Suffolk sheep

The Suffolk is a British breed of domestic sheep. It originated in the late eighteenth century in the area of Bury St. Edmunds in Suffolk, as a result of cross-breeding when Norfolk Horn ewes were put to improved Southdown rams. It is a polled, black-faced breed, and is raised primarily for its meat. It has been exported to many countries, and is among the most numerous breeds of sheep worldwide.[4]: 923 

Suffolk
A seven-month-old ram lamb
Conservation status
Country of originUnited Kingdom
Distributionworld-wide
StandardSuffolk Sheep Society
Use
Traits
Weight
  • Male:
    125 kg[2]
  • Female:
    88 kg[2]
Height
  • Male:
    80 cm[2]
  • Female:
    74 cm[2]
Skin colourunpigmented[3]
Wool colourwhite
Face colourblack[3]
Horn statuspolled

History
At an agricultural show

The Suffolk originated in the area surrounding Bury St. Edmunds in Suffolk in the late eighteenth century, as a result of cross-breeding when Norfolk Horn ewes were put to improved Southdown rams.[4]: 923  They were at first known as Blackfaces or Southdown-Norfolks;[5] the first use of the name "Suffolk" for these sheep dates to 1797. In 1810 it was recognised as distinct breed, but was not known by the present name until 1859.[4]: 923  A breed society, the English Suffolk Society, was formed in 1886; a flock-book published in the following year recorded some 15000 ewes.[4]: 923  By the end of the nineteenth century the Suffolk had displaced the Oxford Down as the principal terminal sire used on cross-bred ewes in Scotland. By the 1980s breed numbers in the United Kingdom had risen to some 500000 head, but later fell;[4]: 923  in 2020 a total population of 14266 was reported.[2]

The Suffolk has been exported to many countries including Australia, Austria, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Czechoslovakia, France, Germany, Italy, Kenya, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Portugal, South Africa, Spain, and the United States, and has become one of the most numerous sheep breeds in the world.[4]: 923  It was introduced to the United States in 1888 by one G.B. Streeter of Chazy, New York.[6] A large and long-legged sub-type has developed there; it is fast-growing, but the carcase is of lower quality.[4]: 923 

Characteristics

The Suffolk is a large sheep, white-woolled and polled, with a black face and black legs free of wool.[4]: 923 

Spider lamb syndrome may occur in the Suffolk breed.[7]

Use

Suffolk rams are commonly used as a terminal sire on cross-bred ewes to produce fast-growing lambs for slaughter.[8]

References
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Suffolk sheep.
  1. Barbara Rischkowsky, D. Pilling (eds.) (2007). List of breeds documented in the Global Databank for Animal Genetic Resources, annex to The State of the World's Animal Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture. Rome: Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. ISBN 9789251057629. Accessed January 2017.
  2. Breed data sheet: Suffolk / United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland (Sheep). Domestic Animal Diversity Information System of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. Accessed August 2022.
  3. Suffolk Breed Points. Suffolk Sheep Society. Archived 29 March 2016.
  4. Valerie Porter, Lawrence Alderson, Stephen J.G. Hall, D. Phillip Sponenberg (2016). Mason's World Encyclopedia of Livestock Breeds and Breeding (sixth edition). Wallingford: CABI. ISBN 9781780647944.
  5. Breed. Suffolk Sheep Society. Archived 20 September 2021.
  6. History of the Suffolk. United Suffolk Sheep Association. Archived 9 February 2006.
  7. Russell R. Hanson (2019). Congenital and Inherited Anomalies of the Musculoskeletal System in Sheep: Spider lamb syndrome. Merck Veterinary Manual. Accessed January 2022.
  8. Suffolk Sheep. Canadian Co-operative Wool Growers Limited. Accessed January 2022.
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