small homestead breed

[lacasse farms]

We just purchased a home with an acre of land and would like to add a few sheep to our hobby farm. We currently have californian rabbits and a flock of chickens. We would like something that is easy to care for, meat and wool, and not require a ton of space. Is there a breed that meets these requests? any advice would be great.

 

[bonbean01]

Open a post by Sheepgirl...at the bottom is a link for sheep breeds...it's great! Good luck on finding the perfect sheep for your new farm

 

[BHOBCFarms]

Although they are hard to find, and can be a bit costly, I really like my breed as a small homestead breed. I raise Miniature Cheviots. They range between 19 and 24 inches tall, weigh between 50-100 pounds, twin, have good wool, light meat type (dual purpose), and are very easy to handle. They come in white, black, dillute (tan to chocolate), and paint. There is a breed registry http://www.minicheviot.com/ which can help you find breeders near you. Some other small breeds that are popular are Shetlands (great wool for spinning) and Babydolls.

 

[lacasse farms]

Thanks for the replies. I have looked at the mini cheviots and thought that it would be a good choice but im also thinking the soay would be a good one from what i have read. Or maybe both lol.

 

[Ruus]

Well I'm always happy to sing the praises of Soay. ;-) They're very easy care, the wool sheds naturally, the tails don't need docking, and if you give them a gravel corridor or something to walk over, they'll wear down their hooves enough that they won't need their hooves trimmed either. They're not monster-huge meat animals, but will yield enough for your own family's use. The downside of their wool is that it only comes in small quantities (small sheep= small surface area) and only in shades of brown and black, so unless you have a market for naturally colored wool it's not much good. But they're very efficient little sheep, and are a lot more fun to be around than the big sheep I used to work with.

 

[norseofcourse]

What area are you in? Some breeds are easier to find in some areas than others. Of course, road trips are always fun, too!

I don't know all the breeds, but the ones mentioned already are good choices. Gotta throw in a vote for Icelandics too They come in horned or polled, don't need to dock tails, come in white, grey, black, brown (moorit), medium size, lots of wool (not as fine as Merino, but you can separate their undercoat and outercoat, and the undercoat is fairly soft), and since their wool grows over an inch a month you can shear them twice a year (and if you don't want to shear they shed in the spring).

 

[lacasse farms]

Ruus I have read many of your posts about soay and you are actually the one who made me think about getting them. Norseofcourse thank you for the reply. I am in Rhode Island and surprisingly we have a lot of sheep breeders around here. plus Mass. and CT. are right next door and i also own 19 acres 3 hours north of me in Maine. (i know, why am i not living there?.... Can't convince the wife yet). Icelandics have interested me I'm just not sure i will have the space.

 

[SheepGirl]

Whenever someone says they want a breed for meat and wool, I say you can choose any sheep with wool on it and get both. However, you need to determine the quality of the products you want. You can take a Suffolk and get meat and wool--meat is great, wool is crap. Or you can take an Icelandic--wool is long and luxurious, but there's little meat on their bones. You can also go for a dual purpose breed such as the Corriedale...you get meat and wool, the quality of both isn't great, but it isn't bad, either.

However, when you're choosing a breed for wool, you need to decide what you want the wool for. Based on that option, you can choose between fine, medium, long, and carpet wool breeds. You can eat any sheep. So if you find a breed you like for their wool and are okay with their carcass size, then by all means choose that breed as long as it fits your other needs (hardiness, prolificacy, feed efficiency, etc).

Bon mentioned my sheep breed selector -- you can try it, click the link in my signature.

 

[Ruus]

Lucky you, you're actually closer to good Soay flocks than I am! I dread the epic journey I'll have to make to get a replacement for my current breeding ram.

There are actually two different varieties of Soay, although both are practically identical. If you're just interested in meat, wool, and backyard pets, and aren't ready to invest in high-priced breeding stock, you might want to consider doing what I did, and "test-driving" some North American Soay to see if you like them before buying expensive pure British Soay. The NA Soay are much less expensive because they can't be registered, and registration automatically adds a lot to an animal's value. There was some crossbreeding of NA Soay on other breeds years ago, and thus they're usually around 10-20 lbs heavier than British Soay, but it's not too hard to find NA Soay that have been graded up to carry 75-90% British genetics. Registered British lambs sell for a lot more, obviously, but I know it's been a lot less stressful for me to make my beginner mistakes on animals that weren't quite so rare and valuable.

Now that I have a bit more confidence in both my desire and ability to raise sheep, I definitely see some British breeding stock coming to live with me in the next year or two.

 

[Bossroo]

Some reality things to consider in owning soay as well as some other breeds especially in this economy... sheering a small number of sheep is not going to be cheep and/or even if one can find a sheerer to even show up at your place. Too , it is very hard to sell the wool. Around here in SW Washington a soay flock owners finally advertised to give away their flock of 30 after trying t sell them for 2 years as there is NO market for them ( I got 2 yearlings for free to butcher ) . The yield of meat was pitiful compared to many others that I have butchered at 5- 6 months ( I owned flocks numbering in the hundreds). They are also very skittish as well as escape artists as told to me by the owners as well as personal experience when I saw the flock, and then later, when I picked up the 2 yearlings. One will need very good fencing.