Registrations
Wensleydale Registrations
The Wensleydale Longwool Sheep Breeders’ Association allows the registration of both black and white Wensleydales, maintained as two separate registers. Lambs are to be registered by the breeder in the year of birth and rams are to be added to the breeding register when they run with ewes for the first time. Registrations can either be done on paper using the downloads below or via your Grassroots login. If you have forgotten your login for Grassroots please email the secretary
Lambs
To be eligible, registration applications for lambs must reach the Breed Secretary by 31st October in the year of birth, and are to be submitted by the breeders of the lambs. Applications must be made in sufficient time prior to sale (private or auction) for animals to be tagged with Association tags by the time of the sale
Registration fees are £5 for ram lambs and £5 for ewe lambs
Rams
Applications should be made at the time that the ram/ram lamb is first run with pedigree ewes and by no later than 30th November, not at the time his offspring are arriving. Lambs may not be registered unless the sire is recorded in the Breeding Ram List
The fee for entering a male into the Breeding Ram List is £10
Black and White Registers & Colour Genetics
Each Wensleydale sheep carries two colour genes. The White flock is mostly made up of sheep carrying two White genes (WW), though some carry one White and one Black gene (WB), but because the White gene is dominant, they are still a White sheep. A Black lamb (BB) can occasionally be produced by two White parents, this means they must both carry one black gene each and therefore be WB
| Sheep Colour | Gene Status | Abbreviation |
|---|---|---|
| White | Two White genes | WW |
| White | One White gene and one Black gene | WB |
| Black | Two Black genes | BB |
Black offspring from two White parents are registerable, with the dam and sire of the Black lambs then moving to the Black register. Because these sheep are proven to carry the WB genes, they may only be bred to BB sheep or other WB sheep going forward. White progeny from sheep that are on the Black register are not eligible for registration