Which breed should we get?

[Janice]

My son is trying to decide which sheep breed would be best for him to raise. He needs to make a profit. He is looking mostly for meat sheep, but he wouldn't mind if he could also use the wool. His favorite, he thinks, are Jacobs and Tunis. Appearance is important to him. As well as a Heritage Breed, not production. They will be on a small pasture. He wants to start small, but get some that he would be able to use for meat the first year and also buy some for breeding so that he could continue his herd. Suggestions?

 

[BrownSheep]

Both of those sound like a good breed to work with. If you want some butcher lambs for that first year I wouldn't bother getting them with your breeding stock. I would get just a standard meat breed for the first wethers and uses your own ram lams after that.

 

[Janice]

Thanks. I saw some negative comments about Tunis on one of the forums. We want to visit farms that have both breeds and taste the meat too. I also wondered if he should look at hair sheep?

 

[Four Winds Ranch]

I have raised Tunis and Hair sheep!
The Tunis have awesome wool! They finish very well, but their finish weight isn't very high, maybe around the 90-100lb mark! So are a little bit smaller than some breeds! They are awesome in terms of temperment, good mothering instincts, very thrifty eaters, and lots of milk! They don't always have twins or triplets though, in terms of profit. Their meat is very mild, even the mutton has no"sheep" taste! I love the tunis as they are cheap to feed and can be bred to many different breeds!
The hair sheep in my experience, take a little longer to finish, but do finish around the 90-100lb mark as well! They are easy to get along with, but you better have good fence because I find they are escape artists, and are very agile! Lol, once they find out the pasture is greener on the other side, good luck keeping them in! They have a "no-shear policy" which is very nice. Their lambs are tough when first born, and the meat is also very mild! I find they are not quite as thrifty on the feed as the tunis and don't have the milk volume! Their appearence is much more colorful as they come in many different colors and the Tunis is just white wool and red face and legs!
Sorry, I don't know anything about Jacob Sheep!

 

[Janice]

Thanks a bunch. Keep the information coming. Next we'll need to figure out where there are farms to visit. I'll take suggestions on that too.

 

[purplequeenvt]

There will be negative comments about every breed, but you shouldn't count on too heavily on them. Picking a sheep breed is really just a matter of taste and preference.

I personally don't care for Tunis or Jacob sheep. I haven't raised them before, but I have several friends who do. One thing to watch out for in the Tunis breed is leg structure. They are well known for being down in the pasterns (at least around here). The Jacobs I don't have too much against, but the ones with 4 horns are a bit scary. They also are a small primitive breed so they won't produce a very large carcass for you.

Has your son looked into one of the "dual-purpose" sheep? We raise Border Leicesters and they are great sheep. They have a striking appearance, beautiful wool, and they also grow quickly to make good market lambs. The rams are known for their gentlemanly personalities (we've raised Border Leicesters for 12+ years and we have never yet had an aggressive ram of this breed).

 

[Roving Jacobs]

I love my Jacobs but I'm not sure they're a great breed for wanting to make money off of meat. You would really have to advertise and upsell them as a heritage breed to make up for their small carcasses and long grow out time. If you lived in the right location and were able to make the right connections you could do it but otherwise I would suggest finding a more traditional duel purpose breed.

 

[Janice]

I have raised Tunis and Hair sheep!
The Tunis have awesome wool! They finish very well, but their finish weight isn't very high, maybe around the 90-100lb mark! So are a little bit smaller than some breeds! They are awesome in terms of temperment, good mothering instincts, very thrifty eaters, and lots of milk! They don't always have twins or triplets though, in terms of profit. Their meat is very mild, even the mutton has no"sheep" taste! I love the tunis as they are cheap to feed and can be bred to many different breeds!
The hair sheep in my experience, take a little longer to finish, but do finish around the 90-100lb mark as well! They are easy to get along with, but you better have good fence because I find they are escape artists, and are very agile! Lol, once they find out the pasture is greener on the other side, good luck keeping them in! They have a "no-shear policy" which is very nice. Their lambs are tough when first born, and the meat is also very mild! I find they are not quite as thrifty on the feed as the tunis and don't have the milk volume! Their appearence is much more colorful as they come in many different colors and the Tunis is just white wool and red face and legs!
Sorry, I don't know anything about Jacob Sheep!

My son wondered if you were comparing the size of Tunis' finish weight to market breeds or other Heritage breeds?

 

[Janice]

I love my Jacobs but I'm not sure they're a great breed for wanting to make money off of meat. You would really have to advertise and upsell them as a heritage breed to make up for their small carcasses and long grow out time. If you lived in the right location and were able to make the right connections you could do it but otherwise I would suggest finding a more traditional duel purpose breed.

My understanding is that the British Jacobs have a much larger carcass. If we could only import that size we'd be great. I know he is set on getting one of the breeds listed on the American Livestock Breed Conservatory list. They will be pastured and he prefers not to go with the faster growing market breeds.

 

[Bossroo]

Reality of today's sheep 101 ! Nostalgia and appearance in raising a "heritage" or "exotic " or "rare" breed of sheep and making a PROFIT do not equate in todays's marketplace. Now they are nothing more than pasture pets ( hobby loss to the IRS and any production costs are NOT deductable unless one proves one is in business for profit). In the US today, we can't compete with Australia in price recieved for wool as it costs way more in sheering costs as to the sale price of wool, therefore it is not profitable to raise this type of sheep even for a limited niche market. Wool with any colored fibers in it will sell at a discount at the auction marketplace, which means even less income $s. Some may claim otherwise, however they do not include their true costs of production as calculated by one's knowledgable CPA that is familiar in animal husbandry/ agriculture. As for meat production, Suffolk, Hampshire, Dorset, or standard type of Southdown are the most productive for money invested. However, the high cost of grain and hay as well as their need to be shorn, so the cost of sheering just may eliminate any profit from the sale of meat. For the hair sheep (sheds wool), one would get the most bang for the buck with the Dorper. If I was still in the sheep business, today my choice would be the Dorper. I say this from first hand experience as I have raised hundreds of sheep commercially ( purebred Suffolk for ram sales, Ramboullet and Corriedale ewes for wool bred to Suffolk rams for meat market lambs) for many years and I have since sold out due to annual ever higher production costs and shrinking profits.