Portrait of a Texel.

I am making a bit of a habit of popping into the studio in the afternoon to see how the day has gone.  (Sorry to have missed you Derwent Lass).  Trying to get away from shots round the garden I have been trying to take shots either there or on the trip.

This is a Texel in the field just over the wall from the studio.  Texels are a breed from Texel (now there's a surprise for you) an island of the coast of the Netherlands.  They were originally brought into the country as terminal sires.  That is they were used to father lambs from the Greyface (often referred to as mules) that I mentioned the other day.

This was the end stage of the sheep system, mountain breeds (tough and hardy) crossed with upland breeds (prolific and high milkabilty) producing mules.  The mules then crossed with a breed which is heavy quick growing breed to produce lamb for the market.  However this is a flock of  pure breed.