The origins of the Easy Care Breed lie in the prize winning Gedwydd flock of Wiltshire Horn, founded in 1911 by Iolo's father, Richard Hughes Owen, on the Isle of Anglesey, North Wales.

Experience with Wiltshires had proven the value of wool-less sheep. Wool contributes less than 5% of the sheeps income and this does not justify the enormous share in total shepherding costs that can be directly attributed to it. With the elimination of shearing, dipping, crutching, etc... the other main expense was lambing. By working on the belief that every characteristic in an animal is hereditary an important part of the breeding process has been the culling of members of the flock that needed assistance at lambing.

The initial key factors in the development of the breed were now established - selective breeding of animals with carefully monitored target characteristics and the elimination of  those without.

The Wiltshire crossed Welsh Mountain produced about 20% of progeny which inherited their sire's characteristic of sheddding its wool and they were kept back for breeding. Through selecting the finest coated rams it was found that they were breeding relatively true to type. The absence of horns became apparent in the first few generations although the total wool shedding took longer. A factor that emerged unexpectedly was that with less wool the ewes produced more milk and thus heavier lambs, more than compensating for the loss of wool revenue.

To maintain the intitial hybrid vigour a system was adopted in the 1970s of 4 elite flocks of 25 of the best ewes. The best ram lamb from each flock was chosen to breed for one season only on the next flock, i.e. the best ram from Blue flock was used on Red, best from Red on Green and so on. By using a ram lamb for just one season a quicker genetic turnover was achieved.

By the 1980's this slow, expensive, challenging and sometimes frustrating process was at an advanced stage and the flock was clearly a success. Sales of the breed commenced in 1985.

Having reached more than satisfactory targets, the breeding process has continued with the adoption of another system, one aspect of which is the selection of outstanding ewes which are tested for "scrapie" and bred to the best ram lamb, also blood tested, the aim being to provide a "scrapie-free" sheep. Other improvements are also being sought although it has always been recognized that the more factors taken into the equation the longer they take to achieve - and the achievements to date are more than could have been anticipated four decades ago.

	Easy Care Sheep Today.