The Exlana Sheep

The Exlana is an open composite breed, originally based on 14 breeds selected from around the world. It does not need shearing, crutching, or bellying. The absence of wool has several other benefits, massively reducing the incidence of both fly strike and ewes getting cast, both of which can be expensive on shepherding costs.

The Exlana was developed by a consortium of farmers in the south west, adopting the ‘easier management, lower inputs’ philosophy now widely accepted within the industry as the way forward for managing larger numbers of sheep. Prolific ewes with high mothering instincts capable of lambing unaided out doors.

The Exlana is a wool shedding sheep (often referred to as hair sheep) which has a coat that resembles wool in the winter time but rarely exceeds 2cm in length or 1kg in weight. The coat begins to fall out in the spring and may shed a number of times during the course of the summer leaving a short ‘hair coat’. As autumn approaches the shedding stops and the animals grow a thicker, weather resilient coat, which copes extremely well with both cold and wet. This tough winter coat gives the breed the ability to live, survive and indeed thrive in the harshest of climates- making it truly ‘Fit for Purpose’. Lambs are born with a good firm coat. The target is to breed the Exlana to shed just once per year.

The Exlana breeding programme is subject to one of the most technologically advanced and rigorous recording and breeding evaluation systems in the world, which will produce long-term sustainable improvements in the profitability of sheep keeping.