DISTINCTIVE-looking sheep were brought into the Island at the weekend to help to restore Jersey’s coastal grasslands and heath.
This week 20 Manx Loagthan ewes are having their first taste of what life will be like for them in the Island as a part of the National Trust for Jersey’s conservation grazing project.
Manx Loagthan sheep, which can have as many as four horns, are the closest living breed of sheep to that of the now extinct Jersey sheep. A primitive breed, they are used to poorer habitats and are likely to adapt quickly to life on the Island’s north coast between Devil’s Hole and Sorel – an area believed to have been used for sheep farming centuries ago.
The land is owned by the National Trust for Jersey, Jersey Water and the Seigneur of St John, and trust lands manager Jon Horn said that in recent years it had become covered in bracken and shrub. ‘These sheep love bramble, gorse and nettles and we hope their appetite for them will lead to the area being cleared and different plant species being able to thrive,’ he said.
• Picture: The new imports are the closest living breed to that of the now extinct Jersey sheep. Picture by Jon Guegan (00613952)
