BellaOnline Forums Hobbies and Crafts Spinning Hello!

Hello! I'm Llyn, your newbie spinning editor here at Bellaonline.

To get the conversation rolling in our forum, I'd like to propose a little game. This game will cover a topic near and dear to the hearts of spinners everywhere - Sheep! Let's see if we can put our heads together and come up with a full alphabet of breeds of sheep.

Here's how it works. I'll start it off with a breed of sheep beginning with the letter A and then someone will add a breed beginning with B, then C and so forth. Also, I think it would be great fun if everyone added just one little fact about the breed they name.

So - to start the ball rolling:

A = Awassi. This is a fat tail breed.

Hint: There is an excellent link on our Spinning site giving a listing of breed so sheep from A through Z.

B= BERGAMASCA, Found in the Lombardy region of ITALY
(hope i spelled it right)

And the Bergamasca is also found in Brazil and is classified as an Alpine lop-earred breed.

Anyone have a breed of sheep beginning with "C"?

C= Coburger Fuchsschaf

Hi!I have been lurking a while. I was thinkinking of C breeds and thought of California Verigated Mutant. I have been thinking of making a roving purchase and wondered if anyone has experience with this breed? Other than color are there any advantages over Romeldale?

This is great! Two "C" breeds.

As to advantages of CVM over Romedale, they both look equal on paper. I haven't spun Romedale so am not qualified to comment further. If you have access to both types of fleece, why not sample each breed? If you do, please report back to us

I meant to add:
Anyone have a "d" bred for us?

D= Deutsches Blaukoepfiges Fleischscuaf (not sure of the spelling)
is a German Blue headed Mutton sheep

Hi Rosie,

You're sure coming up with some good ones for us

Anyone got one starting with an "E"?

I feel like i'm playing by myself, lol

E= Elliottdale, is a carpet wool sheep, baaaa
there so cute

No Problem!

I'll toss in an "E" - Exmoor Horn.

How about an "F"?

Elliotdale - never heard of it.

You're giving us a whole listing of unusual breeds

Keep 'm coming!

Llyn, i believe the Elliottdale is similar to the Romney with cleaner points and a carpet-wool fleece of 38=40 micron diameter, Rams may horned or polled but ewes are always polled. I haven't much info but bits and pieces. I also am so afraid of sheep (rams) with horns. I won't go near one. they wig me right out. its a horn thing. lol

F= Fonthill Merino
was developed by crossing American- bred Rambouillet Merino rams with a fine-wool Saxon strain of Merino. baaaa

Hi Rosie,

I've always seen horns as handy handles But then, I raise Jacobs for 15 years. Only got hurt once and that was when my hand let an ewe we were working get away from him. Ran right into my knee, she did and broke both of her upper horns off. Didn't do my knee much good either.

You're sure coming up with some interesting breeds.
Got any good "G" breeds?

Llyn

no G, but how about another F - Finn?
Hi Llyn, nice to see this forum up and running again!
cheers, Caroline in Australia

G= Ghezel
These sheep originated in Northwestern Iran and Northeastern Turkey

H= HU
Hu sheep were originated from Mongolian Sheep. As early as in the Song Dynasty(AD 420-479)

Never thought i would be so interested in sheep, there are so many beautiful breeds. Do they make good pets???

Sheep can make excellent pets, but you do have to remember that they are sheep. They're not going to be housebroken or use a littler box But bottle lambs in the house can be a blast as long as you keep them in pampers.

Glad to have you join us, Caroline. Rosie and I have been playing this game by ourselves so far. We're sure coming up with an interesting list of sheep breeds.

Here's an "I": Ile-de-France

Who's got a "J"?

J= Jezerskosolcavska (once again not sure of the spelling, sure is a mouth full lol )
Jezerskosolcavska sheep resulted from the crossbreeding of Native White Sheep with the Bergamasca sheep and with the Padova sheep it resembles the Austrian Bergschaf that has a similar origin.

And I'll toss another "J" into the mix - Jacob. Raised them for 15 years so I'm rather partial to those spotted little sheepies

Wich bring us to "K". Anyone ?

And I'll toss another "J" into the mix - Jacob. Raised them for 15 years so I'm rather partial to those spotted little sheepies

Which bring us to "K". Anyone ?

K= Kerry Hill, just love their markings, their so beautiful.
The Kerry Hill can be found throughout the British Isle, Ireland, and Holland.

Shame on me not waiting long enough to give others a chance to play, i'll give it a day or two. ;o)

Never hurts to have more than one breed listed per letter

Never hurts to have more than one breed listed per letter

Any one have a "L"?

