Wiltshire sheep fall into two categories - The Wiltshire Horn and the Polled Wiltshire.

Wiltshires are the perfect sheep for David Arvidson.

As the name implies, the Wiltshire Horn’s most noticeable characteristic is large horns.  It has a clean face and legs with a black nose and hoofs and a light, short fleece which it sheds. 

The Wiltshire Horn was developed centuries ago on the dry, open, south-eastern downs of Wiltshire where it had to forage for herbage – and in so doing had to travel long distances, climb agilely, and endure extremes of climate, particularly the summer heat.     

The Polled Wiltshire was developed in Australia using Polled Dorset rams and Wiltshire Horn ewes.   The polled variety retains many of the unique features of the original horned breed – especially the sparse, naturally shed fleece and a good resistance to flystrike.

David Arvidson from Papakura was doing a degree in economics at Massey University when he came across Wiltshires.

“As part of my farming induction I had been shearing up north in the heat, and I thought I never wanted to see another fly blown, dirty bottomed sheep again.  When I came across these with their clean belly and crutch and no need to be shorn, I thought they were perfect,” David told Rural Living.

When his father-in-law fell ill, David looked after his sheep farm and was able to bring in a small flock to get started with. That was in 1995 and he hasn’t looked back.  “I run my stock harder than anyone else ever will but it means I know they’ll do well on any block because they’ve already been proved under pressure.  It makes selection of a stronger more productive gene pool easier.”

David has also been breeding for early moulting. “We  track every aspect, including when the animals moult. We prefer animals that moult earlier, so we select stud rams from animals which moult around October and November.”

David suggests that it is better to invest money in a good ram rather than in ewes. The ram should be superior to the ewes to make genetic progress. “The ram will have an influence on all your lambs whereas a ewe will only produce 5 or 10 lambs in her lifetime.”

Wiltshires are good mothers, with few if any lambing problems. “Might have to help one in a hundred.  They have a naturally narrow face, head and shoulders – and those are usually what cause the problems in lambing with other sheep.  Unless you have a very young ewe giving birth, there are rarely any problems.  And because of the lack of fleece they don’t get cast.”

Wiltshire meat is considered very fine, tender and tasty.  David recently had butcher Murray Harwood analyse some Wiltshire meat and he was very impressed.

“One of the highest yielding, best tasting lambs I have ever come across. The meat was beautifully marbled to enhance the cooking process and yet low fat overall.”

If you’re thinking of getting some Wiltshires, David suggests you:

1    Look at the genetic background.  Go for good gene structure.  “You may come across a ¾ or a 7/8 bred that looks better than a pure bred next to it – but either animal can be a deviation from the norm.  You are better to go for the pure bred and put a good ram over it.”
2    The ram is the most important – a ewe’s faults can be countered by a good ram.