Meat
Scottish Blackface
B tier
Scottish Blackface is Britain’s most numerous pure hill breed: bold black or black-and-white face, spiral horns, and unmatched ability to live on high wet heather hills. Distinct regional types (Perth, Lanark, Newton Stewart and others) suit different Scottish and northern English ranges. Blackface lamb is robust and aromatic when raised on hill plants—superb for Scotch broth, roast shoulder, and pie meat. Carcasses from pure hill systems are compact; many wether lambs are drafted to lower ground for finishing, while ewe lambs enter stratified breeding as dams of mules and halfbreds.
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Characteristics
Preparations
Traits
Grading systems
Grades are placed along a shared scale so systems can be compared side by side.
History
Black-faced horned sheep spread through Scottish Highlands and Southern Uplands.
Improving landlords expanded Blackface flocks on newly organised hill farms.
Show types and regional standards differentiated major Blackface populations.
Blackface ewes remained central to Scotland’s stratified lamb industry.