The North Ronaldsay is a breed of sheep from Orkney, off the north coast of Scotland. It belongs to the Northern European short-tailed sheep group of breeds, and has evolved without much cross-breeding with modern breeds. It was formerly kept primarily for wool, but now the two largest flocks are feral. The semi-feral flock is the original flock that evolved to subsist almost entirely on seaweed – they are one of few mammals to do this.
About North Ronaldsay sheep in brief
The North Ronaldsay is a breed of sheep from Orkney, off the north coast of Scotland. It belongs to the Northern European short-tailed sheep group of breeds, and has evolved without much cross-breeding with modern breeds. It is a smaller sheep than most, with the rams horned and ewes mostly hornless. It was formerly kept primarily for wool, but now the two largest flocks are feral. The semi-feral flock is the original flock that evolved to subsist almost entirely on seaweed – they are one of few mammals to do this. They are confined to the foreshore by a 1. 8m drystane dyke, which completely encircles the island, forcing the sheep to evolve this characteristic. The Rare Breeds Survival Trust lists the breed as \”vulnerable\”, with fewer than 600 registered breeding females in the United Kingdom. The meat has Protected Geographical Status in European Union law, so only meat from North Ronansay sheep can be marketed as Orkneys Lamb. The sheep are descended from the Northern Europe short-tails sheep, and may have been as early as the Iron Age. They share some characteristics, including their colour range and short tails, with Scandinavian sheep introduced when the islands were under Norse control, between the 9th and 15th centuries.
They have a distinctive flavour, described as ‘intense’ and ‘gamey’ due, in part, to the high iodine content in their diet of seaweed. In 1999, Historic Scotland described it as a ‘unique and important’ structure and designated it an ‘A-list site requiring conservation’ This status affords it special protection; any development has to be approved with conservation in mind. Between February and August, the sheep are brought into the punds, which contain the sheep for shearing, lambing and slaughtering. Between these times, many of them prefer to consume seaweed for feed, and once a year, these sheep are only herded inside these punds once or twice a year. The wall circles the entire coast of the island,. 19 km, and is 1.8 metres high, making it one of the largest dry stone walls in the world. Since the wall was erected, the human population of NorthRonaldsay has fallen from 500 to around 50, and current residents lack the skills to maintain the wall.
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This page is based on the article North Ronaldsay sheep published in Wikipedia (as of Nov. 09, 2020) and was automatically summarized using artificial intelligence.
