New breed of sheep accidentally created at a petting zoo

Ligers, mules and cockapoos are some of the world’s better known hybrid animals. Now, a farm in Dorset has accidentally created another.

Two baby “shalais” lambs have been born at Farmer Palmer’s petting zoo in Poole after their mother, an unnamed Shetland ewe, got into the neighbouring enclosure of Hank, the Valais ram.

Workers at the farm are in the middle of lambing season and the two hybrid-breed animals have been born in an unscheduled arrival.

After the Shetland ewe reportedly jumped over the fence to Hank’s enclosure about six month’s ago, the pair needed only a few hours together to conceive.

Farmer Palmer’s used to be a working dairy farm until 25 years ago, when the family decided to change and become a petting zoo attraction.

Sandra Palmer-Snellin, the farm’s director, said: “We’ve got a number of different types of sheep and goats here on the farm. The Valais are quite impressive sheep, with black faces and a lovely thick fleece.

“The Shetland sheep are kept in a separate pen, but one of the females must have been full of the joys of spring and quite determined. It was a while before she was spotted, so we had our suspicions.”

Hank is considerably larger and bulkier than the female and it was thought this size difference may have concealed the ewe when it was in the pen with Hank.

Over the following weeks, farm staff noted that the ewe was swelling in size and her teats were becoming more prominent.

Ms Palmer-Snellin said: “We were confident that lambs were coming.”

The lambs, she added, are “so sweet” and “look a bit like calves because of the breed mix”.

“Hank’s genetics are definitely dominant because they have lovely black faces,” she added.

“We didn’t have any plans to put the parents together. But nature found its own way and we’ve been very pleasantly surprised by how lovely the lambs are. The ewe is a very proud mummy.

“We think visitors will really enjoy seeing this new breed of sheep and it’s just in time for the half-term holiday.”

The farm is now holding a competition to name the new arrivals and their mother.

Each sheep breed is unique, and all sheep are able to breed with each other without too much difficulty so there is no biological reason for the two new offspring to be of ill health.

A Shetland and a Valais having offspring is similar to two dog breeds breeding, much in the same way as a cocker spaniel and a poodle creates a perfectly healthy cockapoo.

‘This hybrid is very unusual’

Matt Bagley, who runs the working farm and estate at the University of Lincoln’s Riseholme campus, said that in the UK there are more crossbred sheep than purebreds.

“There’s so many variations now with absolutely no issue whatsoever. It’s completely standard normal practice,” he said.

“This new hybrid is novel and very unusual because the Shetland is quite a small breed and the Valais is quite a large breed. There’s quite a size difference there.”