The Whitefaced Woodland is a sheep breed from the South Pennines

South Pennines

South Pennines is a region of moorland and hill country in northern England lying towards the southern end of the Pennines. It is bounded to the west by the Forest of Rossendale and the Yorkshire Dales to the north...

 in England

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

, also known as the Penistone

Penistone

Penistone is a small town market town and civil parish in the Metropolitan Borough of Barnsley, in South Yorkshire, England, with a population of 10,101 at the 2001 census. It lies west of the town of Barnsley and north east of Glossop, in the foothills of the Pennines...

 sheep after the Yorkshire

Yorkshire

Yorkshire is a historic county of northern England and the largest in the United Kingdom. Because of its great size in comparison to other English counties, functions have been increasingly undertaken over time by its subdivisions, which have also been subject to periodic reform...

 town where sheep sales have been held since 1699. It is thought to be closely related to the Swaledale

Swaledale

Swaledale is one of the northernmost dales in the Yorkshire Dales National Park in northern England. It is the dale of the River Swale on the east side of the Pennines in North Yorkshire.-Geographical overview:...

 and the Lonk

Lonk

The Lonk is a domestic sheep of a specific breed, found in the hills of the central and south Pennines, in the north of England. The name "Lonk" derives from the Lancashire word "lanky", meaning long and thin, usually in a person. Their range extends into only two counties; Lancashire and Derbyshire...

. Substantial commercial flocks of the Whitefaced Woodland are kept in its region of origin, but it is listed as a vulnerable breed by the Rare Breeds Survival Trust

Rare Breeds Survival Trust

The Rare Breeds Survival Trust is a conservation charity, whose purpose is to secure the continued existence and viability of the United Kingdom’s native farm animal genetic resources...

, since there are fewer than 900 registered breeding females in the United Kingdom

United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

.

Characteristics

The Whitefaced Woodland is one of the largest hill breeds, with ewes sometimes weighing more the 60 kg (132 lbs) when kept in lowland

Lowland

In physical geography, a lowland is any broad expanse of land with a general low level. The term is thus applied to the landward portion of the upward slope from oceanic depths to continental highlands, to a region of depression in the interior of a mountainous region, to a plain of denudation, or...

 pastures. Unlike most Pennine breeds it has a white face and legs and short, fine wool

Wool

Wool is the textile fiber obtained from sheep and certain other animals, including cashmere from goats, mohair from goats, qiviut from muskoxen, vicuña, alpaca, camel from animals in the camel family, and angora from rabbits....

. The staple length of the wool is between 10 cm (4.7 inches) to 15 cm (7.1 inches) with a spinning count of 50's to 54's. The average fleece weight is 2 kg (4.5 lb) to 3 kg (6.5 lb). Its main use has been as a meat breed. However, its wool is used in carpet. Both sexes are horned and the ram horns are heavily spiraled.