Breeds

I will not be going into detail about each sheep breed to be mentioned; this is just my break down of what little I have learned over the years. We have had Katadin, Dorper, Black belly, St Croix, Shetland, and Soay. For a small farm, aiming for self sufficiency, the smaller heritage breeds have worked better for us. Top reasons why:

1. They seem to thrive on weedy pasture. In an attempt to stay as natural as possible, we do not spray the pastures, resulting in more weeds than there otherwise would be.

2. Smaller size of the breed = Lighter Weight = Easier to handle! Anyone who has been run-over by a cornered 100-lb Ewe or Ram, can appreciate this.

3. Cuts down on winter feed cost with less hay/pellet needs than the larger breeds.

4. We have never had parasite or hoof problems with any of the smaller heritage breeds. On our land, they have proven to be resilient.

5. With the livestock being smaller, allows for one person to process at home, cutting out a major expense of having a slaughterhouse doing it for you. With these small breeds you don’t have to be left wondering if you need to buy a small deep freezer just to butcher. We have not had issue finding space in the freezer thus far, nor have we had to worry about meat sitting in the freezer too long.

Now the biggest issue with smaller breeds is they are wool breeds. For the small farm or homestead not interested in shearing sheep it does present a problem. Raising for the purpose of selling the offspring, either as breeders or pets, hair sheep have the clear advantage. There are some Soay sheep that do not have to be sheared but if they are not losing their wool by end of June, they should be sheared. Stone Circle Hills is in the process of breeding the larger hair breed sheep down with the Soay breed, in the hopes of eventually introducing a herd of smaller hair sheep for our farm and others.