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The development of Llanwenog sheep began in the late 19th century when Shropshire Down sheep were introduced to the Teifi valley in West Wales. Crossbreeding with the local hill ewe (a now extinct, horned
blackface, the Llanllwni, named after the mountain it was kept on) produced a polled, blackface ewe which combined the merits of both parents, notably the wool, meat and conformation of the ram with the hardiness
and milkiness of the Llanllwni. However, it was prolifacy - which particularly stimulated the interest of agriculturalists and in 1957 the Llanwenog Sheep Society was established to develop and promote the breed.
The breed is designated as 'semi-lowland', in other words it will thrive on land up to1,000ft above sea level, but has sufficient size to take advantage of better lowland pasture. The ewes are very hardy and
will thrive at heights more than 1,000ft above sea level but, not being a true hill breed, the lambs are not born with the type of coat which enables them to survive at a greater height. Nowadays however, with the
swing towards indoor lambing that aspect is no longer so important, although it can affect how quickly the ewes and their lambs can be turned out after lambing if the land is very high and exposed.
Many of the larger breeders put the best of their Llanwenog ewes to a pure-bred Llanwenog ram in order to obtain their ewe replacements, and put the remainder to terminal sire to produce cross-breed meat lambs.
Terminal sire breeds used on the Llanwenog will produce a fast finishing good quality lamb of popular 16-18kg dead carcass weight.
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