58—Lancaster Farming. Saturday, Jan. 4, 1975
Menhennetts Introduce Clun Forest Shee
Mr. and Mrs. Warn
Menhennett of Chester
County have recently in
troduced a new breed of
sheep into the Pennsylvania
and the United States along
with being charter member
of the first North American
Clun Forest Sheep Breeders
Association. At their recent
meeting, Mrs. Menhennett,
Cochranvllle, Rl, was
selected as the first recor
ding secretary.
While the post is a new one
to Mrs. Menhennett, sheep
breeding and raising is not.
Since their farm is con
ductive to raising hay and
bountiful in pasture area, the
Menhennett’s have been
raising and showing
Shropshire sheep for the past
several years.
The Clun Forest breed of
sheep is relatively new to the
United States, with the
Menhennett’s being one of
five breeders in the country
to import the breed from
Canada.
When asked how they had
become interested in the
breed, Mrs. Menhennett
explained it in this manner.
“We had been raising
sheep for some time and
tried to read a large amount
of material on the field. One
day while looking through a
book we saw a picture of the
Clun Forest Sheep and were
very impressed.”
“The more we read of
them, the better they
sounded however, since they
are native to the British
Isles, we ran into difficulty
going ahead with the idea of
obtaining them.”
Mrs. Menhennett went on
to explain that since im
portation of the Clun Forest
sheep directly from Bntian
held numerous com
plications, they looked to
Canada for possibilities in
purchasing the animals.
Mrs. Warn Menhennett, Bryson Rd., Cochranville,
holds one of the Clun Forest sheep that she and her
husband imported from Canada.
Mrs. Menhennett ex
plained that to try to pur
chase the animals from
Britian would have put many
restrictions on their own
herd as there would be a
need for many months of
quarantine and herd in
spections until the animals
were ruled free of diease.
However, sheep that come
from Canada are more
readily acceptible mto the
United States after medical
examinations are performed
at the border.
The Menhennett’s finally
located breeders of the Clun
Forest sheep in Canada
about 16 months ago and
purchased ten ewes and one
ram for a trial run.
The first winter proved
somewhat disillusioning for
the Menhennett’s as most of
the Clun Forest animals
developed pneumonia. Some
of the lambs died at birth but
the ewes proved hearty
enough to survive. This year,
however, was more suc
cessful as the animals
remained in good condition.
For many people, the idea
of going through months of
waiting and planning just to
try out another new breed of
sheep would sound absurd;
however, the Menhennett’s
saw qualities in the Clun’s
that seemed worth the
effort and time.
The Clum Forest Sheep
are an old breed that have
been popular in the Birist
Isles aqd .Scotland for many
years. The animals seemed
quite worthy of attention
since they were able to 1
withstand the bleak weather
of those countries and still
have excellent lambing
qualities.
The Clun’s exhibit a long,
clean open face with an
alertness that makes them
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stand out among the other
popular breeds. They are
also known for their out
standing lambing crops that
can average 173 lambs per
season from 100 ewes, very
close to a 200 percent record.
Another assest to the
lambing ability is the Clun’s
wide pelvic area, conductive
to multiple births.
From studies done in the
British Isles and Scotland, it
has been found that the
animals produce first
growing lambs that have a
hearty nature.
The fleece of the animals
are of medium length and
are of a fine close texture,
shearing often at a 56-58
county.
It was qualities such as
these that impressed the
Menhennett’s and helped
them make their decisions
on purchasing the animals.
Organization Formed
Mrs. Menhennett ex
plained how the National
organization of which she is
an intregal part came into
being.
“When we found there
were other breeders in the
County, we wanted to have
an organization where we
could register our sheep and
keep records on their
progress in' the United
States.”
Although the North
American Clun Forest
Association is still in its
formative stages, Mrs.
Menhennett has been busy
devising and making cer
tificates of registration as
well as filing them for future
reference.
I Continued on Page 59]
UNEQUALED VALUE AND APPEARANCE,
AT WINTER DISCOUNTS
*** tr\
- ¥ '
JSVi
' **
Clun Forest sheep are noted for their open faces,
wide pelvic areas and lambing ability. They are a
hearty breed which have been popular in the British
Isles and Scotland for many years.
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