Zwartbles and Suffolks

Today's the day ......................... to know your sheep

Will and I went on a bike ride today - and on the way we couldn't help noticing these strange sheep in a field.  They were enormous - practically twice the size of a normal sheep - and looked slightly odd, as if they had been made up from spare parts of several different animals?  Anyway, it made me realise that I know nothing about breeds of sheep - and set me to do a bit of research when we got back home.

So - for your information - the strange, big black one is called a Zwartbles.  The name means Black with a White Blaze. Ideally she should have an all black body and black head with a white blaze from the top of the head to the nose, two white socks on the rear legs and a white tip to her tail. The fleece is of remarkable quality and texture shading from black to brown.  Zwartbles sheep were first imported from Holland in the early 1990’s and have since become established in all areas of the UK and Ireland.

The other one (I think) is a Suffolk .  The Suffolk is one of our oldest, native British breeds and has been in existence since the late 1700’s. 

Try and remember this information.  It's just the sort of thing that would score you very few points if you were ever to appear as a contestant on Pointless ................