Welcome to Border Shetlands

Welcome to Border Shetlands where we pride ourselves on the wellbeing and quality of our flock of pure bred Shetland sheep and the excellence of service we provide to our clients.  Being a small family run farm, where we specialize in breeding pure bred Shetland sheep, we are able to devote a lot of our time to breeding and rearing the finest quality Shetland Sheep in France.

 Sue & Mike Longhurst are fully registered farmers in France and have been successfully breeding top quality Shetland Sheep for over 5 years.  We first decided on Shetland sheep when we owned a farm in Wales as they are a small but very hardy breed and the quality of their wool perfectly complemented the extremely fine fiber worn by our llamas. We soon realized that even a flock of 50 sheep were relatively easy to manage and maintain, and due to their small size, toe clipping, shearing, injections etc, were easy to administer.  As time progressed we also realized that they showed qualities of being curious, very friendly and having quite distinct personalities.  The end result was that we quickly fell in love with the Shetland sheep breed.  It was with a very sad heart that we had to find new homes for our flock of Shetland sheep when we left Wales and moved to France, but this was necessary due to the movement restrictions and export requirements prevailing at the time.  However, after moving here in January 2005, we realized just how much we missed them and after a short debate we decided to re-start a Shetland Sheep breeding program. In August 2009 we imported a flock of pure bred Shetland Sheep, including a stunning jet black Ram, from Holland and have now started our new breeding program.  In 2010 we will be importing another ram from the UK to ensure that we can increase the size of our flock without inbreeding or crossbreeding and at that point we will maintain a closed flock.

Our  12 Acre Llama and Shetland Sheep breeding farm is situated amidst the beautiful rolling hills of the Bourbonnais region of the Allier, Auvergne, France.  We breed llamas and Shetland Sheep as we believe the qualities of these two animals complement each other perfectly.  Our herd of llamas provide a natural deterrent against predators which may try and prey on the sheep whilst grazing or at rest and they co-exist in perfect harmony.

Shetland sheep  are extremely rare in France with only a small handful of breeders specializing in the breed and even less who keep the breed pure (i.e. those that do not practice cross breeding).  The Shetland is an ideal breed for the first time sheep owner or small holder who cannot or do not wish to manage the larger sheep breeds yet wish to take advantage of the unsurpassed exceptionally fine quality of the Shetland fleece.   For those looking for a niche meat market, Shetland sheep are also famous for the flavor and quality of their meat. 

If you are interested in owning or breeding Shetland Sheep we can advise and assist you.  If you would like to know more about Shetland Sheep, their care and upkeep, please do not hesitate to contact us. We do not believe in applying any pressure to purchase on callers and we are quite happy for farm visits so you can get to see the sheep close up (we do not charge for farm visits).  Our aim is to provide you with as much advice and assistance as possible in order that you can make an informed decision as to whether keeping or breeding Shetland Sheep is the right move for you and more importantly that you will be able to provide the right conditions for the sheep to continue to lead a healthy lifestyle should you decide to become owners at some point in the future.

We can personally deliver our sheep to any part of France, or we can arrange for delivery to any location within the European Union using fully qualified and licensed transporters who are conversant with and conform to the legal requirements for the transportation of sheep.  All our sheep are fully registered, Scrapie and Brucellosis tested, wormed, vaccinated, electronically ear tagged and in good health.

If you purchase any of our sheep and are not quite ready to receive them yet, we can keep your selected sheep safe here at the farm until you are ready to move them onto your new premises .

Thank you for visiting our web site, we hope you enjoy and benefit from the information and pictures provided for your pleasure.