hair sheep compared to goats?

[bonbean01]

Do the sheep selector that Sheepgirl has on her signature...both common and uncommon, and that should help with your choice very much.

 

[boykin2010]

Painted dessert if I understand it right are just black bellies without traditional coloring... I may be wrong though.

Booth creek- that did help! Thanks for clearing that up

 

[AMT15]

did the sheep selector...... katahdin is number one on the "common" one, and on the uncommon, Dorper came first( I guess there's a reason why they're among the most popular of the hair sheep) and also on the uncommon selector, Dorper was followed by Romanov? And then there was the blackbelly, st. croix and polypay as the next highest. Any one know anything about Romanov and polypay sheep?(even though it looks like I'll probably end up with kats. or dorpers now) I'm not sure I should have taken that, lol.(no, I'ts good sheepgirl)

Thanks,

 

[AMT15]

Also came up next highest were the targhee and rambouillet sheep. Any info on these? I don't know if these shed naturally? Wow, the romanov sheep are amazing. Early maturing(3-4 months), quick growth and their lambing, the record is nine, six isn't rare, WOW, that's amazing. I told you it was a bad idea, I want some!!!!!!, lol....... I need to find out if these romanov shed naturally.

 

[AMT15]

yes!!!! "Romanov Sheep have a dual coat, that sheds itself during the summer months, negating the need for costly, unprofitable shearing. Romanov lambs are born with a black hair coat, and grow wool mixed in as they age.

Romanovs have a naturally short tail, that does not require docking. Possibly because of this feature, I have never heard of a Romanov ewe prolapsing.

Romanovs have no wool on their face, head, legs, tail, belly, udder & anus, which makes lambing time much cleaner, and the lambs have no trouble finding their all-important first meal." yes!!!!!

 

[AMT15]

but I wanted hair sheep

 

[boothcreek]

Texas Dahl, Black Hawaiian, Desert Sand and Painted Desert Sheep are all created out of the Texas Barbado. Some farms liked them all black, some all white and some colourful and selected for said colours. In the last few years they actually got recognized as seperate breeds, but they are so new the registries are still open, so if you have black hawaiian looking sheep that throw black hawaiian looking offspring you can register them as such etc etc.

The painted deserts were originially bred out of the texas barbado, but you can get the occasional colour fault in the pure American Black bellies and start with that. My line of painteds started off that way, a breeder who I knew bred pure ABB for over 15 yrs with a closed herd had a ewe pop up with a blaze and white peppering on her back 4 yrs ago, I took her on a whim and she throws me coloured lambs most of the time. Paired her with my mouflon ram last year and she dropped a set of twins this spring one being painted and the other solid colour(could be classified texas barbado, but I rather just call it a mutt and throw it in my freezer )

So my painted deserts are just as calm as my ABBs, even the mouf X one.

 

[boykin2010]

I've read the romanov's are not for beginners. I think they are high management sheep. Not exactly sure how accurate that is though.

I am not sure if romanov's can even be found in US. They are a pretty uncommon breed...

 

[AMT15]

I've read the romanov's are not for beginners. I think they are high management sheep. Not exactly sure how accurate that is though.

I am not sure if romanov's can even be found in US. They are a pretty uncommon breed...

Well, that's almost a good thing, lol....I wanted hair sheep And I definitively want a low maintenance breed, beginner or otherwise.

Thanks,

 

[AMT15]

@ Boothcreek, how do you manage your sheep with so many breeds? Do you keep them all separate? or just keep the rams by themselves and run the ewes together?

Thanks,