John Attrill on Sheep

The family were very keen on Dorset Horns sheep, which are a bit of a unique breed in that they had their lambs in the autumn.

Well in fact they will have their lambs at any time you like but they’re unique as a breed for that so we used to have lambs born in October and then they were fit for the Butcher at Easter. That was the aim because that’s the peak price for lamb is Easter and there were a lot of Dorset Horns in the Isle of Wight.

There were obviously a lot in Dorset and some in Somerset. In those days that was the sort of distribution. Now they’re spread all over the country and my family were big in them way back  in the 1890s, they created a flock book, which you know is a register of all the flocks and the sheep and I know my great grandfather was very proud.

He had flock number two but flock number one was Queen Victoria’s so in the book is Her Majesty the Queen and then Thomas Attrill and we’ve always kept on with Dorsets and been involved in judging them round the country and things like that. It’s been a great interest.