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| The Southdown | The Norfolk Horn |
Physical Description
The Suffolk is the leading terminal sire breed. It is polled, with a distinctive all-black head and legs and single colour close-cropped white wool.
Origin & Predominance
The breed evolved from mating Norfolk Horn ewes with Southdown rams. It is now a familiar sight all over the United Kingdom and is also found in many other countries throughout the world.
The Suffolk was first recognised as a pure breed in 1810. Since then it has been carefully and steadily improved over its many years to produce quality terminal sires for use on commercial lowland flocks, producing lambs for slaughter rather than for further breeding. It is the United Kingdom's leading terminal sire breed, being used in seventy per cent of flocks.
Suffolk cross lambs mature early at good slaughter weights, allowing commercial producers to sell finished lambs at between ten and fourteen weeks of age. The breed is ideally suited to the tough economic demands of modern sheep meat production as the rapid rate of growth from birth to slaughter keeps production and management costs to a minimum. The early maturing abilities of Suffolk crosses allow commercial producers to market lambs ahead of the annual seasonal glut. However, Suffolk crosses can also be grown on to heavier weights without getting fat, once again providing lamb producers with the freedom to choose the best time to sell.
Although primarily a terminal sire breed, Suffolk cross ewes are also very popular with commercial producers.
This information was supplied by the Suffolk
Sheep Society
Today the Suffolk is distributed more widely than any other British sheep breed throughout the United Kingdom and is the most commonly used sire for cross-bred lambs. It is the result of crossing the old black-faced Norolk Horn ewes with Southdown rams - an excellent example of a deliberately improved breed ousting one of its progenitors. The dense-fibred fleece of the Suffolk provides the high quality wool needed in the manufacture of hosiery, hand-knitted yarns, tweeds, flannel, and dress fabrics. Even in mediaeval times the shortwools were highly valued because of the fine quality of the fibre, and East Anglia was the source of large Norfolk Horn flocks as well as being an important centre for the manufacture of the famous Suffolk cloths of those days. The industry flourished in towns such as Lavenham, which can today still show splendidly preserved buildings associated with the mediaeval wool trade as evidence of its former importance in the area.
This information was supplied by the Wool Marketing Board
Breed Points
| Points | ||
| Head | Hornless: Face black and long; Muzzle moderately long in ewes. (A small quantity of clean white wool on the forehead not objected to); Ears a medium length, black and fine texture. Eyes, bright and full. | |
| 15 | ||
| Neck | Moderate length and well set. (In rams stronger, with good crest) | 5 |
| Shoulder | Broad and oblique. | 5 |
| Chest | Deep and wide | 5 |
| Back & loin | Long, level and covered in meat and muscle; Tail well set up, the ribs long and well sprung, with a full flank. | 25 |
| Legs & feet | Straight and black, with flat bones of good quality, wooled to the knees and hocks, clean below. Forelegs set well apart. Hind legs well filled with meat. | 25 |
| Belly | Well covered with wool. | 5 |
| Fleece | Moderately short; close fine fibre without tendency to matt or felt together, i.e. not shading off into dark wool or hair | 10 |
| Skin | Fine, soft, and pink in colour | 5 |
| Total | ................................................................................... | 100 |