Manx Loaghtan sheep at The Grove, Rural Life Museum, Ramsey, Isle of Man
Conservation status
RBST (2017): Category 4[1]
Country of origin
Isle of Man
Use
Meat, wool
Traits
Horn status
Horned, with two, four or six horns.
Sheep
Ovis aries
The Manx Loaghtan (/ˈlɒxtən/LOKH-tən)[2] is a rare breed of sheep (Ovis aries) native to the Isle of Man. It is sometimes spelled as Loaghtyn or Loghtan. The sheep have dark brown wool and usually four or occasionally six horns.[3]
The Manx Loaghtan is one of the Northern European short-tailed sheep breeds, and descends from the primitive sheep once found throughout Scotland, the Hebrides, and Shetland Islands. The word Loaghtan comes from the Manx words lugh dhoan, which mean mouse-brown and describe the colour of the sheep.[3] This breed is primarily raised for its meat, which some consider a delicacy. In 2008, the meat received EU recognition and protection under the Protected Designation of Origin scheme, which requires products with a regional name to originate in the named region.[4]
The Rare Breeds Survival Trust has characterised the Loaghtan as "at risk". By the 1950s there were only 43 surviving specimens. Manx National Heritage developed two healthy flocks. These have given rise to commercial flocks on the Isle of Man, United Kingdom and Jersey. Even so, today there are still fewer than 1,500 registered breeding females.[5]
^Watchlist 2017–18. Stoneleigh Park, Warwickshire: Rare Breeds Survival Trust. Accessed May 2017.
^"loaghtan". Oxford English Dictionary (Online ed.). Oxford University Press. (Subscription or participating institution membership required.)
^ ab
"Manx Loaghtan". Retrieved 21 April 2009.
^
"Manx Loghtan/United Kingdom". Breed Data Sheet. Domestic Animal Diversity Information System. Retrieved 2 September 2009.
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goods and Manx pride items available on the island and over the Internet, serving (along with the triskelion and the four-horned ManxLoaghtan sheep) as...
are all commercially farmed; Manx lamb from the hill farms is a popular dish. The Loaghtan, the indigenous breed of Manx sheep, has a rich, dark meat...
offspring. Other polycerate breeds include the Hebridean, Icelandic, ManxLoaghtan, and the Navajo-Churro, and other piebald breeds include the Finnsheep...
rump (known as lachdann in Scottish Gaelic, which is cognate to the Manxloaghtan); a few have white markings on the face. In the early twentieth century...
Buchanan Jardine's estate, it is a mixture of several primitive types: ManxLoaghtan, Shetland, Soay and Wiltshire Horn. The breed's name refers to the Castlemilk...
Turkey. Polycerate sheep breeds include the Hebridean, Icelandic, Jacob, ManxLoaghtan, Boreray and the Navajo-Churro. One example of a polycerate Shetland...
the world, including its native Hebrides. Icelandic sheep Jacob sheep ManxLoaghtan Rare breed (agriculture) Barbara Rischkowsky, Dafydd Pilling (editors)...
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