BREED CHARACTERISTICS
- Tight fleece with no black or brown wool
- Short deep body
- Very high killing out percentage
- Fine bone structure
- Small head, ears & big eyes
- Weight of rams 80 to 100 kg
- Weight of ewes 50 to 60 kg
Polled pink skinned, white-haired face, white legs, deep body and covered in tight fleece of good quality. Excellent confirmation, short neck, well muscled loins and strong gigots. It is light of bone; the meat-to-bone ratio is excellent with a high killing out percentage.
The Charmoise is a genuine hill breed – the first to be imported to Britain from the continent. The breed was formed in France in the late 18th century by the introduction of Kent rams from England, which were crossed on the indigenous hill and mountain breeds to give them a better back end and shape.
The breed’s influence on the modern sheep industry is considerable, as its good confirmation meant that when its ewes were crossed to a traditional Leicester ram, it produced the fore-runners of several influential breeds, including the modern Charollais and Rouge.