Latest news with #rarebreeds
BBC News
6 days ago
- General
- BBC News
Cornish shepherd with no land faces daily struggles and makes no profit
A shepherd says she has to travel miles every day and spends most of her money on tending to her sheep as she does not own Galloway, 31, started breeding sheep about 10 years ago and is relying on unusual places to keep her 45-strong flock, which include rare breeds, the Valais Blacknose and the Greyface rams stay at the Cornish Seal Sanctuary in Gweek in a mutually beneficial contract where they keep the grass down and attract visitors. But, her remaining flock are half an hour away in Galloway said: "The struggle for me is buying land, I can't do it. I'm not from a farming background so unfortunately I haven't had family farm passed down to me." The other site Ms Galloway relies on is in Camborne where a couple bought a house with land and are happy for the flock to graze it down. She has a full time job as well as looking after the sheep and says most of her money goes on them."I feel like all I do is drive around, it's tough on fuel costs," she said."I call it 'doing the sheep rounds', checking all of them in different places."Always a late dinner for does not want to reduce her number of sheep because she said keeping a large flock is the only way she can grow her business and "maybe one day make a profit". 'Quite tough' Her work has also increased because she has to bottle-feed a lamb, she calls Little Milk Thistle, every four hours after its mother stood on its leg during birth."It's been quite tough for me just being on my own and being a lone shepherdess as they say," Ms Galloway said."It's really hard for people starting out in farming; it's impossible to buy land and have a farm."But, she hopes her luck could be changing after a "lovely friend" has offered her some land for her sheep to be together."So I can get a certificate as a rare breed farm and do experiences where children and people can come and see the sheep and do smallholding courses and have my own business hopefully," she said.
BBC News
6 days ago
- General
- BBC News
Chard farmers have two of the rarest cows in the country
Two farmers say they are the proud owners of some of the most rare cows in the country. Emma and Andrew Warren, of Beetham Farm near Chard in Somerset, recently bought two Albion cows – a breed that until a few years ago was considered practically extinct following an outbreak of foot and mouth disease in the the cows, Maude and Margo, both have calves – and Maude may be pregnant Warren said she "had no idea they were that rare" when she bought them and that numbers of breeding Albions are "staggeringly low" at around 300 in the whole of the UK. The Albion Cattle Society told the BBC the breed originated from Derbyshire in an area near Bakewell in leant them their original "Bakewell Blues" name which also reflected their slightly blueish mottled appearance. However, in 1921 they were renamed the Blue Mannerings, from the society, said: "It was a bad time, there was a serious foot and mouth outbreak and then an agricultural depression, followed by World War II. "Then in the 1960s, another foot and mouth outbreak [happened], leaving just a few very stubborn farmers stuck in their ways and keeping the Albions going but well under the radar." And in what she calls serendipity, she said her father was "the last of the serving crew on the deployment of HMS Albion before it was sent to the great shipyard in the sky".A footplate from the Royal Navy ship, which shares the rare breed's name, sits on the entrance to the couple's conservatory.
BBC News
11-05-2025
- General
- BBC News
How scarves could help to save a rare Scots sheep breed
Rebecca McLellan is trying to safeguard the future of a rare breed of sheep one scarf at a fell in love with the Castlemilk Moorit and now has her own flock of 18 on the farm where she and her husband live in Rockcliffe on the Solway was keen to look at ways to help ensure the long-term survival of the sheep, which are on the Rare Breeds Survival Trust (RBST) "at risk" was when she hit on the idea of learning to weave to try to encourage other potential breeders to follow her lead. She was born in Kenya and worked in London before moving to Scotland to a house which had been in her husband's family for about a century."With that came the responsibility and the stewardship for that land," she said."The reality was it had always been grazed by sheep, so we took a look at it and thought, well, there we go, that's the answer - we've got to get some sheep."After that they had to narrow it down to what type."Some native breeds in Scotland are becoming ever rarer, and I'm mad about my conservation," she said."We started to look for rare breed of sheep that were native specifically to this corner of Scotland and settled on the Castlemilk Moorit." The brown-coated, curly-horned sheep were originally bred in the 1920s by Sir John Buchanan-Jardine for his Castlemilk estate in are on the "at risk" list, with an estimated breeding population of between 900 and 1, said they were originally bred as a "park sheep"."They are an elegant-looking breed of sheep," she explained."They've got sweeping back horns, they've got neat legs and a sort of gazelle or deer-like head."So they grace the field - but they also have this practical side with the fleece."It is a soft fleece - I blend it to make it go further - but it's a soft mocha colour, it is cream at the tip down to chocolate at the base."She describes the sheep as "quite flighty" but also "quite curious"."If you do anything in the field or anywhere near them within a blink of an eye, they're all standing around in a circle, watching," she said. Rebecca turns their fleeces into tapestries, knitwear and upholstery and hopes her work can help save the breed by showing the value they can offer."We've got breeds that have developed and evolved in Scotland particularly - but across the UK - which suit the geographical nature of our landscape," she said."So you're not trying to raise a breed of sheep that isn't suited to where you are from."There's a reality that these are breeds that need to be helped to survive and not sort of forgotten in the rush to have ever more economical sheep which are good for raising just for meat." Rebecca is throwing open the doors to her workshop as part of the Spring Fling open studios event across Dumfries and Galloway between 24 and 26 will get a chance to see what she produces, how she does it and meet the rare breed the process, she hopes it might convince a few more people that the Castlemilk Moorit deserves to flourish in the years to come.
