Herdwick Sheep Breeders’ Association

© Herdwick Sheep Breeders’ Association Ltd Made With Serif WebPlus.  amanda@herdwicks.org.uk |

10 years on from Foot & Mouth


2001 was a terrible year for so many.  Ten years have passed quickly, but the scars of seeing animals piled high in burning pyres remain.  For a time hope was lost from the farming community, but time heals and the Heritage Gene Bank continues as a reminder of how science did and can continue to help farming and the heritage of sheep in our countryside.

To confirm the continuing viability of the genetic resources that were collected in 2001 and maintained all these years at Innovis, The Sheep Trust has gone back to the stored material and is using a small sample from the bank to produce Herdwick lambs this year.

At the height of the FMD epidemic in 2001, there were genuine fears that all of the Herdwicks in the Lake District would be destroyed.  To guard against this, 13 farms contributed semen from their rams and four flocks provided embryos for the Bank.  It is samples from these resources that the Trust is now using.

All of Andrew Nicholson's Herdwick rams were killed in 2001.  But semen from Andrew's animals was amongst that collected and conserved in the Heritage Gene Bank.  Some of those resources have now been used to inseminate six of Andrew's Herdwick ewes.  Their offspring of those rams lost to FMD ten years ago were born in May 2011  A sign that conservation can work to protect bloodlines in perpetuity.

Importantly, embryos hold a full complement of "Herdwick-ness" contributed by both the ram and the ewe and can therefore be used to reconstitute the breed when implanted into surrogate mothers.  Several of the embryos collected in 2001 were implanted in two ewes of the commercial "mule" sheep.  

The embryo lambs were returned in September to the farmers who donated them.

Herdwick Development Group


The Herdwick Development Group was formed in 2010 by HSBA in Association with the Cumbria Farmer Network and with funding from the North West Development Agency – Livestock programme. This has delivered a series of meetings and initiatives aimed at developing the commercial potential of the Herdwick and improving the health and welfare of sheep. These initiatives are promoted to all farmers, not only Herdwick breeders.


The following links will take you to reports from events held


Aberdale x Herdwick lamb trial results - October 2011


Blood sampling suggests common cause to West Cumbria mineral  deficiencies - October 2011


Making upland grassland more productive Nook Farm - Friday 24 June 2011


Herdwick Aberdales - breeding trial update - July 2011




Herdwick sales  


Cockermouth

Judges: Ian Grisedale & Geoff Brown (President 2012) Referee Glen Wilkinson

Ewes  Friday 5th October 2012

Rams Saturday 6th October

Mitchells Lakeland Livestock Centre, Cockermouth Mart      01900 822016


Broughton in Furness

Judges: P Edmondson & J Clarke (Bent Ash) referee R Weir (Chapel)

Rams  Tuesday 2nd October 2012

Ewes Tuesday 9th October 2012

Harrison & Hetherington, Broughton in Furness Mart           01228 406200



Ian Lawson Photography


Amazing pictures of Herdwicks


www.ianlawson.com



Wasdale Head show webpages


www.wasdaleheadshow.co.uk