropshires until 1997.

James, a former Marine, re-instated the tradition three years ago, purchasing 120 pedigree Shropshire ewes in a dispersal sale.

Today James has around 150 ewes on the estate, has lofty ambitions for the breed – an aim is to grow the flock to a commercial size of 300 breeding ewes within five years.

These are organically managed, producing organic meat.

Of course, ultimately it's all about meat and jumpers, but since the value of wool has all but disintegrated, it's on the butcher's hook where these chaps will earn their crust.

And while the sheep go well locally, James, a member the Shropshire Sheep Breeders' Association, has exported sheep to France and Slovenia.

Last year the association completed two large export orders to France and Slovenia on behalf of its members. A total of 197 pedigree registered Shropshire females and six rams were exported, breaking the breed society's previous annual export record by some considerable margin.

The consignment to France comprised 45 shearling ewes, 51 ewe lambs and three rams. These were purchased by a single buyer who required a tougher meat sheep that doesn't eat trees.

The consignment of 101 females and three males to Slovenia had the distinction of being the first Shropshire sheep in that country.

They are used primarily as a meat-producing flock, but also graze grass between ground-based solar panels whose electricity is sold back to the Slovenian Government.

"With the price of sterling, there is a lot of exporting of Shropshires to France, and it's having a very positive effect on the sheep," adds James. "There's a good price for lamb."

The other aspect of his flock is breeding Shropshire rams for the commercial market.

"It tends to be other breeds (of rams) that have been used because they produce fatter lambs, but we are trying to breed rams that are good enough to go into commercial flocks," says James.

"It's keeping the Shropshires going, but I want it to be known for rams as well."

Meanwhile, for the growing number of newborn Shropshire lambs, it's certainly the good life on Sansaw.

Several-weeks-old lambs, now sure-footed and dancing around the grounds within the estate, are clearly doing well.

Pausing and leaning on a gatepost to survey the scene, James says: "It's nice to see at this time of year.

"They are happy and growing. I would like to see the Sansaw Shropshires do well nationally and internationally.

"There is something in my blood that makes me want to breed the Shropshire. It's a long family association and it's very important to continue."

He says that, just like his forebears, one day he'd like to be the president of the Shropshire Sheep Breeders' Association.

"I just love the Shropshire. It belongs here. It's called what it's called for a reason and it does well here."

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