The sheep is originally from Somali land. The breed is also a type of hair sheep, meaning they do not grow wool and tolerate heat better than woolen breeds and are raised primarily for mutton.

As my new book shows, they do it primarily for love ... prolific egg-laying hens and sheep with finer wool. Huge sums have been spent on selective breeding and artificial insemination technologies.

This abundance of choice has enabled British farming to establish a superior ‘stratified’ breeding system that blends the toughness, agility and motherliness of shaggy hill sheep, such as Swaledales ...