Welcome to White Rose Wiltshires,

the homepage for Wiltshire Horn sheep on the Otago Peninsula.

Wiltshire Horn sheep What is so special about them? 

Well, both rams and ewes have horns. This is quite normal in British sheep but unusual here in New Zealand. This makes them easy to steer! No, that is not the main characteristic.  Wiltshire Horn sheep naturally shed their wool. So they require no shearing or dagging. That makes them ideal for lifestyle blocks. We have found Wiltshire Horns very placid with no inclination to poke through fences and generally easy to move (but lambs are lambs whatever the breed so don't expect them to come when you whistle!).  

History of Wiltshire Horn sheep 

Wiltshire Horn sheep are a very old, rare breed. The remains of a sheep very much like the Wiltshire Horn was discovered at a Romano-British site, Rockburn Down, in Wiltshire. For a detailed history try the Wiltshire Horn Sheep Society UK.  The New Zealand Rare Breeds Trust list them as a rare breed and, if you have tried to get hold of any you will probably agree.  The breed is now strong in Australia where it was introduced in 1952. At one point the breed was nearly lost but it is now numerically strong with a very active improvement programme. The Australian Wiltshire Horn Sheep Breeders Association has a very informative website.   

White Rose Wiltshires  

We run a 33 acre lifestyle block on the Otago Peninsula and are in the process of breeding up our flock of Wiltshire Horn sheep. Our stud ram is from Bev Trowbridge at Muriwai Valley Farm, Warkworth who imported the sire from Australia. Our ewes are from Canterbury.   

Available stock 

We are keeping our ewe lambs (Feb 2011) but have a few  rams available at reasonable prices (see list below). You can contact us at whiterosewiltshires@gmail.com.

Phone 021 1181 902

Why chose Wiltshire Horns?

Remember your last shearing. Organising it was a real pain, everyone wanted the shearers at the same time and for some reason your 20 ewes didn’t hold the same attraction as the 5,000 up the road. In the end you got Don to do it as a favour but you needed to borrow the shearing plant from Ross 25kms away. The day you took off to get ready for Don it rained. On the third attempt you get a dry day, the Don turns up and you even managed to have all the sheep in. Only when Don had packed up and gone did you find that other pesky Perendale hiding in the bush. 
 
After all that hassle you were left with a sack and a half of poorly sorted wool that needed to be got rid of. You took another day off to take it to the merchants. At least you would get paid for this bit. Weeks later you noticed a small entry on your bank statement. Something was wrong; you thought the minimum wage had gone up to $12.75/hour. Why then have you been working for 12 cents an hour. Oh, the joys of woolly sheep.

Compare that with my last shearing. Quick walk around the paddocks. They are all looking good, no dags, no shaggy Shrek like creatures. What’s that in the bush – ah, it’s that Perendale that hid when I sold the flock. No need to shear it, just pop it in the freezer – revenge is sweet and the paté was delicious!

Here are some pictures of our Wiltshire Horn sheep.

We were invited to the 150th Otago & Taieri A&P show. The Wiltshire Horn sheep created a lot of interest and it was amazing how many people thought they were goats!

This is "Number 4" our stud Wiltshire Horn ram.

Eyeing up the Wiltshire Horn ewes.

Stock for Sale February 2011.