# Jacobs sheep



## Moose (Apr 24, 2010)

Hi I am new here

well, here is the story we had horses but my grandma broke her arm and she was scared to death of them there on out. Well, she still loves live stock and wanted to either sheep or goats so I am doing research on them. One sheep got my eye and it was the Jacobs sheep. 


I was wondering if you guys could give me info on this type of sheep. Feeding, grooming,  health problems that I may face, taking care of it. 

We are not here to breed and sell these animals. They would be simply for our pleasure of enjoyment. Like the horses were. The horses ended up being to many for just me to take care of so we were planning on just doing maybe one of two sheep or goats. But before I go and get one I want to be sure what I am getting into


----------



## ksalvagno (Apr 24, 2010)

If you are just having them for pets, what about a hair sheep like Katahdin or something? The Jacobs sheep you would have to shear every year and doing it yourself or trying to find someone to shear them could be a problem.


----------



## Moose (Apr 26, 2010)

M grandmother wishes to start selling wool and my grandfather has spent years on working with  shearing different types of sheep, alpacas, lamas, ext. 

Even if they are sheep they are a different type of sheep, so I want to be sure to do research on them. 

I am going to be doing shows with them like in 4-H.

Though, as for breeding to just to sell them I am not going to do. I will not breed unless I am 110% sure I have good homes for the lambs.


----------



## jbourget (Oct 28, 2010)

I RAISE JACOB SHEEP! i have 10 right now, 8 of them should be lambing this spring. I just started out with them...they are very hardy animals. and require very little care. Especially at lambing, when most breeds need assistance or a special place to have their lambs. Jacobs dont. I have had breeders tell me their ewes had lambs in the middle of a blizzard out in the snow and they were just fine. All i have for shelter is a simple run in shed, and even then most of the time they prefere to be outside seeking shelter under trees. They have anywere from 2-6 horns and the rams horns get very much bigger then the ewes. You can email me at jdb343@yahoo.com if you want to know more, i just made this account so i could reply to you. were are you located? i am in rhode island and it was a pain in the butt to find jacobs!!!! i traveled to vermont, down to new jersey, and had one trucked from nebraska!. They are awsome sheep tho i am happy i got into them. i do not know how to post pics but i will email u some if u email me moose.


----------



## Bossroo (Oct 29, 2010)

If you want the Jacob as a curiousity hobby fine , however,for practical use and for profit a few points to consider... I have raised many ( in the thausands over the years) different breeds of wool and meat type sheep... if I raised the Jacobs commercially I would have gone broke several times over.  I have seen quite a few breeding stock individuals as well as photos. Too many black fibers in the wool for the the wool buyers... so discount. Also, my next door neighbor  had his wool ewes shorn last spring, it cost him $12.oo a head which is about 3 times  the price of the fleece. He just sent the wool sheep to auction last week but kept his hair sheep. Hmmm!
All of the Jabobs that I have seen have too many conformation faults  to get a decent price at auction as feeder much less slaughter lambs, to suit my needs. What was just described about the Jacobs sheep holds true for the other breeds as well. The only shelter I had was a shed with 6 jails for newborn lambs because I lambed out several hundred ewes within 6-8 weeks, and I would gather up the newborns with their moms and put them into the jails for a few hours untill I got enough time to ear tag the lambs, record the birth waights and number of lambs ( single, twin, or triplet) born and put iodine on their navel as I needed to keep my purebred and crossbred records straight. The only real lambing difficulty I ever had was when one ewe tried to give birth to two small lambs at once and I ended up by pulling out FIVE live lambs out of her. Another time was when I had to pull out a 16 pound lamb. Otherwise, all were born and raised outdoors 24/7/365. I would never consider a horned sheep for raising for profit because the horns for obvious reasons are a personal safety and liability issue, but also cause broozing on other lambs when handled in pens or chutes therefore the lamb lots sell at a discount at auction.


----------



## jbourget (Oct 29, 2010)

Jacobs are more ornamental, not commercial as you describe your setup to be. I am focusing on a small herd of maybe 30 breeders and showing the best lambs. The culls will be meat with improper horns and markings.


----------



## patchworkfibers (Nov 3, 2010)

Bossroo said:
			
		

> Too many black fibers in the wool for the the wool buyers... so discount. Also, my next door neighbor  had his wool ewes shorn last spring, it cost him $12.oo a head which is about 3 times  the price of the fleece. He just sent the wool sheep to auction last week but kept his hair sheep. Hmmm!


You are not considering the handspinning market for Jacob fleeces. I guarantee that I get more than $4 for my fleeces


----------

