English Leicesters and an interesting lady
By Judy Evans
@JudyEv (382324)
Rockingham, Australia
October 1, 2018 5:14pm CST
When we were in Tasmania earlier in the year, we picked up a small local paper in a café in the Central Highlands. I read of a family who has Australia’s largest flock of pure English Leicester sheep. The Arundel Farm has been in the one family for 124 years.
English Leicester is a heritage breed which originated in the 1760s in Britain and I was able to photograph one at the Perth Royal Show in Western Australia. They are slower to mature than some breeds with lambs not being fit for consumption till about eight months old as compared to 3 or 4 months for some other breeds. However the meat from older sheep (up to 10 to 15 months) is likely to have a lot more flavour.
The woman running the farm with help from her 85-year-old father is a zoologist who has worked in Antarctica and on Macquarie Island studying penguins and albatross. She has also studied seals and Tasmanian devils and does seasonal work on threatened Tasmanian bird species. Don’t some people have interesting lives?
14 people like this
15 responses
. I spent an afternoon in woods with birds watchers/photographs, and it was boring to wait... Studying penguins in Antarctica is perhaps a lot of fun for some people but not for me.
@snowy22315 (209015)
• United States
2 Oct 18
It sounds good to me! neat looking sheep
2 people like this
Oh my those are so cute.
@1creekgirl (44560)
• United States
1 Oct 18
I don't even know anyone personally with such an interesting life! That lamb/sheep? is so pretty.
2 people like this
@JudyEv (382324)
• Rockingham, Australia
2 Oct 18
Some people have very interesting stories. When Mum was in the nursing home we would chat with other inmates and some of them had had wonderfully varied lives. One had been a ballet dancer and had a scrapbook of her achievements and photos.
1 person likes this
. That lady does seem to have an interesting life. Hope her children is going to share her love for animals. 
@JudyEv (382324)
• Rockingham, Australia
2 Oct 18
I don't think so but some do pick up a pink or red tinge from the land they run on. If the earth is red the dust eventually gets in the fleeces. Here are some orange ones we saw in Scotland. We were told they had been dyed to deter sheep rustlers.
2 people like this
@JudyEv (382324)
• Rockingham, Australia
2 Oct 18
It would be judged on the quality of its wool as well as other things and would be shorn once it got home again.
@JudyEv (382324)
• Rockingham, Australia
2 Oct 18
I know what you're about the slaughter but if people ate no meat the bulk of the domestic animals wouldn't be needed at all and would all die out. Which is sort of okay I guess. I just like seeing all the different types of animals that are around.
@JudyEv (382324)
• Rockingham, Australia
2 Oct 18
We really enjoyed our time there. There was so much to see.
@JudyEv (382324)
• Rockingham, Australia
2 Oct 18
You're very welcome. I enjoy writing about the people and places we visit. It's hard to share these with anyone else so I'm really pleased to have an 'audience'.
@Edsamacos (557)
• Philippines
2 Oct 18
Hmmm. Have not seen other breed of sheep.
1 person likes this
@JudyEv (382324)
• Rockingham, Australia
2 Oct 18
There are a great many different breeds and some look quite strange.
@JudyEv (382324)
• Rockingham, Australia
2 Oct 18
We always liked hogget which is a young adult. But you're right. There is little taste in some of the lamb meat.
