Breed Study: Manx Loaghtan

Manx Loaghtan sheep - photo credit: Canterbury Oast Trust

Manx Loaghtan is a small primitive breed with big horns, some can have as many as six! And not just the adult rams, ewes and lambs have them too. This is a protected rare breed because it has been on the cusp of extinction a few times.

Loaghtan (pronounced locktun) is the Manx word for the brown “moorit” colour of the fleece which is derived from two Manx words “lugh” meaning mouse and “dhoan” meaning brown, or from “lhosht dhoan” meaning burnt brown.

This breed came from Isle of Man, it was originally white with some coloured variations. Because the Loaghtan colour was highly prized, in the process of revival the breeders focused the “loaghtan” genes. The moorit colour is recessive to all other colours, it breeds true and so it was relatively simple to fix that colour as a characteristic of the breed. This is why the rich brown loaghtan colour is the only colour today, with variations in shade depth.

Manx Loaghtan tops and a mini skein of test spin

Manx Loaghtan fleece is a medium fibre with a micron range of 27-33 and staple length of 6.5-12.5 cm. The fibre feels surprisingly fine in my hands, it has a little buttery feel.

I spun a small sample from the tops using a Turkish Spindle in the size S (Munchkin) and I let the fibre dictate how it wished to be spun. It was easy to draft although it can be a tad sticky occasionally, I think it would suit a woollen prep and spinning.

Manx Loaghtan sample swatches

As with all the tests I spun 5g of the fibre, again I forgot to measure the length of the spun yarn but you can see in the photo above, after I’ve made the swatches there is quite bit of the yarn left. The yarn did not bloom after finishing.

I want to try weaving with this yarn.