Dorset Down Sheep

It is now time to expand our present stock of animals and supply ourselves with another variety of meat in to the bargain. We are very excited to have found a French breeder of Dorset Down sheep, and have collected 3 of a total of 6 on 26 th February 2006. We have arranged to collect 5 ewes and 1 ram 3 ewes in the first instance and 2 ewes and a ram in August.

Below you can see the new arrivals the day after we collected them in the first of our new enclosures.

Our intention is to breed from these and then from spring 2007 we will have our own supply of lamb and mutton for our freezer and of course sell the excess to the public. Further continuing to help us stay self-sufficient

So why Dorset Down?

I personally like them just for their looks and would happily own them just for the pleasure of keeping such wonderful looking creatures. However this alone is not enough for a smallholder who wants to be self-sufficient, so the more logical perspective is presented below.

The Dorset Down is a very solid, medium-sized sheep of English origin, which produces, excellent quality meat and is said to be one of the finest grades of wool.

It gained its origins in the work of Mr Homer Saunders of Watercombe, near Dorchester, who in 1820 began selectively to improve Down Sheep at Bovington, Dorset – thus producing the 'Watercombe' breed.

At the same time Mr Humfrey of Chaddleworth, near Newbury, selected some of the best Berkshire, Hampshire and Wiltshire ewes and crossed them with pure Southdown rams from the flock of Mr Jonas Webb.

After many years of careful breeding Humfrey produced a class of sheep similar to that of Homer Saunders and known as the 'West Country Down'.

The sheep bred by Saunders and Humfrey were introduced into the Down flocks of Dorset to produce the 'Dorset Down' breed as we know it today.

The breed association was formed in 1906 and in 2004 represented about 50 flocks comprising of about 2,500 pedigree registered sheep in the United Kingdom.

Our Dorset Downs are descendants of the first to be introduced from England into France by Pierre Chenu and Albert Charron in 1967. Along with others, these two French breeders saw the Dorset Down as more developed than the Southdown, which had become common in France. They therefore persuaded the French Ministry of Agriculture to recognise the Dorset Down officially in 1974.

Dorset Downs were soon winners of several awards at the Paris Salon d'Agriculture and their descendants now form the basis of our Dorset flock at Le Bois de Grammont.

We bought our sheep directly from Pasqual Chenue the son of Pierre Chenu and the breeder of the Paris Salon d'Agricultur 2006 champion. We are very proud to have found such beautiful and distiguished creatures to buy and hope to continue to keep the line as selective as we are able to.

The Dorset Down is an ideal terminal sire, producing solid, meaty, early maturing lambs.

Dorset Down thrives in almost all conditions: at 3,000 meters in the French Alps, in the lush hills of Normandy and in large numbers on the dry plains of central France, it can be found in most counties of England Wales Northern Ireland and even in parts of Scotland.

Dorset Down wool is generally classified as one of the highest grades, and is sort after by hand spinners and knitware makers of distinction.

Ewes take a ram in most months of the year, making the breed ideal for the Christmas or early Spring market.

Carcass conformation is good with a fine bone and shoulder, being well fleshed with tender, delicately flavored meat. It produces meaty 'gigots' (legs for roasting) and thick lean chops.

It is exceptionally easy to manage, responding very tamely to calm affectionate treatment.

Dorset Downs thrive on poor grass and conditions that most other breeds will not tolerate. They seldom need supplements to a grass/hay diet.

We have one area of land that is banked down to a wood and is too steep to be cut for hay, shown in all the photos on this page, so we have constructed 3 separate grazing areas within this space. This will facilitate movement from one area to another every two and an half weeks to avoid over grazing and transmission of worms, avoiding the necessity to over medicate them for worms.

We will construct a further 3 grazing areas to the rear of our property to give us even further flexibility. Allowing us to naturally fertilize the two different areas on a 2 yearly rotation and not have the sheep back on the fertilized grass for at least 2 months.