Exmoor Horn Genetic Resource Plan

Genetic Resources Project                     Project Cost £4,875.50                         FiPL Grant £3,785.00

The Exmoor Horn is a breed of sheep that has made Exmoor its home for hundreds of years, with evidence of horned sheep found in Roman archaeological sites in North Devon. The Exmoor Horn is locally common, but nationally rarer, with a real stronghold in the greater Exmoor area. The Exmoor Horn Sheep Breeders Society listed 107 flocks with 10,254 breeding ewes in 2020.

The EHSBS approached the Exmoor FiPL team to ask if the FiPL programme could offer support to safeguard the future of the breed by capturing and storing important genetic lines. 20 years ago, as part of the National Scrapie Plan, semen was collected and has been stored by the Rare Breeds Survival Trust and National Sheep Association. They have maintained this gene bank since government funding stopped in 2009, but the genetics are not well documented and the status of the Exmoor Horn genetics in this gene bank is unknown.

The proposed project was to collect semen off proven Exmoor Horn rams and to take embryos off females that would be well documented and held more locally, to preserve bloodlines. The risk of a disease outbreak causing loss of bloodlines is high, due to its geographically localised population. The society decided which rams best represent the breed and asked their owners to participate. The EHSBS approached a local vet practice, Torch Vets, to facilitate the collection and storage of the genetics. The EHSBS and Torch vets were pleased when in November 2023 EHSBS collected 30 embryos from 2 ewes. There are other companies across the country that can provide this service, but they require sheep to be accredited free of a sheep disease, Maedi Visna (MV), to have them on site, and Exmoor Horns are mostly unaccredited. Due to the MV status of the donor animals the semen and embryos will have to be stored separately, so FiPL has helped fund the purchase of a liquid nitrogen tank to be held by the EHSBS. FiPL funding along with a donation from the Exmoor Society has helped kick start the programme, but it is important to note the dedication of the EHSBS Council and members to ensuring the success of this project. They have made a significant investment, both in terms of their own volunteered time, as well as financially to ensure the future of this local sheep breed is secured.

This project is an unusual one to be supported by FiPL but strongly meets outcomes in the People and Place themes. Exmoor Horn sheep are an intrinsic part of the Exmoor farmed and moorland landscape, being hefted onto the moors for generations. Of all sheep breeds, this breed has evolved and adapted to the harsh conditions of Exmoor. The local rural communities benefit from the financial contribution these sheep make to their businesses, but also from the strong community links they foster, with shows and sales of these sheep at Cutcombe and Blackmore Gate markets being a crucial part of the social calendar for Exmoor farmers.