Sheep & Lambs at

CALAMANKEY FARM

Exmoor Horns have existed since time immemorial in the South West. They are hill and moorland grazing sheep with a dense fleece of fine quality wool which is virtually impervious to the rains of the westcountry. The ewes, which are splendid mothers and very good milkers, are among the most prolific of hill breeds.

WOOL

The breed is one of the very few hill breeds to produce wool of fine quality. The fleece is compact, neat, clean and attractive wool, light in greast. Its handle is full and harsh, very lofty in character with a count of 48 to 56, a demi-lustre staple of some 3.5 to 4 inches it is of excellent colour, sound of staple, much sought after by manufacturers of hosiery yarns and fine tweeds. Ewes yield 3 to 3.5 kilos of wool and rams 5 to 6 kilos per fleece.

LAMB

Lambs are born between January and June and are traditionally fattened on grass without concentrates, producing a high quality carcass (38 - 42lbs) of excellent conformation with superior fleshing of the highest priced joints.

Calamankey Farm has some 360 Exmoor Horn ewes kept in two flocks

DEVON & CORNWALL LONGWOOL FLOCK

Although the breed has been in existence for over 150 years in the West Country, the Devon & Cornwall Longwool Flock Book was only formed in 1977 by the amalgamation of the South Devon Flock Book and the Devon Longwool Sheep Breeders Society. The former was a larger ewe predominantly from South Devon, East & South Cornwall whereas the Devon Longwool was smaller and existed in North Cornwall, North Devon & Somerset. The breed is a large lowland grassland sheep of a docile nature and well adapted to the West Country climatic conditions.

WOOL

The myth of the golden fleece is close to reality with this breed with their producing more wool per sheep than any other British sheep breed. Their wool is heavy thick wool with a count of 32-40 and a staple length of 20-30cms. The average fleece weight for a ewe is 7 kilos and rams

about 12 kilos but some have been known to go up to 20 kilos. The Devon & Cornwall Longwool’s is much sought after for the carpet industry and their wool commands a high price.

LAMB

Lambs are born between February and June. The longwool lamb bred pure is well known for its excellent lean carcass (40 - 50 lbs) that never goes to fat. The carcass is of good conformation and of outstanding flavour with well fleshed large joints.