Thats true, so here i am again.
L= Langhe, found in the province of Cuneo,Asti,and Savona in Italy. it is a course wooled breed. the breed is polled and has semi-lop ears

Llyn what does polled mean?????

Polled = no horns

Which brings us up to "M". Can't let M go by without mentionint Merino.

Got another one?

Talking about horns, how about the Manx Loaghtan I saw a picture of one with 4 horns. the breed is rare, it is small with no wool on the face or legs, and can have 2 to 6 horns

Jacobs can also have 6 horns. The thing is, when they get to having so many, the horns tend to fuse so they may have 6 but it will appear that there are 4 or 5. In all my years of raising Jacobs, and even with concentrating on breeding for 4 horns, I only ever had one ewe that presented as a true 6 horn example of the breed.
Which brings us to N: North Ronaldsay, found on the Orkney Isles.

O=Orkney
Is found mainly on the islands of North Ronaldsay and Linga Holmoff the coast of Great Britain, One of its most notable characteristics is its ability to exist on a diet of seaweed for most of the year.
how interesting is that.

Hmmmm.....now I'm wondering if the Orkney and the North Ronaldsay are actually the same breed.

I'll toss in Ouissant for "O". Small French breed, probably the smallest of sheep breeds.

Got a "P"?

Llyn i believe so, but yet what do i know;o) I'm finding this all very interesting I never knew there were so many breeds of sheep. I learn something new every day.

P= Polworth. is a duel- purpose sheep. developed in Victoria in 1880. It is 75 percent Merino and 25 percent Lincoln. baa baa

I thought I knew a lot of breeds but this little game keeps turning up sheep I've never heard of before

Here's a Q: Qinghai Black Tibetan. A carpet wool breed also used for meat production. They are polled and black in color. The breed is originally from Tibet.

And that brings us up to R.

Now talking about horns take the=
R= Racka which is a unique breed with both ewes and rams possessing long spiral shaped horns. The breed is of the Zackel type and originated in Hungary. Mature males may have horns as long as 2feet or more
The cork-screw horns protrude almost straight upward from the top of the head.

S= Scottish Blackface

Raised on the border of Scotland and England by monks

R is also for Romney, one of my favourites and getting more popular here in OZ, S could also be Southdown, which I have never seen out here, nor have I seen a Swaledale, or a Targhee.

T= Tsurcana ( a beautiful breed)
The Tsurcana may have descended from the wild Ovis Vigneiarkar since prehistoric time it has been domesticated in the Carpathians Mountains where it was established as a breed. It spread with movement of flocks through the Alpine grazing area, to all central European countries.
This breed has a harmonious body and is easily recognized by its coarse rough wool with length of 20-30cm

There is also, apparently, a Teeswater, which I would guess comes from the border area between England and Scotland. No prizes here, I looked it up as I was trying to find a U, unsuccessfully, unless its shorthand for Ewe, lol!

Wow! You guys really went to town with sheep breeds today

There is the Ushant, which is also called the Ouessant, but we did that one for o's.

So how about the The Ujumqin, a larger version of the Mongolian, which is found in Inner Mongolia, China. It has a fat tail and carpet grade wool.

Which brings us to "V". Anyone?

Also for U= Is the Uda, found in northern Nigeria It is a meat breed with distinctive markings the front half of the body is black or brown and the back half is white

V=Vendeen,were developed near Vedee in Western France. The breed is noted for the production of high quality lamb carcasses. their fave and legs are covered with dark brown to gray hair, both sexes are polled. baa baa

When I started this little game, I expected to get breeds like suffolk, Romney, Wensleydale...the old standards.
Wensleydale, now that's a W.

Got an "X" ???

This one isn't very attractive lol

X= Xinjiang Finewool, also known by Sinkiang Merino- xinjiang merino, The Xinjiang Finewool has been developed in China since 1935 using Kazakh Fat- rumped and Mongolian females with Novocaucasian Merino and Precoce males. now thats a mouth full baa baa

That sure is a mouthful!

Any one have a "Y"?

Y=Yankasa
also known by Hausa, white Fulani
the Yankasa is a meat breed found in North Central Nigeria
They are though to of crossed with West African Dwarf. The breed is white with black nose and around the eyes. they are polled or have small horns and semi-lop ears

Z= Zeeland Milk

A breed that is grown primarily for milking.

They are found in the area of Walcheren in Zeeland in the Netherlands.

Ja, melkscappen. Excellent milk for cheeses.

There is also the zwartbles. Another Dutch breed, black with a white blase on the face.

Well, that was fun - and what an interesting list of breeds we came up with!