Sheep Breeds board discussion

Since brands are starting to represent breeds of sheep, I decided to open sheep breed pages on TAW to follow the layout we see for horses, dogs, cats, cattle and rabbits. However, the huge majority of the sheep figures are just generic representations. Please, if you know some figures not identified to the breed level but that are obvious breed representatives, please let me know. I won't move them to breeds based on guesses or optimistic suggestions.

Feel also free to use this topic to provide pictures of sheep missing on TAW, to discuss about the subject or whatever you think is useful.

I might do the same for goats but now it is time to sort sheep.

You can find the sheep category page here:
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Just for reference, I will tell the breeds listed and show a picture from TAW of a breed representative.

Border Leicester
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Made in China

Charolais Sheep
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Britains Ltd 1993

Exmoor Horn
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Britains LTd 1927

Hampshire Down
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Britains Ltd 1927


Jacob sheep
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CollectA 2015

Merino Sheep
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Papo 2019

Polled Dorset
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Little Buster

Kerry Hill sheep
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Britains Ltd 1971

Oxford Down
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Britains Ltd 1971

Romney sheep
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Mojö Fun 2023

Scottish Blackface
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Bullyland 2014

Shropshire sheep
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Schleich 2012

Suffolk sheep
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CollectA 2013

Valais Blacknose
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Schleich 2023

Welsh Mountain sheep
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Britains Ltd 1993

I also considered to open a subsection in the (generic) sheep page for black sheep. I know it is not a breed as a black panther or a white tiger is not a species. Though, I think the meaning is probably not relevant as it is with the given examples of the felines and it bears a derogatory meaning. Though, if you have a different opinion, let me know.

Black Sheep
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Schleich

Thank you for creating the sheep breed sections!

this is great, thanks Roger!

I'm glad you enjoy the idea and let's hope sheep receives more love on forum.
I'm convinced a good number of the black-faced sheep figures are inspired on the Scottish blacksheep but I don't want to assume the identification without bein sure. I'd start with the ELC blac-faced sheep. This is a British brand with a huge focus on local animals and the breed is said to be quite common.
Scottish black-face are always horned and obviously they have black faces, sometimes with some white on them. What do you think about the ELC black-faces, it is safe to tell they're Scottish blacksheep? Notice that even the ewe is horned.


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Here pictures of real ones:

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Ewe and lamb

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Ram

Here is the source.

Great idea Rogério

Roger wrote:

I also considered to open a subsection in the (generic) sheep page for black sheep. I know it is not a breed as a black panther or a white tiger is not a species. Though, I think the meaning is probably not relevant as it is with the given examples of the felines and it bears a derogatory meaning. Though, if you have a different opinion, let me know.

Black Sheep
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Schleich

This one could be a Mouton d'Ouessant
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or a Noire du Velay
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Roger-I would agree with you with regards to the ELC sheep.As you say they made many good models of British animals.Scottish black faced sheep are one of the commonest sheep breeds in the UK.They are also just called Black faced sheep.There are minor regional variations in this breed depending on where its reared.
Here are some more Scottish black faced sheep- ewe
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These are by Britains big Farm
This is the Mojo model-ram-the model on TAW is different from this one.[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]
Safari Ltd  model-ram
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Some more ELC models-ram and ewe
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With regards to Schleich and Bullyland I have started doing some research and there are not many native sheep breeds in Germany so it may be hard to determine the breed as opposed to just generic sheep
These models could be Merinolandschaf-the commonest sheep breed in Germany-its a dual purpose breed-meat and wool.They match most the points of this breed.
First 2 are Schleich and then a Bullyland model-ewes
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Some made in China models-while the vast majority are just generic sheep here are 2 sheep breeds
1st Border Leicester-ewes
2nd Suffolk-ewe
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I will do some research and upload some more photos in the next few days.

Roger wrote:

I'm glad you enjoy the idea and let's hope sheep receives more love on forum.
I'm convinced a good number of the black-faced sheep figures are inspired on the Scottish blacksheep but I don't want to assume the identification without bein sure. I'd start with the ELC blac-faced sheep. This is a British brand with a huge focus on local animals and the breed is said to be quite common.
Scottish black-face are always horned and obviously they have black faces, sometimes with some white on them. What do you think about the ELC black-faces, it is safe to tell they're Scottish blacksheep? Notice that even the ewe is horned.

I've always called them Scottish Blackface and never heard them just referred to as 'blackface'

And, interestingly, everywhere I've been in Scotland - which is all over, and every remote part of it - I have very rarely seen a fully black faced Scottish Blackface. 99% of them have speckling and spots and splashes of white throughout their face, including on their legs as well. I would say a 40/60% to 50/50% white black mix.

I've only ever seen these beautiful sheep in the heather and out in the wilds though.
And I think I remember all of them having horns, beautiful curly-in close to the face horns that are mainly grey/creamy colour.

I LOVE sheep! There is even a couple of small portrait photo books of all the sheep breeds - kind of like the horses book that has pics of all the breeds in their native settings, with a hanging rug behind them.

Sunny-I would agree that in general the Scottish Blackface have spotted face and legs but according to the standard they can also have black faces and the standard also calls them Blackfaces.I have a few books on sheep breeds but they are not as common as cattle or horse breeds.I recently got one on New Zealand sheep breeds.The book you mention is that the one called Beautiful Sheep?

Again with regards to the ELC sheep,I have a look at the British Sheep Society and the nearest that the ELC sheep come close to are the Blackface.

