Anyone thinking about raising sheep will need to decide, “Which breed of sheep is right for me?” With more than 500 breeds of sheep worldwide and more than 60 breeds in the U.S., there are many choices. Taking time to first consider sheep production goals, environment, available labor, and desired lifestyle can help narrow the choices and help you decide which breed of sheep to raise.
Sheep are an extremely versatile livestock species due to their ability to produce meat, fiber (wool), and milk. They can also provide chemical-free weed and brush management. While this versatility of products presents opportunities, it is important to determine which production outputs best meet your goals. Each breed has its strengths, but no single breed excels in producing all types of products.
Sheep breeds are categorized by their best-suited purpose: meat, wool, or dairy. In Montana, sheep are primarily raised for meat or wool, with some produced for milk. This article will focus on major considerations when selecting a breed of sheep for meat or wool, rather than the specifics of each breed. For reviewing the characteristics of various sheep breeds, a helpful resource can be found at: www.ansi.okstate.edu/breeds/sheep.
Meat Production
If producing a high-quality meat product is the objective, then rapidly growing meat-type sheep breeds such as Suffolk, Hampshire, Shropshire, or Texel are a good fit. These breeds reach harvest weights of 130 to 160 pounds and produce a medium-quality wool. Breeds of hair sheep (i.e., sheep that do not produce wool) such as Dorper, Katahdin, and Royal White are meat sheep that grow well on grass diets and reach harvest at lighter weights of 80 to 110 pounds.
Dual-Purpose Breeds
Targhee, Columbia, and Rambouillet are dual-purpose breeds (meat and wool) that produce greater quantities of wool than meat-type breeds. Raising a dual-purpose breed of sheep requires planning for shearing and wool management. Cross-breeding (i.e., mating of two or more different breeds of sheep) is another way to capitalize on the relative strengths across breeds. This strategy, known as breed complementarity, strives to offset the weakness of one breed with the strengths of another. A common example in our region is to breed Targhee or Rambouillet ewes with a Suffolk or Hampshire ram to increase the growth and carcass traits of the offspring, while maintaining the strong maternal traits of the ewe’s breed. Successful crossbreeding strategies begin with understanding the general characteristics of each breed (e.g., maternal vs. growth) and the specific trait that you want to improve (e.g., body size or wool).
Specialty Wool Production
Only 15 to 20% of total revenue from raising sheep generally comes from wool, with the remainder coming from selling lambs. Yet in recent years, a growing demand for specialty wool needed for hand-spinning has changed this paradigm, especially for many smaller-scale sheep producers. For example, where high quality commodity wool might sell for $2 per pound, fleeces marketed for hand-spinning can bring upwards of $15 per pound.
Sheep breeds for specialty wool production are categorized based on the diameter of wool fiber. Fine-wool breeds produce wool fibers less than 22 microns thick, while long-wool breeds produce coarser wool, with wool fiber diameter greater than 30 microns. Examples of fine-wool breeds include Rambouillet, Merino, Cormo, and any breed with a high percentage of Merino breeding. Lincoln, Leicester-Long Wool, and Romney are examples of long-wool breeds.
Wool is naturally produced in a variety of colors such as black, white, grey, and brown. Colored fleeces have lower value in the commodity wool market, but colored fleeces command premium prices in the hand-spinning wool market. The Icelandic breed produces the widest assortment of fleece colors. The cleanliness of fleeces also greatly affects the value of hand-spinning wool. Clean fleeces are worth more, so extra care is needed to produce clean fleeces for handspinning wool. Producers often use sheep coats to cover their sheep to prevent dirt, vegetation, and other contaminants from accumulating in fleeces. This type of additional cost and effort required to produce hand-spinning wool should be considered when selecting a breed.
Environment, Labor, and Lifestyle
Environment: Breeds that originated in tropical environments (e.g., Saint Croix, Barbados Blackbelly) are less suited to Montana winters than sheep breeds developed in northern climates, such as Rambouillet or Targhee. Montana producers will incur greater feed and shelter costs when raising sheep from semi-tropical or tropical climates.
Labor: Caring for ewes and lambs during lambing requires extra time and effort. Consequently, novice sheep producers should probably not raise breeds of sheep that commonly produce triplets or quadruplets (e.g., Finnsheep or Polypay). If labor is in short-supply and annual shearing is a major burden, hair sheep breeds such as Dorper, Katahdin, Saint Croix, or Royal White might be a better fit. Take note, however, that hair sheep should not be mixed with wool sheep as the hair fiber is a major contaminant that can make wool unsaleable.
Lifestyle: Lifestyle is often overlooked when deciding which breed of sheep to raise, yet lifestyle is a major factor affecting the longevity of any sheep business. Is time spent feeding, lambing, shearing and marketing personally gratifying and compatible with your lifestyle? All sheep require a degree of care, but the time and effort required varies among breeds and production goals.
Ultimately, determining the right breed for your situation begins with asking the right questions before breed selection. Knowing exactly what you want to achieve with your sheep enterprise, potential markets, and required labor and facilities will allow you to avoid an expensive trial and error approach to breed selection. No single breed is the right choice for everyone, but there is a right breed for you. For additional help navigating the rewarding and sometimes challenging realm of sheep production, contact your local MSU Extension office or Whit Stewart (406.994.3758; whit.stewart1@montana.edu).