Wildcraft sources all of its home grown fibre from our own spinner's flock of sheep. We are building a small mixed flock of a variety of British and continental sheep breeds, with a focus on producing beautiful fleeces for handspinners and knitters.

In 2008 we began building a core flock of pedigree Coloured Ryeland sheep. Ryelands are one of the oldest British breeds of sheep, the majority of which are now white. There is however, a small but growing group of registered coloured Ryelands. Coloured Ryelands generally are born with black or spotted fleeces, which develop a grey/brown tinge as they grow older. The adult sheep are very well covered with wool, which when coupled with their friendly nature, can make them seem rather like teddy bears!

Our coloured Ryeland flock began with Giles, who I bought from Sue Trimmings in Northumberland with the intention of introducing some colour genes into our existing small crossbred flock. Sheep colour genetics in a flock of this small size are hard to determine with any accuracy, but Giles has already produced some coloured lambs from one of our white crossbred ewes. Being a Ryeland, Giles' fleece is a typical downland type. It's a soft to medium grade fibre, that's springy and very crimpy, it should make ideal sock yarns.

In October 2008, I added three pedigree Ryeland ewes, Truffle, Coffee and Chocolate. They were in lamb when I acquired them, and between them they produced five coloured Ryeland lambs in February '09. The Ryelands have a lovely calm and friendly temperament, which makes routine handling, foot trimming etc. almost a pleasure! Our three crossbred Texel ewes (Buffy, Willow and Cordelia) also produced lambs this spring, the first of Giles' progeny. These lambs looking rather like Ryelands already, and  do seem to have inherited his friendly nature. I am planning to keep this crop of lambs at least until after their first shearing (shearling wool is lovely to spin).

In 2009/10 I plan to develop the Ryeland flock, with the possibility of showing some of the lambs in the future at some local and regional livestock shows. I'll also be looking to add some other breeds for crossing with the Ryelands with a view to growing fleeces that are ideal for handspinners.

You can read more about our sheep and their exploits in the Wildcraft Blog

NEWS OCT 09: We will have a limited number of pedigree Ryeland ram lambs available for sale from January onwards. Please contact us for further details.