Which of these 4 breeds should I get? The cheviots are said to be hardy and more worm resitant than others, but they grow slower and smaller ( a negative because we want wool and meat, Fast!!). Dorsets on the other hand seem like a good comprimise for a good amount of meat and quality wool. Suffolks grow large fast but do they have a good amount of wool (like the cheviots or dorsets)?I haven't given much thought to Hampshires, Should I? These 4 breeds are what I can find locally, and I would like to keep polled sheep with my dehorned goats. Maybe you out there in internet land- can brag and boat about your flock of one of those 4 breeds and tell me why you prefer them. Thankyou All very,very,very MUCH!

-- Chandler in Minnesota (Providencefarms2001@yahoo.com), January 14, 2002

Answers

Response to Cheviots, Dorsets, Suffolks, or Hampshires ???

My only experience is with Suffolks. They are considered dual- purpose, but aren't particularly sought after for their wool. It is fairly short. Meat-wise, they are great. Very hardy, easy lambing, quick gains. You'll need to evaluate any breed on both wool production and meat production. I think there are probably better choices than the Suffolk, even though they are my personal favorite.

-- melina b. (goatgalmjb1@hotmail.com), January 14, 2002.

At present raising suffolks and a few suffolks X hamps. I love the suffolks but your right about the wool. Since I am also a spinner I really buy fleeces from other breeds. The problem with suffolks and the hamps for that matter is they are not very worm tolerant and I have had a horrible time with parasites. You either dry lot, or rotate pastures continuing which is hard because I have a coyote problem too. You also must worm twice the normal amount. I use to raise Dorsets and I loved them too. Smaller, less meat, longer to grown out buy delicious meat. Personally if you live in the south go for a worm resistant type sheep (I live OK> so I know about problems), up North you have more choices. I would switch but love my breeding stock, they become like family so..you can't just get rid of them. Also, in the South there is a lot of showing sheep and the black faces is all that is really shown in this area. I make money selling lambs to 4Hers and the ag teachers only want black faces.

-- debbie (bwolcott@cwis.net), January 14, 2002.

I really like Dorsets. Plenty of wool and meat. Plus, they breed more often than some other breeds. All of ours seem to be good mothers too, with plenty of milk.

-- Kim Bailey (bailey@hilly-acre.com), January 14, 2002.

Your going to find differences within breeds that will amaze you! I've seen Dorsets that come up to your knees and some that put my few Hampshires to shame! I have some of each of the breeds you ask about, except maybe one. Maybe because you describe Cheviots as small. There are two types of Cheviot, Boarder Cheviot, and North County Cheviot. We have North County, and they are fast growing big beasts. Horrible wool it has hair growing through it. Matches thier personality, wretched! Wild eyed monsters!! They are more prone to having singles, but are great mums. They'd be good range sheep. Very hardy easy keepers but very hard to handle. Suffolks are more docile but still spirited, too darn smart really. Brats? They have a reputation for mothering problems, I havn't noticed thiey're any worse than any other. You get a lot of show people run downs taken as gospel! Lambs grow fast, but grown bone first and meat slowly. Poor wool. I luv em but thier on the way out here. Hamps!! Big dumb lumbering morons!! Great mums, exceptional in fact. Just, if escape route "A"is clear and route "B" is through you, or a tree, or a pile of pails, they'll try to lumber through the obsticle ignoring the open path. Did I mention they're stupid? Lambs grow fast bone and meat. A good choice if you can tolerate the personality. Decent wool but hardly first class. Hamps do tend to get sick first here; but mine are competeing with those nasty North County Cheviots! They'd be better as a Hamp only flock. Dorsets I left to the end because they are the best all round sheep. If you get good stock. Lambs are a bit slower to grow but grow meat first. Good mums but must be what an "average" sheep is, there are more Dorsets in N America (I'd bet) than any other breed. They'll have the best wool of the 4 but still not a truely good wool sheep. Hard to go wrong with good Dorsets.

-- Ross (amulet@istar.ca), January 14, 2002.

Cheviot wool is nice especially for socks, it doesn't felt (shrink) even if you wash and dry it in the machines with normal laundry. A friend who had Navajo-Churro (sp) also has a Cheviot she had the sheep sheared and sent the fleece to be processed. Although she is an expert spinner she had it spun at the mill. I bought several balls from her for socks. She had knit and washed many times a pair she had for show and tell and they were still soft and not at all fulled. My two cents worth!