Thanks everyone for cooperating!

I opened a page for Merino sheep.
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For now I only moved those figures which are specifically identified as Merinos. If you know other Merinos listed on sheep page, please let me know.

[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.], that's what I call French optimism. Actually the Schleich black sheep reminds that first breed you suggested but that's a mini sheep, Schleich wouldn't make it so big. I think the Schleich figure is a repainted version of a regular generic sheep.

[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.], thanks for all your imput. I will check carefully your pictures later and work on them.

[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.], thanks for your feedback. I don't think brands like ELC would care about producing the speckled effect. Often they simplify patterns to faciilitate production. The chances ELC used British breeds as reference are really high since their sets were marketed to schools in the UK. They even released a set of British fauna.

Here are my black sheep.I don't think that the represent any particular sheep breed,just generic sheep.I think companies just released a black sheep as this would be the other colour that most people would recognise as opposed to a brow/tan/grey/coloured sheep and more likely to sell.

Here they are!
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Here are the Romney Marsh sheep by Mojo.
A Scottish Black face ewe by Safari.
A little made in China Border Leicester
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Thanks again Taylor, I added the Mojö Fun models and opened a page for Romney sheep. Meanwhile I updated the first post. I will take a look at your other pictures next year or I will spend my New Year's Eve counting sheep.

I added one more breed, the Border Leicester according to the made in China ewes Taylor shared and identified. I'm not supposed to enter sheep figures on breeds when not indicated unless they're evident.
I think there's no mistake with these ones, unless there is another breed like this. I'm adding the picture of a real one.
Taylor, I need to do it step by step without forgeting that TAw TAW is not exclusively devoted to sheep. Is there anything else you can tell more about these figures or do you have other models belonging to the same set?Let me know and I add them on TAW and later I check more of your sheep pictures.


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Made in China sheep

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Real Border Leicester

Here a picture of a 1:12 scale Border Leicester ewe sculpted by Anna-Dobrowolska and called Beatrice. Picture is Anna's.

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Roger-thank you.
The Border Leicester sheep I got in a set with generic farm animals.I have some more sheep breed pictures-do you want me to add them here or on TAW?

Taylor, actually, operationally, it's not very productive to list figures from unknown brands without any context. It's much better to list figures that belong to the same series or set, even if the brand is unknown. This way, if we identify the brand of one, we can infer the brand of all the others. Listing unknown figures without any context creates a lot of confusion, and we avoid doing so unless it's something different like the Border Leicester figure.
Perhaps, if you know which figures are part of the same collection as the Border Leicester, it would be more useful to group them and list them on the Wiki. If you think this is of interest, you could even create a dedicated topic for this series in the [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]. However, you could put generic and unbranded sheep in a single post here, but it would be important to add as much information as possible to each figure, even if it's limited. I wouldn't immediately put them on the TAW, but I would know where to find the photos when needed.

There is also the Bullyland Sheep, which is actually a great represention of the Merinolandschaf as the Merino today have floppy ears just like the Model. I cant think of any other breed when i look at it. It has all the characteristics a Merino should have. oh and the two Schleich Sheep where someone said that it could be Merino could also be the breed "Leineschaf". And there is a lamb from the Schleich Farm World Adventcalender from 2021 which could be a coburg fox lamb(Coburger Fuchs), atleast it has the colors of it, dont know any breed which has that red lambs.

Fellow21 wrote:

There is also the Bullyland Sheep, which is actually a great represention of the Merinolandschaf as the Merino today have floppy ears just like the Model. I cant think of any other breed when i look at it. It has all the characteristics a Merino should have. oh and the two Schleich Sheep where someone said that it could be Merino could also be the breed "Leineschaf". And there is a lamb from the Schleich Farm World Adventcalender from 2021 which could be a coburg fox lamb(Coburger Fuchs), atleast it has the colors of it, dont know any breed which has that red lambs.

Thanks for your imput, I will surely study it later. Which specific Bullyland are you refering to?

The Sheep 62320 has all the characteristic for a Merinolandschaf, i worked with them a few times. i wanted to add a picture of it to my message but it wouldnt let me.

Thanks, I'm sure you have permissions to post pictures. If not, let me know.
You mean this sheep, I will add it to the Merino page although you are specifying a certain Merino breed. It is still a thing I have to study better.. or should I open a page for Merinolandschaf because Wikipedia tells 30% of sheep in Germany is this breed and Bullyland is German so the chances it is one are really high.


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Roger wrote:

Thanks, I'm sure you have permissions to post pictures. If not, let me know.
You mean this sheep, I will add it to the Merino page although you are specifying a certain Merino breed. It is still a thing I have to study better.. or should I open a page for Merinolandschaf because Wikipedia tells 30% of sheep in Germany is this breed and Bullyland is German so the chances it is one are really high.


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Yep i mean this one! If you need help with german Sheep breeds let me know, i could help with that as im a Shepherd in Germany, only if you want of course

Thanks Roger.
These are by Little Buster
This one is listed by the company as a Dorset Lamb physically looks like a Suffolk with out the black face and legs
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This one is listed by the company as a crossbred lamb but physically looks like a Suffolk.
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No, the ram doesnt match. The German Merino breeds are all hornless. And he doesnt match the Australian type either. The Horns reminds me of the breed "Heidschnucke" but that doesnt make sense as this breed would be A LOT smaller. The lamb also doesnt match that much,just because his ears arent floppy and it is too "big", it would need to be a lot thinner to match the Merino standard.