20th Century
Developed by Lawrence Alderson in the 1960s and 1970s as a high yielding dairy ewe. Many fine cheeses are made from sheeps milk, including Roquefort and Feta. It is a prolific breed, normally producing triplets.
Fleece Details
Breed History
The British Milksheep is a dual-purpose sheep breed known for its milking characteristics. It was developed by Lawrence Alderson and his wife Mary in Wiltshire and Northumberland, and was previously known as the Alderbred.
The breed was exported to several countries including Hungary, France, and Greece, and from there to other neighbouring countries. It can now mainly be found in the UK, Hungary, and Canada.
The British Milksheep breed is a medium to large-sized sheep that is white-faced, clean-headed, and polled. They have a large, robust body that does well in conformation, with an average weight of 103 kg (227 lb) for rams and 79 kg (174 lb) for ewes at maturity. The breed is hornless and has a white, hairless face and legs.
The British Milksheep is known for its dual-purpose qualities, with good wool and carcass characteristics, as well as its milking characteristics. The breed is very prolific, with yearling litter size averaging 2.21, 2-year-olds at 2.63, and 3.07 in mature ewes. They are easy to lamb, and the ewes have an exceptionally large pelvic area. The milk yield of the British Milksheep is high, with 650-900 L reported during a 300-day lactation. The milk solids are also particularly high, with the protein content rising from about 5% in early lactation to 7.5% in late lactation, and the fat content changing.
The British Milksheep is a docile and good-tempered breed, calm and gentle, which offers them better stress resistance.
The breed is used more as a dairying breed with dual-purpose qualities in all countries outside Britain, but it is also used in most countries as a crossing sire. In Britain, it is used on hill and longwool breeds, in France in the Alps and Pyrenees on mountain breeds, in Greece on Chios dairy ewes, and in Hungary on the predominant Merino population.
The breeding structure of the British sheep industry in 2020 shows that the British Milksheep is one of the breeds used for sheep dairying in the UK, along with the Friesland breed.
