MANX LOAGHTAN LAMB

With its lean, dark, fine-grained meat and distinct, gamey flavour, Isle of Man Manx Loaghtan lamb has been described as a cross between beef and venison. It certainly bears little resemblance to that familiar, fatty mass-market lamb served up as Sunday roasts in many British homes. And in April 2008 it became the first pure-breed meat to gain Protected Designation of Origin status in the UK.

The origins of the Manx Loaghtan (it’s pronounced ‘Lufton’) stretch back more than a thousand years. Bearing similarities to other primitive types found among the outlying regions of Western Europe, these sheep – some of which boast four or even six horns –may have been brought to the British Isles by the Vikings and could even have been known much earlier by the longestablished Celtic Britons.

Written records dating back centuries show the Manx Loaghtan was valued for both its meat and its wool. And its low fat content – typically 5%, compared with nearly 30% for modern breeds – meant its meat could stay fresh for weeks, making it popular aboard ships that would stop at the Manx port of Douglas to ‘victual up’ before a long voyage.

Like other ‘unimproved’ breeds such as the Soay and Shetland, the hardy Manx Loaghtan thrives on poor land, which means it’s ideally suited to the damp, windy, maritime climate and scrubby pasture and moorland of the island. But only six farmers currently raise this lamb commercially here. One of them is George Steriopulos, a driving force in the PDO application. From the outset, he says, the project hinged on the fact this historic breed had not lost its distinctiveness through human intervention.

“Manx Loaghtans have never conformed to modern farming practices, which are all about producing meat quickly,” says George. “Modern crossbreeds are ready for slaughter after six months. Manx Loaghtan ewes can have a breeding life of 15 years, which is a long time, and the lambs themselves are slow growing and very laid back – in fact, typically Manx! So ours are still young animals at 15-18 months.”

These are the very characteristics that, in recent centuries, nearly led to the breed’s extinction, as farmers switched to quicker growing, higher yielding crosses. Luckily, interest revived in the last century, and the Manx Loaghtan was also championed by the Rare Breeds Survival Trust. Until now, however, it has not had similar recognition from officialdom. Government price support for sheep farmers has not extended beyond standard commercial breeds, which means rearing Manx Loaghtans

PDO has been a labour of love, not a living in itself. w: www.manxloaghtan.com

George Steriopulos reckons he and his fellow Manx farmers currently produce about 1,500 Manx Loaghtan carcasses a year. A further 1,000 or so breeding ewes are believed to be kept on farms elsewhere in the UK, but the very different landscape, climate and feeding conditions in, say, the Sussex Downs mean that the Manx Loaghtan PDO applies specifically to those few slow-growing animals born, raised and slaughtered on the Isle of Man.

And those Manx farmers who have stuck loyally with the island’s traditional sheep now hope sales will reach more viable levels, enabling them to produce more animals each year and ensuring this handsome, hardy and historic breed’s survival.