-- Susan northern MN (nanaboo@paulbunyan.net), January 14, 2002.

well actually there is a third type of cheviot-the Brecknock Hill Cheviots-these are smaller, but their meat is good, and wool is great- like someone said, the softness for socks etc is wonderful.

I have found their personalities all differ-some are more standoffish, but we look at mothering ability and things like worm resistance, and foot rot resistance as well. They also forage wonderfully well if you have just regular unimproved pasture.

Choose your breed, or crosses depending on what you want most. If you are learning sheep, we have found crosses not only are usually a good deal, but a bit more hearty in some cases. Plus the investment is not as large while you learn the ropes and find out if sheep are for you.

Feel free to email-we have had some interesting adventures in our last couple of years as we have jumped into sheep. :)

Sarah

-- sarah (heartsongacres@yahoo.como), January 14, 2002.

We decided to start with crossbreeds, since we were new to sheep at the time and wanted to experiment with less costly stock. Ours were corriedale crosses, which we have bred to an Icelandic cross ram. The ewes weigh around 130 to 150 pounds at maturity, which make them easy to handle. The meat is more lean than most lamb, and the wool is much more like the Icelandic wool of their father. We raise them on native pasture, with grain for the last 30 days. Our lambs will be available in June at around $60-$70 each in central Wisconsin. E-mail if you are interested.

-- Leo (wintersongfarm@yahoo.com), January 14, 2002.

We have the Suffolks, Cheviots, and Dorsets. (No Hamps - lambing problems - big dumb lambs - hard to get born)

If we HAD TO choose - Dorsets - because of the out-of-season breeding.

But, of course, we breed them all to the Romanov rams. The half bloods are where it is at.

www.romanovsheep.net

homestead2 can't pass up a chance to talk Romanovs

-- homestead2 (homestead@localnetplus.net), January 14, 2002.

Any of the Cheviots (border or north country) are well known for getting their lambs (even cross breds) up & going (vigor) much faster then most other sheep breeds. Montadales are a breed made by crossing a Cheviot with either a corridale or columbus (I'm not sure). I've liked Dorsets, North Country Cheviots, Romanovs, & Finns, (to name a few) of the wool breeds, even though I don't have any yet.

I'd suggest you look at some breeds on the OK state site, then find the registry for the breeds you like most. The registry can then give you a list of breeders in your area (if it wasn't one of the 4 breeds you first listed). If you still want to stay with the breeds you listed, I'd suggest a cross (maybe Cheviot X Dorset). Most crosses have faster growth (disease/parasite resistance also) them either parents. And this can affect both the animals growth/rate of maturity & the wool. In most cases, cross breeding almost always has the best results (rarely any bad results).

Good luck

animalfarms

-- animalfarms (jawjlewis@netzero.net), January 15, 2002.

There are the small Welsh Hill Cheviots,, Brecknock Hills., they are nothing like the other Cheviot sizes. They are gentle, easy to deal with, have excellent fleece for spinning,,I know, I spin mine. And if you butcher, the meat is not as much as the large breeds but good enough for a family with a normal sized freezer.

My family raised the hudge Suffolks, and I would never want to deal with that breed of sheep again. Too much work! :O)

-- Bergere (autumnhaus@aol.com), January 15, 2002.

I have crossbed ewes. All of them were bottle lambs and come from triplets or quads. I also look for ones that are going to stay on the smaller side. I have to work the sheep by myself so I need a smaller size. Some of them are finn or polypay cross. I use a Hampshire buck and have had for the last 2 years the nicest bunch of lambs. They are not big and dumb as stated above by someone else. I have only had trouble on 2 occasions that I needed to pull a large lamb that the ewe could not have. And both times it was the same ewe. I suspect the problem is more from her than the ram. I have had many compliments on my lambs being nice big framed lambs that grow really fast. I have thought about raising purbreds but the Hamp ewes would be to big to manage on my own. I like the crossbred ewes crossed onto the Hampshire ram. Also my ewes are all white face. I only have 3 speckled face ewes and they are Romanov/Polypay cross and where quads.

-- Jeannette in Minnesota (circlet@frontiernet.net), March 30, 2002.