White ram, 4 yrs
Read MoreBlack palette variation occurs with sun-bleaching and fading produced by BB and BB Ag genes. Colours range through raisin, dim grey, silver, night black, with timberwolf at the tips and hints of purple.
Brown palette featuring coppers, cafe noir and dark brown derived from Bb genes, with pale khaki brown highlights fading to off-white. Brown is a far rarer gene than black, being recessive.
White is determined by the Agouti white and tan gene, Awt, with the phenotype incorporating greys, silvers, smoke and blue. Technically, white is a genetic pattern that hides brown or black.
With small hooves and lighter mass, Ouessant don't poach the ground - less mess, less damage, less soil compaction. They're also easy to handle, lift and move. And super-cute!
Happy outdoors, they demand little in the way of shelter or feed. Primitive immunity includes disease resistance, a key driver for saving ancient breeds.
Adding heart and soul to any landscape, they graze and nap and stretch unlike any lawnmower. Try sheep-gazing as the perfect mindfulness exercise.
With high wool weight per head, fine wool and beautiful palettes, Ouessant fibre is highly desirable for hand spinners, and wool enthusiasts.
Rare, unusual, and unique - by helping this breed, we preserve vital primitive sheep genetics, maybe for another millennium.
launching soon, head over to our YouTube channel @OuessantSheep featuring plenty of quirky, characterful videos, or search for regular updates on our Tiny Ouessant Sheep page on Facebook.
Check back here for the list of the perfect stories of shepherds and their sheep, hills and fields, weather and the cycle of the seasons.
Now underway, a compilation of the best articles, scholarly reviews, studies and insights into sheep - their origins, husbandry, wool, and genetics.
Here, we'll be using photographic and colour theory to explain why both white sheep and black sheep can look blue, and how pigment and light affects the perception of colour.