IN most recent years, the Zwartbles sheep breed has witnessed a surge in popularity due to its size, hardiness and striking appearance in the show ring and as a result can be seen dominating entries at agricultural shows up and down the country. 
Not only does this Dutch breed attract smallholders or those keen to take up a hobby, but commercial producers have found that the Zwartbles is an ideal sire thanks to its fast-growing attributes, easy lambing characteristics and flavour of meat.
It’s certainly a breed that ticks all the boxes for Sammy Stewart who runs her Janetstown flock at Drummuir, near Keith, and one which she has never looked back on since she purchased her first few females in 2011 from the Bulchurn and Culriach flocks. 
“Zwartbles sheep are a hardy breed and so easy to work with,” said Sammy, who was brought up on a beef and sheep farm on Orkney but moved down to the mainland after completing her honours degree in agriculture at Craibstone, where she met husband Phil who farms in partnership with his father on the family’s two units – Bomakelloch and Butterybrae – which are home to Blackface sheep. 
“They have the ability to produce monster lambs which are still easily lambed, and those lambs can be finished at 12 to 16 weeks of age off grass. There may not be that many large flocks about, but you just have to look at the size of Zwartbles classes at shows and you can see how much they’re growing in popularity.”

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Ewes lamb at the beginning of February and lambs are speaned at the start of June

Initially, Sammy’s flock was non-accredited, and the ewes ran alongside the Blackfaces, but with more and more sheep farmers approaching her each year to buy ewes and tups for both pedigree and commercial use, she decided to achieve MV accreditation to open up another market.
“I used to ring all of the tup lambs which weren’t suitable for pedigree breeding but now I keep a few entire from chunky bloodlines that will be suitable for commercial boys who want to use them on ewe lambs for easier lambing,” said Sammy. 
“There tends to be two types of Zwartbles sheep – a more traditional, taller and slightly leaner type and a meatier, more compact type which definitely has a commercial market here and is the typical Zwartbles you find in the Janetstown flock.”
While Sammy’s foundation females were bought at Thainstone in 2011, she also purchased her first tup privately from Rod McKenzie’s Muirton flock in the Black Isle and the following year she was gifted an in-lamb gimmer for her birthday from her parents. One of the original ewe lambs, Culriach Tilly bred Janetstown Westend Rocker – a female which went on to breed some of the best lambs in the flock.
Nowadays, the Janetstown flock – which is named appropriately after the hill at Bomakelloch – numbers just 10 females, with a couple of gimmers kept on each year as replacements. Having such a small flock allows Sammy to concentrate on breeding quality over quantity, forcing her to only keep the best as flock replacements. As well as being easy lambed, these hardy ewes survive on very little feeding, with the ewes receiving course mix six weeks prior to lambing and are given the same mix with neeps on the grass for approximately 10 weeks post-lambing. Although the flock is a bit of a hobby, they have to be able to look after themselves and earn their keep. 

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A strong line-up of February-born lambs pictured at the beginning of this month

“We do bring the Zwartbles inside for lambing at Butterybrae but that’s only for ease of management when I’m working away from home and so that we can watch them on the camera system,” explained Sammy, who is an agricultural consultant with SAC Consulting in Elgin. 
Lambing kicks off at the beginning of February with lambs usually weaned at the beginning of June and those tup lambs with markings not suitable for the show or sale ring are sold freshly-speaned through the prime ring at Huntly. Not just a pretty face, these Zwartbles lambs stand up well against other continental breeds as Sammy’s latest batch averaged £121 per head. On the other side of the equation, ewe lambs that are miss marked are either finished alongside the wedder lambs or sold on to be used as commercial ewes or recipients. 
“Zwartbles lambs always seem to weigh deceptively heavier than they look,” said Sammy. “They usually finish off grass, but they were put on the creep feeder this year as I could see they were just going backwards as we had a real grass shortage. It really took the pressure off the ewes, too, as they put everything into their lambs. Once the grass arrived though, the lambs were reluctant to go to the creep feeder as they preferred the grass,” pointed out Sammy.
Sammy also praised the breed’s longevity as most ewes are sold as cull ewes at six or seven-years-old at Thainstone or Huntly and regularly hit £120. 
In a bid to keep the flock at a manageable size while working around a full-time job, most females are sold privately and each year, a few shearlings are sold at either Thainstone, Carlisle or the Scottish Zwartbles Branch’s show and sale at Stirling. As a result, Janetstown bloodlines have sold all over the map including the likes of Devon, Orkney, Ireland and the Western Isles. 
Sammy’s top price to date is 1900gns achieved at Carlisle in 2015 for the shearling Janetstown Balvenie by Aquila Action Man – a tup which has bred most of Sammy’s show winners and sale toppers – and out of Janetstown Wild Card. He stood overall  Scottish champion that same week at the national show and sold to the Mardle flock in Devon. Another shearling by Action Man - Janetstown Deveron – made 1000gns at the Scottish show and sale at Stirling after he stood overall champion and sold over the phone to the Beechbrook flock in Ireland after they spotted him at the Highland a few weeks earlier. 
“It really just goes to show how good a shop window showing is – it just helps spark interest, promote the breed and build relationships with other breeders, commercial and pedigree. The Irish breeders couldn’t make the sale that day, yet managed to secure him over the phone after seeing him at the show. 
“Social media is great for uploading pictures of sheep prior to sale day but a photo online can break or make a sheep – there’s nothing like seeing an animal in the flesh,” said Sammy. 

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It's a case of quality over quantity in the Janetstown flock

In just seven years, Sammy has picked up a number of tri-colour tickets in the show ring since her first outing at her local Keith Show in 2012 and was overall in the Scottish flock competition in 2016. As well as picking up several championships at shows in the North-east and having been placed more than once in some of the biggest sheep classes at the Highland, Janetstown Balvenie stood champion at the breed’s Scottish National Show at Turriff in 2015. 

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Just some of the many rosettes in Sammy's collection 

“Everyone is trying to breed the perfect sheep but is there one out there? It’s hard to not only produce a correct sheep with a good frame and carcase but with the Zwartbles, the added challenge is trying to breed the correct markings and still retain the Zwartbles character. 
“The markings can be a lottery - you can get a beautiful crop of lambs one year and then the next year there can be a higher proportion missed mark,” said Sammy, who added that her aim is to produce a sheep that’s appropriate for both the pedigree and commercial market.
Despite Sammy’s flock more than proving its commercial worth when it comes to selling fat lambs and cull ewes through the mart and the fact her tups are being used on commercial flocks, Sammy does feel the breed isn’t quite getting the same recognition as other breeds.
“The Zwartbles is often overlooked as a commercial breed, however with several Zwartbles beginning to win inter-breed championships, they are beginning to get more credit and gaining popularity. I think if they were white, rather than black, people would be more inclined to use them as a crossing sire,” said Sammy. 
There is no doubting, though, that the Zwartbles is here to stay at Butterybrae and with 23 lambs on the ground from this year’s crop, Sammy will be hoping for a few more rosettes this summer to add to her impressive collection. 

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