I am looking for a breed of sheep with the following characteristics: reasonably large quantity of wool that is soft enough for use as clothing, good milk production, hardy, intelligent/with personality, and not loaded with an exotic-breed price. I don't care at all about meat production (I'm veggie) and the lambing rate doesn't have to be spectacular. I would love to have Icelandic sheep but they seem to be VERY pricey. Any suggestions?

Also, what are people's opinions on donkeys vs. dogs for guarding sheep? I've read that a guard dog should be raised with the sheep and feel more a part of the herd than of its human family, and should not be treated as a pet. Is the same true for donkeys, or could a guard-donkey also be used as a pet and pack animal? And is it feasible to keep a small herd of sheep (around twenty or so) without herding dogs?

Thanks in advance

-- Alice T. (megatron_revised@yahoo.com), June 16, 2000

Answers

Look up Van Valin Restoration and Smoke House Farm -- their Icelandic prices are MUCH more reasonable than any other I have seen -- they also have several other rare breeds at very good prices. And, yes, it is feasible to keep sheep without a herding dog -- just train them to come when you rattle a can of grain!! However, I do think that, once the sheep were trained to work with a dog, a dog would make life a lot easier.

-- Kathleen Sanderson (stonycft@worldpath.net), June 16, 2000.

I once again vote for Romneys, and as far as protection goes, consider getting geese! Just my $.02 of course, but Romneys have nice wool (handspinners like them...esp. colored), are easy to handle, and are good moms with usually easy lambing. Rams mostly have nice dispositions. A lot of people raise them, so you can easily find replacement stock. Not sure about milking, although I have ewes that feed twins just fine (triplets, too). I just got mine sheared today, and it feels like heaven....until I it's time to wash, tease, card, spin...but that's ok and anyway, the sheep must feel better! BTW, I have 22 sheep and no dogs. My sheep are trained to come to a whistle, and to the grain pan shaking! I may someday get dogs to cut them out, but for now, I am still ok. HOpe this post makes sense as I am about to fall over...Good luck and let us know what you decide!

-- sheepish (rborgo@gte.net), June 16, 2000.

romneys definitely. they are great moms, usually twins,excellent wool, large lanolin content. the rams are great, yery gentle and stay that way no matter what age, and actually make great fathers!i have a ewe that is 7 years and never bred til this year. she is a great mom.she only had one, which was a surprise to have at all, and she let me milk her til the babe could handle all the milk. the ram i just got is 6 months old and he babysits for the 3 lambs we have while the mothers take a break. neat! laura

-- laura cavallari (ladygoat13@aol.com), June 16, 2000.

oh, and forgot to say.... although i have a great pyreness, he's a spoilt baby that protects me and is afraid of the barnyard critters. never aclimated him to the barn, but that's okay. i do have geese. last week a fox was in the pasture chasing the chickens. he would have caught one, except that he was too busy looking over his shoulder at the geese chasing him. most unbelieveable site.they are by far the best watch dogs ever. they alert me when someone pulls into the yard, walks by on the street, or anything that is out of place. they also tattle on the goats when they get into trouble.when the hawks fly overhead, they warn all the critters and chase them into the barn. best thing i ever did was to get my geese. laura

-- laura cavallari (ladygoat13@aol.com), June 17, 2000.

Although I do not raise them.

Tunis sheep prices are not too bad, they are a larger sheep, there wool is WONDERFUL to spin. Both ewes and Ram`s do Not have horns,, both are very gentle. I was told also there meat is very good,, and they are used for milkers too.

I would love to get some Tunis one of these days. But most breeders are in the Mid West to East coast.

Border Cheviots are mellow have lots of wool and are really cheap. There is a lady in Ohio, that sells them for about $125.00 each!! They are very nice sheep too. Their wool is very easy to spin and makes wonderful clothing too.

You do have to watch the Icelandic sheep for the Scrapie Disease,, High numbers of the sheep carry the disease,, same as the Black Faced Suffolks. Though there a couple of clean herds out there. (Dad raises the commerical Black Faced Suffolk. I just raise the small sheep, because I don`t want to deal with or handle large sheep.

Good luck in what every breed you decide to get!!

-- Bergere (autumnhaus@aol.com), June 19, 2000.

A breed to think about would be the Jacobs. They have black and white fleeces and are very good for hand spinning. Although some of the four horned ones are expensive you can get two horned ones for a good price. They are easy keepers, good mothers, and extremely personable.

-- Justin (oakridge@netcommander.com), June 20, 2000.

We're happy with our Rambouillets. They have dense wool with a good crimp, are excellent milkers - productive and have large nipples, and are good mothers. Our Ram gets a bit testy sometimes, but not as bad as others we've seen. They also do o.k. on poor pasture (we have marginal soil and it gets really dry here in AR). We can breed them any time of year too. You should be able to get prime ewes for $80 - 100. We protect with semi-spoilt Great Pyrenees dogs and have had no problems in our relatively wild location. Good luck

-- David C (fleece@eritter.net), June 20, 2000.

If milking is important I suggest Friesion (sp) milk sheep as they give the most milk, with Finnsheep a close second. I'm not sure about the wool on the 1st but Finnsheep has some very nice soft wool (choice of white or colored). Romanov also has some nice wool for handspinners. All three have above normal lambing rates, but as you are a vegitarian that just makes for more lambs to sell (profit bonus).

Yes, you can use your donkey for pack/pet and still be an effective guard animal. You can also do the same with a llama or alpaca (pack/pet/guard), but with the bonus of getting wool off of them too. (just so you know sheep may get sheared once a year but llamas & alpacas (the second having better/softer wool) only get sheared once every 2 years) If you have a milk cow you could put her to graze the same pasture. She also being taller then sheep can alert (see it coming first) to danger. Ponies & horses have been used as well.

Good luck on your search

animalfarms

-- animalfarms (IN) (jwlewis@indy.net), June 28, 2000.