how are fur sheep utilized? if you cross a hair sheep (mouflon) with a wool sheep what is the result going to look like? what is the best breed to free range? are there any breeds that browse like goats? which breed(s)have the least health problems, especially hoof and birthing? i would prefer personal experience answers, since i have read the OKSU pages too?

-- Pops (cindy556@devil-dog.com), September 04, 2001

Answers

I can help with part of that...for the hoof issues-we have Brecknock Hill Cheviots (they are small) and they have black hard (try to trim them what a job!) hooves...we have had no problems. they are excellent mothers-and they have not needed any help whatsoever. They also seem to forage well-and eat similar to goats...though most of our sheep do that. They are known for ability to do well under not so great conditions-and so far from what we have seen-this is true.

Plus they are friendly-one of our ewes is almost a pest! Her sister is more aloof-but not skittish.

Our romneys also have the black hooves-and so does the karakul-not had any problems with any-though I havenoticed that the black hooves seem to grow slower than the others.

I would say that there is probably not a best breed-except that each person has a favorite-and so far ours is the cheviot and the cotswold.

As far as the hair xwool-I have no idea-but I have heard that what you get isnot really all that beneficial. If you want a breed wiht less dense wool-the karakul has a coarser wool-and it grows slower than the others...it is easy to shear-goes really quick! also our karakul ewe is a super mom-she did have problems-but that was her first time-her twins got a bit tangled-and the frist one got her feet back so we had to assist-after that though she did the rest-and bounced back from a more stressful delivery.

I think the hari or fur sheep are mostly for meat-but I don't know much about them-we wanted wool to use as well as meat.

Sarah

-- sarah (heartsongacres@juno.com), September 04, 2001.

I have one barbados ewe, and used to work at a petting farm that had a small flock of barbados and several other sheep breeds. The barbados are a good meat breed. My butcher was very impressed with the amount of meat I got from my lambs, considering their size. A cross between a jacob and a barbados has wool, but the wool is not as thickas the jacob. The legs don't have wool, or very little. With this particular cross, you also lost the true black of the jacob for a black that fades to brown with age. At the petting farm where I worked, I was in charge of all hoof trimming and there were quite a variety of animals. The black hoofed animals definately had harder hooves that were less likely to have problems. The black hooves also do not grow as fast. I have never had a problem with any barbados at birthing. My experience includes twins, triplets and one very large single (which was a jacob cross). My barbados ewe browses along with the goats. She has been raised with goats all her life, so that may be part of the reason.

-- Sheryl in Me (radams@sacoriver.net), September 08, 2001.