breed information

the origin of the coopworth sheep

The Coopworth breed had its origins in the 1950's and 1960's in the crossing of the Romney ewe with the Border Leicester ram to produce the F1 Border- Romney and the subsequent inter-breeding of them to give F2 and F3 generation progeny, which were then eligible to be known and registered as Coopworths.

The breed was formally established in 1968.

Since the 1970's the base of the Coopworth breed has been widened to include sheep bred from white faced breeds other than the Romney, by continued top crossing with Coopworth rams.

definition

The present (2008) definition of a Coopworth is a sheep of 75% Coopworth blood and 25% white-faced, white-woolled blood and with two generations of Sheep Genetics Lambplan recording system.

Any imported sheep must be recorded under the country of origins recognized recording system. E.g. New Zealand sheep must be recorded on Sheep Improvement Ltd.