Rare Scottish Boreray sheep have found a home in Norfolk

Suzannah Long and her mother Kerry Gibb run a small flock of Boreray sheep at Holly Farm in Litcham, between Dereham and Fakenham.

The primitive native breed is descended from feral animals which lived on the tiny uninhabited island of Boreray in the Outer Hebrides.

But the Norfolk mother-and-daughter team are helping conserve and promote these animals at the opposite end of the British Isles.

As members of the Soay and Boreray Sheep Society committee, they show their animals at events including the Royal Norfolk and Aylsham shows.

And, crucially, they have helped to set up several new flocks in East Anglia - part of a wider conservation effort which has improved the rare breed's classification from "critical" to "at risk" during the last decade.

Mrs Gibb said: "You might well ask why it is important [to protect the breed], but it is history, isn't it? Some people are mad about keeping every spider, every fly, every bee. We are just keen on keeping every breed of sheep.

"Britain is famous around the world for its numbers of sheep breeds, and every breed has got its own little fan club.

Rare Boreray sheep at Holly Farm in Litcham (Image: Chris Hill)

"I do still struggle slightly with guilt feelings that we have got this very rare Scottish breed in Norfolk.

"Of course, it was dead right with the Norfolk Horns, which we were very involved with, but we were always hugely grateful if someone in Scotland or the west country started up a flock - because we were always very aware that should Foot and Mouth disease hit Norfolk we could wipe out 99pc of the population of the Norfolk Horns, so we really wanted people to start flocks in other places.

"Maybe it is the same with the Borerays - we are looking after them down here."

Suzannah Long and her mother Kerry Gibb with their flock of rare Boreray sheep at Holly Farm in Litcham (Image: Chris Hill)

Mrs Gibb said the family had previously owned Norfolk Horn sheep for 30 years, but the idea to start a Borerary flock was inspired by a trip to the west coast of Scotland with her husband.

"I was standing one day looking at Jura and thinking of all the islands beyond it, and I suddenly thought: 'We ought to get some Borerays'," she said.

Their Boreray flock was founded 11 years ago with two in-lamb ewes bought from a breeder in Nottingham. They now have more than 50 of the sheep.

Rare Boreray sheep at Holly Farm in Litcham (Image: Chris Hill)

The hardy animals can thrive on sparse grazing in most weather conditions, and there is evidence of a high level of resistance to health problems such as foot-rot and flystrike, making them useful for grazing sites where other sheep could struggle.

"They are so much easier to cope with, and they really are the most charming little breed," said Mrs Gibb. "They are such little characters. Suzannah absolutely adores them".

Mrs Long, who lives in Tittleshall and works as a farm secretary in Stiffkey, said: "People run them in different ways. Some have their flocks very wild and will watch them lambing with binoculars. But we bring them into the barn and we can hand-feed most of the ewes."

Although too small and slow-maturing for commercial production, the Boreray produces flavoursome meat and, like many primitive breeds, it is generally slaughtered older, as hogget or mutton, for a bigger carcass. 

"You can't sell them as lambs for meat," said Mrs Long. "Some people sell them at 18 months but we take them on to the following year - we do it at two-and-a-quarter, so you get an extra crop of lambs in the flock as well."

The farm supplies meat to "a few friends", and also sells breeding stock and the Borerays' wool, which can be spun into specialist yarns - generating demand from artisan hand-spinners in the US and a mill in Yorkshire.

Rare Boreray sheep at Holly Farm in Litcham (Image: Chris Hill)

History of Boreray sheep

Boreray sheep are direct descendants of the Scottish Dunface sheep which were taken from the Highlands of Scotland to Hirta, the main island of the St Kilda archipelago.

Some were placed on the uninhabited island of Boreray as a feral flock. This was before 1697 when a flock of around 400 was recorded there. 

When the last inhabitants were evacuated from Hirta in 1930, along with their domestic farm animals, the feral sheep on Boreray were left behind.

In 1971, the first small group of seven Boreray sheep were brought over to the mainland.

Their descendants were classified by the Rare Breeds Survival Trust (RBST) as "critical" between 2008 and 2015 -  but their prospects have improved in recent years to "at risk".

Rare Boreray sheep at Holly Farm in Litcham (Image: Chris Hill)