Barbados x Shetland or Finnsheep x Shetland

farmerjan

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The last breed I would use for calmness is Barbados.... they are not a calm breed overall. Yes there are some that tend to be less flighty, but as an overall breed, they are flighty and high strung. Very ALERT, is what some describe them as. We have raised them. Have White Texas dall sheep now... the few bottle lambs are pretty friendly, but they are also a semi-wild breed of sheep. We like the horns and no wool to shear....

If your shetlands are pure, why not contact the Rare Breeds assoc and see if you can find someone interested in keeping them pure... and buy something else that will give you better, faster meat characteristics... and a quiet disposition to work with and no wool to shear.
 

misfitmorgan

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@misfitmorgan have you raisen shetlands?
No I have not raised them.

A good friend our ours did have a herd of about 12 shetland sheep and we had to shear them every year. We also used to shear for people all over the state and sheared a herd of 37 shetlands. I will not say they are my favorite breed, they act more wild then our suffolk and mutt sheep for sure. More alert and less calm pretty much all the time. Not saying they are bad in any way just saying the other sheep breeds I have met are more calm and laid back.

I have never met or worked with hair sheep, so I do not know how they behave compared wot wool breeds.
 

Baymule

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I love my Katahdin hair sheep. No shearing, the ewes eat out of my hand, the ram was carefully selected for no aggressive behavior. Easy to care for, come running when I call, low maintenance, I love them.
 

purplequeenvt

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Crossing a wool breed with a hair breed isn’t the best idea. You’ll get a non-shedding animal with crap wool.

Shetland/Finn would make a nice cross as they are very similar.

Technically you *can* breed to a bigger ram. I had a Shetland ewe years ago get bred by a Romney ram and a friend had one bred by a Shropshire. They lambed just fine, but there’s always a risk.
 

misfitmorgan

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Oh I agree you "can" breed to anything but there is that risk and if the sire is over double the dams weight you are asking for trouble. It also has a lot to do with your feeding program, fat ewes have birthing problems, deficiant ewes have birthing problems etc.

We breed our mutt sheep to our suffolk ram, no problems as of yet but they are much closer in size then the possible 75lb ewes to a 200lb ram.

Non-shedding makes no difference if you already have to shear anyhow and I dont know of many places that still have a wool market. Most producers are now having to pay to have their wool taken away.
 

mysunwolf

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Crossing a wool breed with a hair breed isn’t the best idea. You’ll get a non-shedding animal with crap wool.

Shetland/Finn would make a nice cross as they are very similar.

Technically you *can* breed to a bigger ram. I had a Shetland ewe years ago get bred by a Romney ram and a friend had one bred by a Shropshire. They lambed just fine, but there’s always a risk.
I agree with all of this.
 

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