Does anyone know where I could find some information about sheep that have hair rather than wool? My dad heard a radio program about them and with the low price of wool and the frustrations of shearing, he is definitely interested. Thanks.

-- jill dant (rajdant@juno.com), December 01, 2000

Answers

We have Katahdin hair sheep, no sheer and great meat. The site he could check out is: http://khsi.org/ I have some other sites if needed. They are not very big and they look kind of funny for sheep but we love ours.

-- Margie Bromen (bromens5@navix.net), December 01, 2000.

Sheepish sent me an address on Barbados sheep, you could run a search on Google or Metacrawler for it. However, you ought to hear her stories about those critters -- they sound like they're aliens.

-- Julie Froelich (firefly1@nnex.net), December 01, 2000.

Hair sheep are the animals you see in a lot of pictures of Africans walking down the dirt road with a herd of animals that look like goats to those of us that don't know any better. I heard about hair sheep a few years ago from a flyer I received from the Virginia Tech and went to see a seminar they were having on them. They are raised for meat primarily although they can be milked. They are typically found in hot climates. I thought they were going to be a type of sheet with long fleece instead of wool so that was why I went to learn about them but I found out it was the opposite. You can probably get some information about them on the Virginia Tech website. I don't know their address but I'm sure it will pop up if you just search on that name.

-- Colleen (pyramidgreatdanes@erols.com), December 01, 2000.

I'm sorry, it was Gerbil who gave me this address!! My sister says I got 'em confused because they're both fuzzy critters -- I'm afraid it's my brain that was a little fuzzy...http://www.blackbellysheep.org/

-- Julie Froelich (firefly1@nnex.net), December 02, 2000.

Katahdin is probably the first breed to check out, Jill. It was developed by a man named Piel up in Maine (hence the name, after Mount Katahdin) back in the 50s and 60s. The ones I've seen have a coat similar to a deer, altho some sport a ruff of longer hair around their shoulders. They do very well in Maine's climate, but a shelter of some kind is helpful at lambing. Piel developed them because he didn't want to mess around with shearing them. Katahdins are popular in Canada, which doesn't have the wool subsidy many US sheep flocks depend on, and in the American southeast and Gulf Coast. They supposedly (no personal experience) have a much better temperment than the Barabdos and other hair sheep. There's a national registery, should be available on the net.

-- Cash (cash@andcarry.com), December 02, 2000.

There are a few different hair sheep breeds ( Katahdins, Barbados, Barbados Blackbelly, Dorper (White & Black heads),& others...). Check out the OK state university (www.ansi.okstate.edu/breeds), look under hair sheep. Or a general search on any search engine for hair sheep will also work.

Dorpers seem to be the largest of the hair sheep breeds. They are African in origin, are the most recently imported of the hair breeds, & also the most costly (right now).

I do believe Piel developed his breed for more reasons then just being tired of shearing. Somewhere in the history of the breed it was mentioned that he saw a need to keep the grass around power lines (towers) & creeks mowed. And doing it with sheep that don't need sheared was just more convenient. Plus, the bonus of selling off the extra sheep (fattened on grass through the summer). When spring comes the main farm has lambs, & by the time they are old enough to wean, the lambs will be needed to mow the power lines again.

One of the advantages to the hair breeds other then no shearing is there is no lanolin taint to the meat like with some wool breeds (commenly those with heavy grease in their fleece).

There are also some wool breeds that shed out naturaly. On these breeds shearing is an option not a requirement. I however, don't know what these breeds are.

I hope this helps.

animalfarms (In.)

-- animalfarms (jwlewis@indy.net), December 02, 2000.

The Wiltshire sheds its coat, so you have the choice of shearing or not.

The Blackbelly, a hair sheep, is more resistant to disease than wool sheep. It's also one of the most prolific breeds, willing to breed all year 'round. After the first lambing, it's twins or better from there on.

-- ~Rogo (rogo2020@yahoo.com), December 02, 2000.

We raised Katahdins and ST Croix for about ten years,and some woolies before that. IMHO, lamb from hair sheep is much superior to that of wooled breeds. There is never any muttony aftertaste. There are a couple of restaurants in the Napa Valley that only serve lamb from St Croix sheep. They dont have much meat; are very goat-like in appearance and personality,so will never be a viable commercial breed, but I still think one could make name ones price on the meat marketing directly to specialty restaurants and gourmets with money.

The Wiltshire HOrn is one of the breeds used to develop the Katahdin, but the Katahdin is polled (most of the time!) Katahdins are more meaty, are easily handled,but breeding stock can be very non-uniform. We had several that turned up with scraggly wool which was worthless and quite a bother, not to mention ugly! Be careful of genetics when you buy.

Barbados are beautiful; quite wild by nature; can be tamed if handled when young,

Dorpers are huge,probably the meatiest breed; I have no personal experience with them, but since they are new to this country and garnered alot of attention a few years back, my understanding is they are still pretty pricey.

All the hair sheep have much fewer health problems, including parasites.

-- Earthmama (earthmama48@yahoo.com), December 02, 2000.

I have also heard the meat is better from hair sheep. all The barbados i have seen are wild as a march hares, have a friend who would like to get rid of her one but she cant get her hands on the thing!You difenitly wont be making pets of thoughs sheep [ which for marketing is a good thing] you would need a herding dog though.

-- kathy h (ckhart55@earthlink.net), December 05, 2000.

I've been lurking here reading all your comments and advice bc this is one hubbie wants to get.Loves roast lamb.Sounds like a winner for us,bc we want the meat more than the wool. And,we already have the dog,just need to learn how to train her right.

She wanted to herd and I left her chase the calves when they went where they weren't suppose to.Of course on day she decided the horse needed chased.It was an honest error.He's white like the cows,well palomino,and I had just put him back in the pasture,and I'd let her chase the calves out of there.So hey she figured it white it's big and it doesn't belong there!

So off they went up the hill, down the hill ,upthe hill,down the hill again with Rowdy kicking and bucking to beat the band.I didn't know who was going to get hurt worse the horse if he tried to go thru the fence, the dog if she got kicked, the other dog who ran along the sidelines looking scared and in the way, or me getting run over trying to intervene.Well,I was able to call her off without having to get in the pasture,the other dog came along for the ride, and Rowdy respected the fence so all ended well.But boy was the horse ticked, and hasn't liked her much since.And now she wouldn't chase cows,for fear of me yelling at her again. She has an excellent memory, and is very easy to teach both good and bad.

So anyway thanks for all this info.It's been a big help.

-- sharon wt (wildflower@ekyol.com), December 05, 2000.

We recieved a load of sheep about two weeks ago and now have lambs, I ended up with one Barbados Blackbelly, went to hairsheep.com ? and learned a great deal on the breed, although the little guy had a fatal reaction to Penicillin and died yesterday, very heart breaking as we were going to raise him as a pet. They do resemble goats, Good luck in your search.

-- sue (suelpn30@hotmail.com), February 04, 2002.