The Pekin Bantam is a British breed of bantam chicken. It derives from birds brought to Europe from China in the nineteenth century, and is named for the city of Peking where it was believed to have originated.
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Swiss Valais Blacknose
Although the earliest mention of these sheep dates back to the 1400’s this large framed docile mountain sheep was first recognised as a separate breed in 1962.
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We have 3 brand new arrivals at Church Farm – We would like to introduce you to our pet fancy rats!
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We currently have one shire horse at the Farm – he is called Herbie and he is a “grey”
The Shire is a British breed of draught horse.
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Descended from the local breeds, which grazed the low ground in and around Dartmoor, they are a slow maturing breed taking some 3 years to reach maturity.
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Pekins are a “True Bantam” meaning they have no Large fowl counterpart.
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The Suffolk or Suffolk Punch is Britain’s oldest breed of heavy working horse and was named after the East Anglian county where it has been bred since the sixteenth century.
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The Whitefaced Woodland is one of the largest British hill breeds.
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Mainly found in the North of England, the Wensleydale is the result of a cross between the now extinct Teeswater Muggs and a Dishley Leicester ram, this produced “Bluecap” the foundation ram of the Wensleydale breed (1839).
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The most northerly of the Orkney islands is North Ronaldsay where this small and endearing sheep is found and from where it gets its name.
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A hardy, active sheep, bred to graze the heathlands and the poorest soils.
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The Manx Loaghton is a primitive breed of sheep that has roots way back, probably to the Iron Age, and although it was once found in many parts of Britain it only survived on the Isle of Man because the island was relatively isolated.
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Originally this sheep came from the island of Boreray off the west coast of Scotland in the St Kilda group of the Hebrides.
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Jacob
The Jacob Sheep breed is steeped in history with origins in the Middle East and is quite possibly the oldest sheep breed in the World, with historical references dating back to the Old Testament, Book of Genesis.
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Pygmy Goats have developed from the interbreeding of wild goats found in Africa and were originally called the Cameroon Dwarf Goat.
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As its name suggests this breed of goat evolved on Guernsey in the Channel Islands and was brought to the mainland for breeding when numbers had become low in 1965.
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The British Lop Pig is currently the rarest of all British pigs, and is classified on the RBST list as “Vunerable” meaning there are less than 300 registered breeding sows.
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Originating in the Midlands, the Tamworth is the closest to the traditional pig that would have roamed the woods of Britain in medieval times and whose ancestor would have been the wild boar.
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Kune Kune pigs (pronounced Kooney Kooney) were probably brought from Southern Asia to New Zealand by whalers who traded them with the Maori people.
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The Gloucestershire Old Spot or Orchard Pig has been around for about 200 years.
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The British Saddleback is the result of the amalgamation of two similar breeds, the Essex and Wessex Saddleback.
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Originally the donkey came from Africa and Asia, hot dry countries where they roamed in their wild herds before they were tamed and used by man.
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The Orpington is a sweet tempered bird and because of it’s size does not need very high fences to stop it straying.
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A complete mixture of breeds which are much more flighty than the docile pure breeds in the other pens.
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Originally the wild guinea pig came from the coast of South America, where the Incas (16th century) kept them for food.
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It is thought that the Flemish Giant Rabbit is a cross between large rabbits from Flanders and giant Patagonian rabbits.
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We have a number of domestic rabbits at Church Farm, we keep these so you can hold them and give them a stroke during Animal Encounters.
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