Badger Face Welsh Mountain Sheep Breed – Everything You Need to Know

The Welsh Badger Face Mountain sheep is a very docile small breed of sheep. They are a joy to have as a pet or livestock on any sized farm or homestead. They are hardy, adaptive and sturdy sheep well able to fend for themselves and they love to roam the hills grazing on the fresh grass and greens on offer to them.

BADGER FACE WELSH MOUNTAIN SHEEP QUICK PROFILE OVERVIEW
These docile yet alert sheep are an ancient breed that has roamed the hills of Wales for many a generation.
Country of Origin:	Wales
Other Names:	Defaid Idloes or Welsh Badger-Faced
Breed Size:	Small
Main Purpose:	Meat and Wool
Can be used for	Breed, Meat, Pet, Skin, Wool **LSC (Landscape Management)
Temperament:	Docile yet alert to various dangers
Ideal Climate:	Heat up to the warm Welsh temperatures
Conservation Status:	Not Listed by the *ALC Status/ Rarity: Common
Health Issues?	No known health issues
Good Starter Sheep?	They are docile and not too big, hardy and good grazers. Thus, they would make a fine starter sheep.
Sheep Associations:	Badger Face Welsh Mountain Sheep Society
Sheep Clubs:	No known breed clubs please check with the Badger Face Welsh Mountain Sheep Society.
Note: ALC stands for American Livestock Conservancy * LSC stands for Landscape Management – the animal is used for controlling various vegetation growth

PHYSICAL CHARACTERISTICS

They are not a very tall breed of sheep, with a well-rounded body that is usually heavy with their wool.
They have short legs and are very alert sheep as can be seen by the constant moving of their ears as they listen for any near danger.

Color(s):

Black and white

SHEEP ⇒	EWE	RAM
Breed Weight:	Around 45 kgs	Around 55 kgs
Breed Height:	Unclear	Unclear
Hair:	Medium	Medium
Ears:	Small and erect	Small and erect
Horns:	Polled	Spiral horns
Matures at age:	10 weeks/15 months or 15 years	10 weeks to 15 months
Puberty Age:	5 to 12 months	5 to 7 months
Breeding Age:	18 months	1 year
Breeding Traits:	See Ewe Breeding & Milking Info.	Cover 5 to 10 Ewes in 1 season

EWE BREEDING & MILKING INFORMATION

They are not used for their milk and as such usually only have enough milk to feed the lambs until weaning.
Breeding Period/cycle:	Usually lasts 24 to 36 hours
Estrous cycle:	Ave. 17 days/15 to 20 days
Gestation Period:	Usually, around 149 to 155 days but most gestation is 152 days
No. Lambs/Litter:	1 and on the rare occasion 2 (twins)
Lactation Period:	Usually, around 150 to 240 day but most are milked for 180 days
Milking From:	4 to 6 weeks after lambing
Milk Quality:	–
Milk Ideal for:	Feeding their lambs
You may Also Like:	10 Best Sheep Breeds for Milk

SHEEP MEAT PRODUCTION INFORMATION

They are excellent meat producing sheep and is what they are primarily bred for

Meat Production:

Yes, Quality: Good

SHEEP ⇒	LAMB	HOGGET/MUTTON
Approx. Maturity Weight:	33 kgs	40 kgs
Approx. Maturity Age:

SHEEP WOOL PRODUCTION INFORMATION

They are used for wool production

Wool Production?

Yes, Quality: Spinning count 46’s to 56’s

Wool is used to Produce:

Mainly used for carpets

SHEEP ⇒	EWE	RAM
Age they Produce from:	6 to 8 months	6 to 8 months
Approx. Length:	7 to 10 cm	7 to 10 cm
Microns:	–	–
Approx. Quantity:	From 1.5 kg up to 2 kgs a year	From 1.5 kg up to 2 kgs a year

SHEEP SKIN PRODUCTION INFORMATION

There is not lot of Information available on the Badger Face Welsh Mountain Sheep breeds skin production.

Skin Production?

–

Skin is used to Produce:

Kid skin leather products such as shoes, car seats, fine leather coats, gloves, etc.
Chamois cloths, leather goods such as seats, shoes and other garments and leather materials such as furniture, etc.

SHEEP ⇒	EWE	RAM
Age they Produce from:	3 to 10 months for Kid skin 1 to 2 years old for Normal leather	3 to 10 months for Kid skin 1 to 2 years old for Normal leather

GOOD TO KNOW ABOUT THE BADGER FACE WELSH MOUNTAIN SHEEP

Here are a few interesting tid-bits about the Badger Face Welsh Mountain Sheep.
Child-Friendly?	They are not very big sheep and are quite docile, but all children should be supervised around livestock.
Landscape Management?	They are intense browsers that love to do landscape management feasting on tasty weeds and trees that need to be removed or kept trimmed.
Where to buy them?	There are no places I can find in America to buy them it is best to check with the various associations. They are listed in the “Useful Links” section at the end of this article.

GENERAL INFORMATION

There are two varieties of the Badger Face Welsh Mountain Sheep.

The Torddu – this variety of the breed has a broad face with black stripes on its white face. It has a black stripe on it’s under belly that extends to beneath its tail. This variety has a white body.
This is the most common of the two varieties.

The Torwen – this variety of the breed has a black fleece with a white stripe in the same places as the Torddu. The Torwen has the exact opposite coloring to the Torddu.
This is the rarer of the two varieties.

They are docile and very alert; their ears are constantly flexed to hear any danger.

Their smaller size and docile nature make them great pets to have.

HISTORY

The Badger Face Welsh Mountain Sheep breed have been known to have wondered the Welsh hills for as long as sheep have roamed around Wales. They are said to have a long and ancient history in Wales with their exact origin not too well known.

There are two distinct varieties of the Badger Face Welsh Mountain Sheep the Torwen which means white belly that have the reverse color to the Torddu which means black belly. With there being about three times more of the Torddu variety around than the Torwen variety.

The color pattern of the Torwen breed variety shows a remarkably similar pattern to that of the Mouflon and Soay breed. In the middle ages, there was a high demand for white colored sheep wool for production. This is believed to be the reason why once colored sheep that roamed the Welsh hills were bred to have more natural type colors.

The Badger Face Welsh Mountain sheep was once known as Defaid Idloes which could possibly indicate this breed goes back to the 7th century where St Idloes was a prominent figure.
Tests have proven that a lot of modern prominent sheep breeds have the Badger Face Welsh Mountain sheep breeds genes.

The Badger Face is one of the most popular sheep breeds in Wales as noted at the Royal Welsh where there are always are two-hundred plus Badger Face Welsh Mountain sheep entries.