RICHLAND CENTER, Wis. — The Ryder Cup Biennial Men’s Golf Competition is to be held September 22-27, 2020 at Kohler’s Whistling Straits course and a notable feature of this course is a flock of Scottish Blackface Sheep which claim it as their home.
These sheep were supplied to Kohler by Littledale Farm of Richland Center, Wisconsin who specialize in these and other Hardy Hill Sheep breeds.
The outstanding qualities of the Scottish Blackface breed are survivability and versatility with the ability to fit into any situation. They are native to the Scottish Borders and Highlands and were originally imported into the U.S in the early 1970’s.
Both ewes and rams are horned with a fleece free from black fiber which is primarily used for high quality carpets, tweeds and mattress padding.
The breed’s origin is lost in the mists of time, with Monastery records of the 12th Century showing that they were prevalent at that time. The Scottish Blackface has the ability to survive and reproduce in the most adverse weather conditions and is ideally suited to their home at Whistling Straits and Northern U.S climate.
The principle function of the breed is to utilize difficult terrain and produce fast growing high quality grass fed lambs with minimum management. The lambs have a World wide reputation for their unrivaled sweet flavor and tenderness.
Of equal importance, they are the basis of a three tiered breeding system which ultimately produces prime market lambs. The Scottish Blackface ewes are crossed with various other breeds, typically, Bluefaced Leicester; North County Cheviot; and Border Leicester to produce a “Greyfaced” mule which is in turn bred to a heavy meat breed such as Suffolk or Texel. The resulting lambs together with the Scottish Blackface lamb are among the most prized in the world.
These sheep roam the Whistling Straits Golf course year round and you might catch a glimpse of them pondering the Ryder Cup activities!
— Littledale Farm
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