Ryeland
Encyclopedia
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
sheep breeds going back seven centuries when the monk
Monk
A monk is a person who practices religious asceticism, living either alone or with any number of monks, while always maintaining some degree of physical separation from those not sharing the same purpose...
s of Leominster
Leominster
Leominster is a market town in Herefordshire, England, located approximately north of the city of Hereford and south of Ludlow, at...
in Herefordshire
Herefordshire
Herefordshire is a historic and ceremonial county in the West Midlands region of England. For Eurostat purposes it is a NUTS 3 region and is one of three counties that comprise the "Herefordshire, Worcestershire and Gloucestershire" NUTS 2 region. It also forms a unitary district known as the...
bred sheep and grazed them on the rye
Rye
Rye is a grass grown extensively as a grain and as a forage crop. It is a member of the wheat tribe and is closely related to barley and wheat. Rye grain is used for flour, rye bread, rye beer, some whiskeys, some vodkas, and animal fodder...
pasture
Pasture
Pasture is land used for grazing. Pasture lands in the narrow sense are enclosed tracts of farmland, grazed by domesticated livestock, such as horses, cattle, sheep or swine. The vegetation of tended pasture, forage, consists mainly of grasses, with an interspersion of legumes and other forbs...
s, giving them their name. It was introduced into Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
in 1919 and are classified as an endangered breed by the Rare Breeds Trust of Australia and also are one of the nine heritage breeds http://www.heritagesheep.org.au that were the foundation of the sheep and wool industry in Australia. The Ryeland was one of the breeds used to introduce the poll gene (no horns) to the Dorset
Dorset (sheep)
The Dorset or Dorset Horned breed of sheep is known mostly for its prolific lambing. It has been known to produce two lambing seasons per year: bred in May for lambs finished by the holidays, and bred again immediately after the first lambing to produce again in March or April...
breed in the development of the Poll Dorset
Poll Dorset
The Poll Dorset is a short wool, meat producing sheep that was developed in Australia between 1937 and 1954 with the aim of breeding a true Dorset type sheep without horns. The poll gene was introduced into Dorset Horn flocks from two other polled breeds and following a strict back-mating programme...
. This breed is raised primarily for meat.
Breed characteristics
Fertility
Fertility is the natural capability of producing offsprings. As a measure, "fertility rate" is the number of children born per couple, person or population. Fertility differs from fecundity, which is defined as the potential for reproduction...
. Due to their blocky build they are easy on fences compared to many breeds. They are ideal sheep for small properties. Ryelands are also 'good -doers' - William Youatt
William Youatt
William Youatt , was an English veterinary surgeon.Youatt was the son of a surgeon residing at Exeter. He was educated for the nonconformist ministry. In 1810 he left Devonshire, and undertook ministerial and scholastic duties in London...
wrote that Ryelands "endure privation of food better than any other breed" and Sir Joseph Banks wrote "Ryelands deserve a niche in the temple of famine".
Ryelands have a smaller head than most terminal sires which makes them a good choice for maiden or Merino
Merino
The Merino is an economically influential breed of sheep prized for its wool. Merinos are regarded as having some of the finest and softest wool of any sheep...
ewes but they have a fast growth rate and early maturity. In Australia the wool is always white and free of kemp
Kemp
- People :* Kemp Hannon, American politician* Albert Edward Kemp , Canadian businessman and politician* Alfred Kempe , English mathematician* Anthony Fenn Kemp , Australian soldier and merchant...
.
A coloured gene does occur in the UK but appears to be unknown in Australia. The hooves
Hoof
A hoof , plural hooves or hoofs , is the tip of a toe of an ungulate mammal, strengthened by a thick horny covering. The hoof consists of a hard or rubbery sole, and a hard wall formed by a thick nail rolled around the tip of the toe. The weight of the animal is normally borne by both the sole...
are black and they are said to have good resistance to footrot. Naturally hornless, the Ryeland was the major breed used in the development of the poll gene in the Poll Dorset
Poll Dorset
The Poll Dorset is a short wool, meat producing sheep that was developed in Australia between 1937 and 1954 with the aim of breeding a true Dorset type sheep without horns. The poll gene was introduced into Dorset Horn flocks from two other polled breeds and following a strict back-mating programme...
in Australia,
The wool resists felting. The staple length is generally 8 cm to 10 cm, with a fibre diameter of 25 to 28 microns. The fleece on average weighs 2 kg to 3 kg.
