I've had Dorset & DorsetX sheep for 14 years, and am considering a switch to a hair sheep. I hate shearing, and I hate paying my shearers, even tho they are swell people. Of course wool is worth about nothing, also. We live in S.Central PA if climate is a significant factor for hair sheep. Any thoughts? Also, I have a friend who swears by a diet of nothing but good alfalfa and Mannalix for bred ewes. She only feeds grain to lambs, and says she has no ketosis ever since she changed her management. Does anyone else out there do this? As you may guess, I'm trying to be a little more aggressive in my sheep profitability. I love raising sheep, but it's hard work for not much profit. Thanx in advance for any good advice.

-- lisa (vadas@nfdc.net), April 09, 2002

Answers

Hi, I raise Barbados Blackbelly sheep (but I've only had them for about a year - so I'm fairly new to sheep overall). I would reccomend for you to check out these sites:

www.blackbellysheep.org (the registry's homepage)

www.critterhaven.biz (a breeder, also some helpful links, and you can subscribe to the Blackbelly email discussion group)

www.osranch.com (they raise a few different breeds of hair sheep and have a hair sheep forum)

I live in North-Central WI and my sheep wintered just fine outside (brought them inside to lamb since they decided to do it on the coldest day of the year! [2* and 30-40 mph winds!]) I know there are people in Northern Canada who have Blackbellies. The sheep seem to adapt to cold climates well, even though they are a tropical breed.

I know you will enjoy these sheep! I do!

-- malinda (teneniel_80@yahoo.com), April 09, 2002.

When i looked at hair sheep, I found they wouldn't sell to my buyers. it has a different taste than tradition lamb flavours. This could work to your advantage, but make sure it will sell. There are lot's of hair sheep in Canada, good feeding is important to all sheep. Personally I'm going to find a market for the wool, as about the only truely good looking hair sheep is a Droper. Kat's and Barbies really havn't impressed me with their feed efficency, still they have a place and you might do very well with them.

-- Ross (amulet@istar.ca), April 09, 2002.

Hi,

I feed just Alfalfa and loose sheep minerals,, and so far I have never had ketosis. Have friends that feed alot of grain and they tend to see alot of Ketosis in their ewes.

If your sheep have nice wool, you could always enter the fleece in the Faire in your state. Most will have Fleece contests, and many people buy Fleece there. Another is to send it out to be washed, carded and Roved. Roving is a pretty good seller. If you can get 100lbs of good fleece together,there is a wonderful Mill in NB canada, that will take your wool and hand you back some very nice blankets.

Good luck in what ever you decide to do. :O)

-- Bergere (autumnhaus@aol.com), April 09, 2002.

Bergere, would you know the name and address of the mil in NB? I know McAuslands in PEI do this as well, just looking for more options.

-- Ross (amulet@istar.ca), April 09, 2002.

Hi

I have Blackbelly Barbados(I'm the canadian director) and I live 5 hours south of the Yukon Border way up here in the Frozen Great White North. These sheep are the hardy, beautiful animals, and no they don't taste like regular lamb, they taste better( I wouild say more like a very fine farm raised venision) I also have a friend up here that raises dorpers as well as texels and she loves her hair sheep for the simple reason that the lambs are much more vigorous at birth, she has yet to eat one to see how the taste compares to the texels, but she likes how they grow on less feed than the woolies. As for my barbs, they do really well on grass hay(and it's not the best since it's so darn wet or snowed in most of the year) and very little grain which they recieve at 6 weeks prior to lambing and until weaning. I don't have to shear or dock or castarate(sp) since they are butcher ready at 8 months and they just getting mature. They are slower to mature but if you're in a climate that doesn't have a photo period (daylight) as long as us(22+hrs in the summer)we can get 2 crops of lambs in a year. And I just have to add that my customers really like my lamb as it is still lower in cholestrol than regular lamb, and to boot it's organic since these girls are more resistant to worms than the woolies are. I do fecal checks and have yet to deworm with a chemical dewormer. Pasture rotation and a good frost darn near ever month really help. Check out the sites posted above and you'll be surprised at what our little beauties can do for you. And they are little(80-100lbs mature ewes and 120-150 lb rams) making them nice for the female sheperd(me) and one more thing, they have really good feet, trim twice a year in the wet up here and are less likely to have hoof rot and foot scald. Happy hunting and good luck Anne

-- Anne (gabennett@bulkley.net), April 09, 2002.

Hey forget the hair sheep, that wool is valuable!! It may not be on the world wide market but keep your wool and add value to it by spinning it or felting it or going into knitted sock production or have someone (woolen mill) make rugs out of it and sell it for bigger bucks. Same goes for the lamb meat and for the milk if you have a milky breed.

-- calvin (calvin@dwave.net), April 09, 2002.

I too have been in the sheep business for several years and am going to go to a shedding breed, Katahdin is the breed I've been looking at. I have found quite a few breeders in my state (Washington). From what I understand, the Katahdin was developed in Maine so it should be fairly hardy, I live in the northeast corner of Washington state our weather goes from sub zero in winter to 100+ in summer, so I was concerned about how they weathered also. I have read things from people in Montana, and Wyoming that this breed does well. I'm hoping that the lambs will sell for a decent price at the local stockyard. You know how buyers are, they don't like anything different. As for the wool being valuable, at $.06 a pound, it costs more in gas to take it to Spokane than it's worth. I have a sack in the barn that's 3 years old. I too am tired of shearing and getting nothing for the wool. Time to try a change. Check into the Katahdins. I think they look pretty good. I'm hoping to pick up a few in the next couple of months. There are a few sites out there, this site Katahdinsheep.com, will get you going.

-- Mark (mcford@theofficenet.com), April 09, 2002.

Hi...just some suggestions. Ilive in Montana and have raised wool and hair sheep for 15 years. Both do good in the drastic winter conditions. Barbados and Romanovs do have a higher percentage of lambs, and more often. However, when they are born, they are very tiny and many are bum lambs because some have up to 5 lambs. These lambs, while hardy, grow much slower than our meat and wool sheep, i.e. Coopworth and Suffolk as well as Dorset crosses. When it comes time to market them, we sell to buyers within our Sheep Pool, and they do not want these "different" looking lambs and many times will either refuse to take them or will severely dock you for them. I know it sounds nice to omit shearing, but in the long run we make alot more on our nice big meat and wool lambs. There is beginning to be alot more interest in the cottage wool industry in our area and they are having alot more fiber shows with sheep and goat shows. With some added effort I think wool is in demand. What a better "natural" product can you buy to make beautiful pieces of clothing and blankets? Best of luck on your new venture. We have tired alot of different breeds over the years and we now only have one pet Barbados and 4 Romanovs left. In our area they give away Barbados. Thanks.

-- Kelly Carrick (eddy@blackfoot.net), April 10, 2002.

We love the taste of traditional lamb and don't mind the shearing problem. Don't care for venison either so guess we'll stay with Dorset or Suffolk.

-- Hank (hsnrs@att.net), April 13, 2002.

The world price for clean wool is nearer US$1 per pound than 6 cents!

-- john hill (john@cnd.co.nz), April 13, 2002.

Sorry it took so long to answer this question,, have troubles getting on the forum sometimes.. I am not sure that they do the blankets any more, but you will have to write and ask.. http://www.peisland.com/wool

Last time I contacted them, the min they would do is 100lbs of well skirted Fleece. But they sure do really nice work.

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