Most people when they hear the name Swaledale think of the Yorkshire Dales. But the Swaledale is also a breed of sheep that has evolved in the high Pennines and is the most important hill breed in the North of England. For farmers, the Swaledale is renowned for its hardiness and mothering ability and, in many areas, is the only sheep that will both survive and thrive on the high rain driven fells.

Although its name is associated with Yorkshire, there are many Swaledale sheep in Cumbria which, in 2001, suffered the worst impact of the foot and mouth crisis. For hill sheep farmers, the effects were devastating. In the upper Eden Valley, the disease decimated the area and a large number of farmers lost some, or all, of their flocks. In many cases these were pedigree sheep that were not only the result of generations of selection, but were also "hefted" to their area of common fell land.

Since 2001, the Swaledale producers have sought to regenerate their breed and have set up the Cumbria Swaledale Trust with the assistance of Voluntary Action Cumbria. As well as commissioning an interpretative centre about the breed, the Trust is keen to develop new markets for Swaledale lambs and last summer participated in trial marketing project for light Swaledale lamb into the catering sector. This project was organised by Veronica Waller of the Cumbria Fells and Dales LEADER + programme and was funded by both LEADER + and Distinctly Cumbrian.

Paul Dixon, the Chairman of the Cumbria Swaledale Trust, runs 1400 Swaledale ewes on a farm above Kirkby Stephen in the Eden Valley of Cumbria. His land runs from 600 feet up to 2400 feet and includes common grazing rights on nearby Nateby and Mallerstang commons which are open fell land. Paul explained the background to the trial:

"In autumn 2003 we, and a number of other Cumbrian hill sheep groups, commissioned a piece of market research that showed significant interest in sourcing breed specific hill lamb amongst local caterers. We decided to trial market our lambs initially for a summer season in a specific period between July and September 2004. At this time of year, the lambs have been living on the fells with their mothers and have been reared simply on a diet of milk and the natural herbage of the fells.

Eight farmers have been involved in supplying the lambs all based on the Pennine fells of East Cumbria and all involved with environmental schemes. The sheep from these farms are helping to maintain the open grazed landscape of the mountains and moorlands that makes Cumbria a place of outstanding beauty.

To operate the trial, we entered into partnership with Cumbrian Fellbred based at Milnthorpe who organised the cutting, sales and distribution of the product, and Dales Quality Meats who organised the procurement of the lambs using a local abattoir at Hawes.

The Swaledale is a very hardy breed and the lambs are small at this time of year, however, this light lamb is very popular in Greece and Spain. We thought it would give restaurants in this country a chance to promote a different lamb product on their menu and one which we felt would have a different taste than the larger, less hardy lowland lamb.

We are really encouraged by the interest from high quality caterers and have taken the project forward with a "winter" Swaledale season from January to March as well as repeating the "summer" season this year."

Neil Udale of Cumbrian Fellbred has also been encouraged by the progress of the trial. "This was an experiment for us as we have never sold breed specific lamb before, although we have sold Cumbrian lamb to the catering trade for a number of years. Such has been the interest that we have run a "winter" Swaledale season from January to March. This lamb is a genuine product of the high fells and we feel it should be recognised as a premium product and bought both for its taste and its association with high moorlands of Cumbria."

For more information about the trial contact Veronica Waller of LEADER + on 01524 784865 or to source Winter or Summer Swaledale lamb, contact Cumbrian Fellbred on 01524 411611.

Please click on the links below to view other projects of the month: