The Zwartbles sheep
Zwartbles sheep of the Friesland region of
Holland were developed for milk and cheese production.
Changes in dairying practice this century
caused them to decline, until they were adopted by the Dutch Rare Breed
Survival
Trust in the mid-1970s. In 1985 a Flock
Book was formed, and numbers have steadily increased. In 1995, a Zwartbles
Sheep Association was formed in Great Britain
after some of these attractive sheep were imported from Holland.
Breeds of sheep, perhaps more than any other
type of domesticated animal, closely reflect the specialised requirements
of their
native, historical homelands. The sheep
of Bethlehem, then and now, were almost certainly a variety of the lop-eared,
fat-tailed
sheep so prevalent in Africa and Mediterranean
regions to this day. In Britain we think of sheep as producers of wool
and
meat. All over the Middle East and Europe,
however, sheep have been bred with the primary purpose of producing milk
for
distinctive cheeses.
So, while the shepherds watched their flocks
by night, the travellers in nearby Bethlehem may have been lucky enough
to
sample the sheep's cheese.