The Wiltshire is an old English horned and naturally wool shedding breed of sheep. Wiltipolls are polled Wiltshires and retain all the hardy, easy care characteristics of the Wiltshire.
Polled sheep are easier to handle than horned sheep. They don’t get hooked in fences and they don’t inflict damage on other sheep, or handlers, when confined in yards.
Wiltipolls grow short strong wool which is naturally shed in late winter and spring. Wiltipolls put less energy into growing wool and more into producing meat than the wool growing breeds. Wiltipoll wool has no commercial value but significant environmental value being used by birds and other animals for nesting material and, if collected from trees and fences, it could be used for craft work such as felting.
Wiltipolls have a thick, tough skin affording resistance to damage by grass seeds.
Benefits of the wool shedding characteristic are:
• NO mulesing
• NO shearing
• NO crutching
• NO tailing
• Resistance to lice so jetting or dipping seldom required
• Resistance to fly strike
• Suitable for containment by electric fencing.
Wiltipolls have great mothering instincts and are good milk producers. Multiple births with good survival rates are common.
There is no need to traumatize lambs by mulesing or tail removal and together with the easy care characteristics means the Wiltipoll can rightly be called the animal lover’s sheep.