Tautersheep is an extinct breed of sheep from the island Tautra in Frosta in Norway. It was a sheep with fine wool resembling the Spanish merino. The origin of the breed is disputed, but could possibly be merino sheep brought to Tautra cloister several hundred years ago and afterwards mixed with old Norse sheep. Others have claimed that the origin is the English

Ryeland The Ryeland is one of the oldest English sheep breeds going back seven centuries when the monks of Leominster in Herefordshire bred sheep and grazed them on the rye pastures, giving them their name. It was introduced into Australia in 1919 and a ...

, which suggest that the Tautersheep was a far younger race. The fine wool made the Tautersheep very popular and at the end of the 19th century it was quite well known, but had problems because the wool had a tendency to grow over the eyes of the animal. As early as 1805 70 Tautersheep were exported to

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and in 1884 some were sold to

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and later exported to The Faroe Islands. The fertility was low and the sheep had problems with the stony Norwegian terrain. As foreign sheep breeds became more common in Norway in the 20th century the interest in breeding Tautersheep declined. After the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

the individuals of the breed gradually grew fewer and in 1959 only one place bred Tautersheep. Six grown individuals and five lambs were the only ones left. The breeding organisation dismissed the breed and the sheep were advertised, but no buyers turned up. The last Tautersheep were then slaughtered and the breed became extinct.

Literature

*Balvoll, Gudmund (2011) ''Innføring og kommentarar'' «En god Bonde, Hans Avl og Biærig av Povel Juel med tillegg av Hans Thode. Tronhiem, 1777�
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*Balvoll, Gudmund (2011?) ''Jordbruket på 1700-talet – teori og praksis : nettbok av Gudmund Balvoll''
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*Borgedal, Paul (1967) «Tautersauen». I: ''Norges Jordbruk i nyere tid'', b. 2, s. 81–84. Oslo, Bøndenes forlag *Hagerup, Aage (1918) «Sauhold». I: ''Frosta i gammel og ny tid'', s. 275–280. Trondhjem, .n.*Helland, Amund (utg.) (1898) «Søndre Trondhjems Amt - Den almindelige del og Trondhjem», ''Norges land og folk'', b.16:2, s. 98. Kristiania, Olaf Norli
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*Johnsen, F. Loyt (1941) ''Om gråsauen i Trøndelag''. Hovedoppgave, N.L.H., Institutt for Avls- og Raselære *Kraft, Jens (1835) ''Topographisk-statistisk Beskrivelse over Kongeriget Norge'', b. 5, s. 39. Christiani
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*Nedkvitne, Jon J. (1955) «Or soga om merinosauen i Noreg». ''Tidsskrift for Det norske Landbruk'', årg. 62. nr. 1, s. 20–25 *Sæland, Jon (1944) ''Sau og saustell'', s. 37–38. Eget forla
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*Youatt, William (1837): ''Sheep, their breeding, management and deceases''. London, Baldwin & Cradock
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References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Tautersheep Sheep breeds originating in Norway Extinct sheep breeds