Jacob sheep

Jacob
a piebald sheep with four horns
Ram at the Royal Show at Stoneleigh Park, Warwickshire
Conservation status
Other namesSpanish Sheep
Country of originUnited Kingdom
StandardJacob Sheep Society
Traits
Weight
  • Male:
    54 to 82 kg (120 to 180 lb)
  • Female:
    36 to 54 kg (80 to 120 lb)
Wool colourpiebald – black or grey with white patches
Face colourbadger-faced – black cheeks and muzzle, white blaze
Horn statushorned in both sexes; may have two or four horns[3]
Four-horned Jacob skull in the anatomy museum of the Royal Veterinary College in London

The Jacob is a British breed of domestic sheep. It combines two characteristics unusual in sheep: it is piebald—dark-coloured with areas of white wool—and it is often polycerate or multi-horned. It most commonly has four horns. The origin of the breed is not known; broken-coloured polycerate sheep were present in England by the middle of the seventeenth century, and were widespread a century later. A breed society was formed in 1969, and a flock book was published from 1972.

The Jacob was kept for centuries as a "park sheep", to ornament the large estates of landowners. In modern times it is reared mainly for wool, meat and skins.

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