MANX NATIVE SHEEP

Timaru Herald, Volume CXXXIV, Issue 18848, 10 April 1931, Page 12

MANX NATIVE SHEEP

ITS CROSS WITH THE FAROE BREED. A SPECIES EXTINCT SAVE IN THE ISLAND. An interesting sequel has arisen from the visit to Iceland paid last June by a representative of the Isle of Man “Times,” Mr P. W. Caine, in order to report the celebration of the thousandth year of the Icelandic parliament, the Althing. On its way to Iceland the ship called at the Faroe Islands which, like Iceland, are inhabited by a Scandinavian race, and own allegiance to the crown of Denmark. Representatives from the Faroes attended the Althing celebration, and with one of these gentlemen, Mr Nikkjal D. a Ryggi, of the Isle of Man “Times,” the representative came into contact. A few weeks ago, Mr Caine received a letter from Mr a Ryggi asking if he could render that gentleman service. There used to be in part of the Faroes, it seems, a special breed of wild sheep, which are now extinct. Before the last were killed some were sent to zoological gardens in different places. But about 3 years ago, a young tourist from the Isle of Man, whose name was Bacon, stated that on his farm there ancient Faroe sheep were bred. “No doubt,” adds Mr a Ryggi, “these were the last sheep on earth of this kind, and it would be awfully interesting to know whether they are still living.” Inquiries show (says the “Times’”), that sheep of this kind are living still, though the breed is not pure. The late Mr J. Caesar Bacon, of Seafield, Santon, imported Faroe sheep for the purpose of crossing them with his flock of native Manx sheep. The Isle of Man had its own peculiar breed of sheep, called the “loaghtyn,” because of the dark brown colour of the wool. The wool in some sheep was grey, and was then called “Keear.” The Manx word “loaghtyn,” in the hands of the farmers of the Manx statutes, became “russet”—every weaver, and walker or fuller, shall have for every yard of keear or russet cloth an half-penny farthing, says the Act of 1691 which regulated the wages of tradesmen and labourers—and of course the English word “russet” means a homespun cloth of a reddish-brown or rusty colour. The English word “kersey” also means a coarse woollen cloth, and one wonders whether that word is the origin of the Manx “keear.” Mr Bacon had a fancy for novelty, and he also liked the peculiar wool of the Manx sheep, and he, therefore, kept on breeding it after most Manx farmers had given it up for the larger and more remunerative kinds of sheep. When the Shropshire sheep was introduced into the Island, it gave a weight of 55 to 701b5., whereas the Manx sheep only averaged 251bs. Mr Bacon considered that Faroe sheep gave a finer texture of wool than the Manx—the making of knitted woollen articles is, alike in the Faroes, a principal industry—and also that the ewes were more plentiful in milk and made better mothers. It was also somewhat larger. He therefore, brought over three ewes, and proceeded to cross. He also imported sheep from St. Kilda, which were a very wild species, as active, and of as portly carriage as deer, and which were a terror for over-leaping hedges.

Mr Bacon continued to maintain this first cross of Manx and Faroe sheep, and to keep it pure, until his death in 1916. It was of no particular value as meat, but Mr Bacon regularly utilised its wool. He would send it to Moore’s mill at St. John’s, or to an old weaver at Colby, named Crellin, and would have it spun, and regularly wore suits made of the cloth. Mr Bacon’s undyed light-brown clothes made him a picturesque figure. A similar fashion was followed by the late Mr J. Quirk Cannell, of Michael, by the late Mr Joseph Clarke, saddler, and others; it it is still kept up by Mr J. T. Quirk, Ballacosnahan, Patrick, who bought from Mr Bacon’s flock. Mr Quirk still breeds the sheep, as do various farmers in the North of the Island—for Mr Bacon owned the farms of Staward and Ballabrooie, at Sulby, and grazed these sheep there. After his death his stock was sold by auction, and among other purchases of this flock of sheep was the late Colonel Moore. The cloth was sometimes mixed with a few black fleeces from the original unimproved Manx stocks.

Photographs have been taken of this new Manx-Faroe type of sheep, some of them from a picture done by the late Mr William Marsden, of Douglas, an animal painter of great talent. The head of one representative specimen, it is understood, was sent to the Natural History Museum in London. The sheep developed four horns, two on top of the head and two at the side; sometimes one of the side horns would be missing, and sometimes there would be an extra horn on one side, making the number three or five. The horns were long, and decidedly curly, particularly the side horns; the face, as well as the wool, was brown, and there was no wool on the legs. But, as we say, the animal may still be known by studying the living specimens. It is probable, however, that descriptions of it have been written for the agricultural or naturalist newspapers and periodicals, and it would be very interesting to hear of such a printed description.