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The Kerry Hill Sheep

The Kerry Hill sheep originates from the hills of Kerry in Wales. With their black markings and upright standing ears, these proud white sheep are a striking appearance in the meadow.  Already since 1899 the official Kerry Hill Flock Book exists and since 1992 these beautiful sheep can be found in The Netherlands too.

The Kerry Hill gives a good quality wool, hardly ever has problems with giving birth and are very prolific at 1.7 lamb. The lambs are full of vitality and can continue to grow for quite some time. The Kerry Hill is a lively, strong and healthy and sober breed with good resistance against diseases. Because they hardly turn to vet, they are cross-bred with other breeds to counter-act  fatty degeneration of those other breeds.

Their built is quite robust and firm with a long, straight back. The head is held up with upright, average-sized ears which are placed high on the head. They have a broad, muscled chest, strong legs and well-developed  hind-quarters.

The coat is white-coloured  with a staple-length of about 10 cm. It is soft and of excellent quality. The weight of the wool of one sheared sheep is around 3 kg.

A fully-grown ewe weighs between 55-65 kg, a ram between 65-75 kg.

Buying

There are a couple of things you have to take into account when you have decided to start keeping sheep and have chosen the Kerry Hill.

In The Netherlands, all single-hoofed animals have to be registered. So before starting with sheep you will need a UBN “Uniek Bedrijfs Nummer” (Unique Business Number). This is supplied by the LNV.

Before buying it is equally important to make up your mind about the following: do you want to keep a couple of sheep just for pleasure or do you want to breed and go to inspections and shows? Because there is a difference between a ‘registered’ or a ‘flock-book’ animal.
When you get lambs from ‘flock-book’ sheep, then those lambs are considered to be ‘registered’ animals until they have been inspected by the Flock Book commission. The lambs who satisfy the Flock Book requirements will be entered and thus become ‘flock-book’ animals.
Only lambs of Flock Book parents and who have been inspected in the year of their birth, can be entered in the Kerry Hill Flock Book.  You will find further information on the website of the Kerry Hill Society, www.kerryhill.nl

To be able to enter inspections your sheep have to be free of “Zwoeger”  (Maedi Visna = OBP—Ovine Progressive Pneumonia).  OBP, an incurable virus disease, is transmitted by infected sheep. It can take years before it shows and eventually the animal dies from it. Under the heading ‘Diseases’ you will find more information about this. To obtain a “Zwoeger”-free certificate you can join the programme of the Health Organisation (you can contact them at tel. no. 0900-1770).
When you don’t yet have sheep, it is advisable to buy this certificate from somebody who already has this status as you automatically take it over that way.  

Goats too can carry and transmit this disease. With goats it is not called OBP but CAE (Caprine Arthritis Encephalitis). It is even transmitted between goats and sheep. So if you have goats and want to add sheep it would be wise to first have your goats tested before buying sheep. This is because the OBP-free status you might have obtained for your sheep expires the moment the sheep join your not CAE-free goats.

If you go to ‘Links’ you will find a lot of interesting information about, for instance, the breed society and other breeders. You can also contact us, we will do our best to answer your questions.