Suffolk

The Suffolk developed in the Suffolk area of East Anglia, England, from crossing Southdown rams with Norfolk Horn ewes. Selection combined the meat qualities of the Southdown with the size and hardiness of the local stock, and the breed was recognised and organised through a breed society in the nineteenth century. It has since been exported widely and is bred in many sheep-producing countries.

Suffolks are large, muscular, polled sheep with a black face and legs that are free of wool, and a white fleece over the body. They are selected chiefly for growth and carcass conformation rather than wool.

As a terminal-sire breed, Suffolk rams are commonly crossed with ewes of other breeds so that all resulting lambs are marketed, taking advantage of the breed’s growth rate and muscling.

Suffolks are kept in temperate pasture-based and mixed farming systems and are prominent in prime-lamb production. Management follows general sheep husbandry with an emphasis on growth, and the breed is widely distributed across the United Kingdom, continental Europe, North America, Australasia, and beyond.