Teeswater

The type was documented in English agricultural writing by the 1820s, but it was rare in Britain by the 1920s. The Teeswater Sheep Breeders' Association formed there in 1949 to promote the breed and its use over hill ewes, and the postwar years were its revival.

They came to the US in the 1800s, lost ground to other longwools like the Wensleydale, and had nearly died out here by the 1920s. The modern American population is a rebuild. Semen came in from the UK in 1996 and dedicated breeders began using it in 1997; the first half-blood lambs were born in 1998, and purebreds were developed from there using imported semen, embryos and a few rams.

The American Teeswater Sheep Association was established in 2007, and its registry holds the foundation registrations of Teeswaters bred from 1997 through 2013. By 2018 the first American flock had been exported to Canada.

Ewes run 150 to 250 pounds and rams 250 to 300. They are polled, with an off-white or gray head, dark markings at the nose and ears, and a topknot hanging over the eyes. Mature ewes average 250 percent lambing.

The fleece is long, curly, lustrous and kemp-free, which handspinners want, with no dark fibers and locks that hang free. It does not felt well. The Livestock Conservancy notes the locks grow in a distinctive spiraling form called purling.

Docile and easy to handle, by The Livestock Conservancy's account, with one caveat it states plainly: some are opinionated. Its short form is alert and spirited but docile, and it rates the breed suitable for novice to intermediate keepers.

The ewes are good mothers. Oklahoma State University's breed profile describes the same animal: a docile temperament, good maternal instinct in the ewes and a hardy build.

A crossing sire first: the job the breed was kept for in England is putting size and that kemp-free fleece character over hill ewes. In America the market is mostly fiber. Handspinners buy the locks, and the fleece is the reason most US flocks exist.

The fleece is the management load. It grows fast and long, and the Conservancy notes Teeswaters are often shorn twice a year to keep the fiber at workable lengths. Budget shearing accordingly, and keep the fleece clean if fiber is your market.

The Teeswater is listed as Critical by The Livestock Conservancy. Global numbers are low even in Britain, and the Conservancy treats the North American population as a satellite that contributes to the breed's international survival, a view the British breed society shares.

That rebuild history matters when you buy. Ask where an animal sits in the grading-up program, because the breed here was reconstructed from imported genetics rather than continuously bred, and percentage matters to what you can register and what you can sell.

Registration runs through the American Teeswater Sheep Association. Ask the seller for the animal's registered percentage and its pedigree back to the foundation registrations.

Recent sale prices on HoofnHorn, where there are any, are further down this page.