Hebridean Sheep

The Hebridean breed of sheep was once called the 'St Kilda' as people thought that they only came from there.  It was then changed to 'Hebridean' as they realised that they populated the whole of the Hebrides.

They are a small, all black sheep with either two or four horns. The breed is not “commercially” viable as they don’t grow as big as other breeds. They do however have something that other sheep don’t. They are low in fat and lower in cholesterol than others making them better for your health.

The meat is slightly darker due to their feeding habits as they don’t like highly fertilised rich grass, but prefer wild grasses and what we would call weeds such as dockens and nettles etc. 

We bought our sheep in a rare breed sale in Dingwall where they had been sent after the SNH had decided to remove them from the Culloden Battlefield.  They were put there to remove some of the scrub land which was taking over the battlefield.   Once they had done their job the SNH decided to get rid of them and put them to the sale.   We decided after seeing some of them being sold just for slaughter that we would buy some to breed from.

Fat lambs are available from about May onwards.