Queen Elizabeth I's favourite stockings
They were considered to have the finest woolWool
Wool is the textile fiber obtained from sheep and certain other animals, including cashmere from goats, mohair from goats, qiviut from muskoxen, vicuña, alpaca, camel from animals in the camel family, and angora from rabbits....
of all British breeds of the time. Queen Elizabeth I was given 'Lemster' wool stocking
Stocking
A stocking, , is a close-fitting, variously elastic garment covering the foot and lower part of the leg. Stockings vary in color, design and transparency...
s and liked them so much that from then on she insisted only on 'Lemster' Ryeland wool. An Elizabethan observer wrote that 'among short-wools, Ryeland has pre-eminence with Leominster as the centre of its trade'.
The Ryeland is featured in David Low
David Low
Sir David Alexander Cecil Low was a New Zealand political cartoonist and caricaturist who lived and worked in the United Kingdom for many years. Low was a self-taught cartoonist...
's book The Breeds of the Domestic Animals of the British Islands, published 1841 and a famous pioneering work illustrating the forerunners of all of the days' most important breeds of horses, cows, sheep and pigs. David Low was a professor of agriculture
Agriculture
Agriculture is the cultivation of animals, plants, fungi and other life forms for food, fiber, and other products used to sustain life. Agriculture was the key implement in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created food surpluses that nurtured the...
at Edinburgh University and was concerned that the relatively simple basic concepts of matching a breed to its environment whilst improving its productivity were not understood by the majority of farmers or breeders. With the help of a government grant from Earl Spencer
Earl Spencer
Earl Spencer is a title in the Peerage of Great Britain that was created on 1 November 1765, along with the title Viscount Althorp, of Althorp in the County of Northamptonshire, for John Spencer, 1st Viscount Spencer, a great-grandson of the 1st Duke of Marlborough...
, Low set up the agricultural museum in Edinburgh
Edinburgh
Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland, the second largest city in Scotland, and the eighth most populous in the United Kingdom. The City of Edinburgh Council governs one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas. The council area includes urban Edinburgh and a rural area...
and commissioned William Shiels
William Shiels
William Shiels , Australian colonial politician, was the 16th Premier of Victoria.-Biography:Shiels was born in County Londonderry, Ireland of a Presbyterian family and arrived in Melbourne as a child in 1853...
of the Royal Scottish Academy
Royal Scottish Academy
The Royal Scottish Academy is a Scottish organisation that promotes contemporary Scottish art. Founded in 1826, as the Royal Institution for the Encouragement of the Fine Arts, the RSA maintains a unique position in Scotland as an independently funded institution led by eminent artists and...
to produce these beautiful paintings of all the significant breeds of economic significance in Great Britain
Great Britain
Great Britain or Britain is an island situated to the northwest of Continental Europe. It is the ninth largest island in the world, and the largest European island, as well as the largest of the British Isles...
at that time.
Ryeland surname
Ryeland is an uncommon surname found in England, Canada and Australia. The Ryeland Family Tree being researched by Timothy Ryeland of Waterloo, OntarioWaterloo, Ontario
Waterloo is a city in Southern Ontario, Canada. It is the smallest of the three cities in the Regional Municipality of Waterloo, and is adjacent to the city of Kitchener....
, Canada has traced this family back as far as James Ryeland born around the year 1788 in Burford
Burford
Burford is a small town on the River Windrush in the Cotswold hills in west Oxfordshire, England, about west of Oxford, southeast of Cheltenham and only from the Gloucestershire boundary...
, Oxfordshire
Oxfordshire
Oxfordshire is a county in the South East region of England, bordering on Warwickshire and Northamptonshire , Buckinghamshire , Berkshire , Wiltshire and Gloucestershire ....
, England and lists 713 descendants of James Ryeland and his wife Sarah James. Any connection to the breed of sheep is unknown.
Recent DNA
DNA
Deoxyribonucleic acid is a nucleic acid that contains the genetic instructions used in the development and functioning of all known living organisms . The DNA segments that carry this genetic information are called genes, but other DNA sequences have structural purposes, or are involved in...
testing on the Y Chromosome
Y chromosome
The Y chromosome is one of the two sex-determining chromosomes in most mammals, including humans. In mammals, it contains the gene SRY, which triggers testis development if present. The human Y chromosome is composed of about 60 million base pairs...
through a surname project at FamilyTreeDNA
FamilyTreeDNA
Family Tree DNA is a commercial genetic genealogy company based in Houston, Texas with its partner laboratory, Arizona Research Labs, housed at the University of Arizona. Family Tree DNA offers analysis of autosomal DNA, YDNA, and mtDNA to individuals for genealogical purposes based on DNA samples...
has shown a close connection between the surname Ryeland and other surnames such as Ryland and Rylant.
External links
- The RYELAND Flock Book Society - UK
- Northern Ryeland Breeders Group - UK
- Dolwen Ryelands Home Page - UK
- Ryeland Sheep In Australia - Australia
- Heritage Sheep Australia - Australia
- Ryeland Family Tree - Canada