# Barbados x Shetland or Finnsheep x Shetland



## Severne (Jul 8, 2021)

I’m considering crossing my Shetlands with Barbados Blackbelly or barbados katahdin cross, but have no info on this cross, I assume the lambs would grow a little faster and have shorter wool. If anyone has info on this cross I’d be most grateful.
 On the other hand there’s a reputable finnsheep breeder with inexpensive rams. This cross would probably similar to a pure Shetland.

Which of these crosses is better. I’m looking for an intelligent, calm, fast growing sheep that dosnt need grain. 
Danke!


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## Baymule (Jul 8, 2021)

I sure wouldn’t cross with a Barbado sheep, or a Katahdin. Your sheep are small. Out crossing to a larger sheep could be difficult on your ewes.


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## misfitmorgan (Jul 8, 2021)

Blackbelly are pretty much the same size as your shetland and blackbelly are good meat sheep, but they grow slow taking around 9 months to reach the size of wool meat sheep at 4-5 months of age.

 Finnsheep have good fertility, and fast growth but they are much larger then your shetland sheep.
Shetland sheep: *Rams* 90-125lbs *Ewes* 75-99lbs
Finnsheep: *Rams* 150-200lbs *Ewes* 120-180lbs
The size difference can cause a few problems, like lambing issues needing you to pull lambs, possible complications during lambing and pregnancy leading to the ewes death because the lamb is to big. You also have the other problem of a possibly 200lb ram jumping a possibly 75lbs ewe, generally you dont breed a female to a male over twice her weight for most livestock.

Now if you wanted to get ewes to add into your herd that were finnsheep they would be the obvious choice, since you are looking at a ram I personally would go with the blackbelly and then buy some large ewes someplace else to get growth rate and size up.

Shetland sheep themselves are a small sheep with slow growth, 9-12 months to reach 100lbs butcher weight.


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## Baymule (Jul 8, 2021)

Or just go buy Katahdin ewes and a ram.


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## misfitmorgan (Jul 8, 2021)

Baymule said:


> I sure wouldn’t cross with a Barbado sheep, or a Katahdin. Your sheep are small. Out crossing to a larger sheep could be difficult on your ewes.



Good point I missed the katahdin part....def dont use katadhin on your shetland, they are even bigger then the finnsheep.


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## misfitmorgan (Jul 8, 2021)

Baymule said:


> Or just go buy Katahdin ewes and a ram.


Pretty much.....fast growth with little to no grain. I don't know of any wool breeds who have fast growth without a large amount of grain.


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## Severne (Jul 8, 2021)

Baymule said:


> I sure wouldn’t cross with a Barbado sheep, or a Katahdin. Your sheep are small. Out crossing to a larger sheep could be difficult on your ewes.


Actually though, average barbados rams are 100-140 lbs, average ram shetlands are 90-130 lbs


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## Severne (Jul 8, 2021)

well, yes but y’all are also missing the intelligent, calm part. And I also don’t really need the fast growth because usually I butcher at. 10-12 months.


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## misfitmorgan (Jul 8, 2021)

Severne said:


> well, yes but y’all are also missing the intelligent, calm part. And I also don’t really need the fast growth because usually I butcher at. 10-12 months.


Just replying to your post. You wanted fast growth without grain....no wool breed can do that, that I know of. Bigger sheep give more meat in way less time....just a fact.



Severne said:


> Which of these crosses is better. I’m looking for an intelligent, calm, fast growing sheep that dosnt need grain.


Most any breed is going to be as calm or more calm then shetland and most breeds have the same average intelligence level. I have not found any breed of sheep be markedly dumber or less calm then any other.


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## Severne (Jul 8, 2021)

@misfitmorgan have you raisen shetlands?


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## farmerjan (Jul 8, 2021)

The last breed I would use for calmness is Barbados.... they are not a calm breed overall.  Yes there are some that tend to be less flighty, but as an overall breed, they are flighty and high strung.  Very ALERT, is what some describe them as.  We have raised them.  Have White Texas dall sheep now... the few bottle lambs are pretty friendly, but they are also a semi-wild breed of sheep.  We like the horns and no wool to shear....

If your shetlands are pure, why not contact the Rare Breeds assoc and see if you can find someone interested in keeping them pure... and buy something else that will give you better, faster meat characteristics... and a quiet disposition to work with and no wool to shear.


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## misfitmorgan (Jul 9, 2021)

Severne said:


> @misfitmorgan have you raisen shetlands?


No I have not raised them.

A good friend our ours did have a herd of about 12 shetland sheep and we had to shear them every year. We also used to shear for people all over the state and sheared a herd of 37 shetlands. I will not say they are my favorite breed, they act more wild then our suffolk and mutt sheep for sure. More alert and less calm pretty much all the time. Not saying they are bad in any way just saying the other sheep breeds I have met are more calm and laid back.

I have never met or worked with hair sheep, so I do not know how they behave compared wot wool breeds.


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## Baymule (Jul 9, 2021)

I love my Katahdin hair sheep. No shearing, the ewes eat out of my hand, the ram was carefully selected for no aggressive behavior. Easy to care for, come running when I call, low maintenance, I love them.


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## purplequeenvt (Jul 10, 2021)

Crossing a wool breed with a hair breed isn’t the best idea. You’ll get a non-shedding animal with crap wool.

Shetland/Finn would make a nice cross as they are very similar.

Technically you *can* breed to a bigger ram. I had a Shetland ewe years ago get bred by a Romney ram and a friend had one bred by a Shropshire. They lambed just fine, but there’s always a risk.


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## misfitmorgan (Jul 12, 2021)

Oh I agree you "can" breed to anything but there is that risk and if the sire is over double the dams weight you are asking for trouble. It also has a lot to do with your feeding program, fat ewes have birthing problems, deficiant ewes have birthing problems etc.

We breed our mutt sheep to our suffolk ram, no problems as of yet but they are much closer in size then the possible 75lb ewes to a 200lb ram.

Non-shedding makes no difference if you already have to shear anyhow and I dont know of many places that still have a wool market. Most producers are now having to pay to have their wool taken away.


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## mysunwolf (Jul 15, 2021)

purplequeenvt said:


> Crossing a wool breed with a hair breed isn’t the best idea. You’ll get a non-shedding animal with crap wool.
> 
> Shetland/Finn would make a nice cross as they are very similar.
> 
> Technically you *can* breed to a bigger ram. I had a Shetland ewe years ago get bred by a Romney ram and a friend had one bred by a Shropshire. They lambed just fine, but there’s always a risk.


I agree with all of this.


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