What do a mule, a Masham and a sproodle all have in common?

If you guessed that they are all crossbreeds, you’d be correct. We also have all of them here at baa ram ewe (for at least some of the time!). Some of you may have met Chewy, Verity’s new adorable bundle of chaos (a Springer Spaniel/Poodle cross). 

Crossbreed sheep make up about 50% of all the sheep in the UK. Mule sheep are bred from a hill or mountain breed ewe and a Bluefaced Leicester ram - here in Yorkshire the most common ewe that is used is a Swaledale, producing a North Country mule, but in other parts of the UK different local breed ewes are used, such as Welsh Mountain ewes in Wales and Scottish Blackface ewes in Scotland.

The hill breed ewes are hardy and good at looking after their lambs, and the Bluefaced Leicester genes bring up the percentage of twins and triplets, meaning that mule sheep (with all of these attributes) are commercially very useful to farmers. Usually the resulting mule ewes are then bred with a ram with extra muscle to produce lambs for the meat market.

The Masham (pictured) is another local Yorkshire crossbreed, from a hardy Swaledale or Dalesbred ewe crossed with a Teeswater or Wensleydale ram. Wool from mule and Masham sheep does vary, because sometimes the fleece is more like the mother’s and sometimes more like the father’s (the same thing happens with sproodles, labradoodles and similar doggy crosses). Hill and mountain breed wool is typically medium to coarse in thickness and medium length, with Bluefaced Leicester (BFL), Wensleydale or Teeswater wool being fine, long and lustrous. The crossbreed fleece is a combination of the two, with more woolly bounciness than sleek longwool BFL or Wensleydale, but much softer and more lustrous than Swaledale or Dalesbred wool.

Since there are many more crossbreed sheep than purebred BFL and Wensleydale sheep, there is much more mule and Masham wool. By knitting with this wool, we’re helping farmers find a market for even more of their fleeces, and as a bonus, the high availability of crossbreed wool makes it cost effective with much less fluctuation in price and availability than purebreed wool. Image © British Wool Marketing Board

If you want to try knitting with crossbreed wool, our very own baa ram ewe Dovestone DK, Dovestone Natural Aran and Dovestone Natural Chunky all include Masham wool. We use both light and dark Masham wool to add springiness and loft to the lustrous longwool BFL and Wensleydale in the blend. The Knitting Goddess One Farm Yarn is a very special yarn using a blend of BFL and North Country Mule from just one Yorkshire farm.