Sheep ID

My neighbor called us up on Saturday and asked us if we would like 3 ewes and a ram. He knows a lady who has a newborn baby and is getting a divorce so she can't take care of the animals anymore. She gave him 6 ewes and a ram. The ram wasn't related to 3 of the ewes so he gave us those as he already has a ram.
He was told they are Barbados sheep(which I've never seen in person) but after doing abit of research they seem to be a hair sheep like the Katahdin which I have seen. These are not those!!

They are short-legged and only come up to upper mid-thigh. Not a sound from any of them! Mine were always talking, very strange!

Any ideas?!

Thanks, Sue

The ram likes to hide behind the girls-the big baby!
Here's some more pics:

Another:

And now I'm hi-jacking my own thread! I wanted to show off my Saanen buck and doe. He's 9 months old and she's a couple of weeks behind him.

I don't have the slightest clue what they are, but they are the cutest things ever (as are the 2 in the last picture)!!! I just want to hug them all. :)

Just one of the ewes will come up to us. She's the one with the lighter markings on her face and she's a grain hound.
I'm trying to get a vaccination history on them. We've always used Covexin 8. At least I know the ewes hadn't been with a ram until now so there won't be any surprise lambs. I did catch him getting jiggy with one of the ewes two days ago so we'll see in 5 months!

Thanks deannaj! I've been getting goat kisses on the nose from my doe. :-)
Her registered name is Czarina but we've been calling her Zoe. And her 'spouse' is Kapra-Kahn but we call him Dapper Dan!

Oh Sue - they are BEAUTIFUL! I'm so envious! What a treat to get 3 new ewes unexpectedly! I will look up at home in my Storey's sheep breed book and see what they look like! I can't do that until I'm home this evening though. :-(

Thanks Claire!
I really can't wait till May now! Kids and Lambs oh my! We'll be busy busy. I'll be planting gardens around that time. :-) Love that time of year.

Whatever they are they're beauties, Sue!!

Well, here are the sheep featured in my book (in alpha order), and I've said what I think on each.

Barbados Blackbelly - no, wrong color, ears seem wrong, ram looks nothing like the one in my book
Black Welsh Mountain - no, wrong color
Bluefaced Leicester - no, wrong shape head and body
Border Cheviot - no, wrong ear shape/set
Border Leicester - no, head is different shape
Brecknock Hill Cheviot - no, wrong ears
British Milk Sheep - no, wrong head shape
California Red - no, wrong color
California Variegated Mutant/Romeldale (CVMR) - no, wrong shape and head
Canadian Arcott - no, wrong shape head
Charollais - wrong head again
Clun Forest - no, wrong ears
Columbia - no, only white faced
Coopworth - no, wrong color & head shape
Cormo - no, only white
Corriedale - no, naturally polled
Cotswold - appears to be different fleece type, doesn't look quite right
Debouillet - most are white, especially face, so no.
Dorper - no, completely different shape
Dorset - no, supposed to have "very white" fleece only
East Friesan - no, wrong head shape
Finnsheep - no, naturally polled
Gulf Coast Native - no, mostly white
Hampshire - hmmmm....right colors but supposed to be naturally polled, so no.
Hog Island - wrong shape
Icelandic - This is tough. They look really quite similar to my Icelandics. Similar head shape, similar horns on the male. They can come in any number of colors. I can't tell if they have the two part fleece (tog and thel). Hard to say.
Ile de France - no, they are only white
Jacob - obviously not
Karakul - Again, a tough call. Their head shape is very similar to the ones in my book. They appear to have the right type of fleece, and their color is certainly possible in that breed.
Katahdin - like you say, probably not - apparently most are white, and they are referred to as being "occasionally" horned.
Lacaune - very diff. shape.
Leicester Longwool - wrong head and fleece type
Lincoln Longwool - same as above
Merino - looks like the wrong fleece type and head
Montadale - wrong head shape
Navajo-Churro - no way
Newfoundland - wrong head shape and different horn type
North Country Cheviot - they seem to have flatter heads
Oxford - no, it has similar coloring but different fleece
Panama - no, wrong shape
Perendale - no, naturally polled
Polypay - no, all white
Rambouillet - no, appears to be wrong fleece type
Rideau Arcott - no, wrong shape of head
Romanov - not too far off, but their heads appear to be narrower
Romney - no, naturally polled
Royal White - no way
Santa Cruz - no way
Scottish Blackface - Gosh, I really think this is the closest one yet...color is right, horns are right, head shape appears right....not 100% sure though
Shetland - I don't think so, head seems too big
Shropshire - wrong fleece type, wrong chest shape
Soay - not a chance
Southdown - no, entirely wrong shape
St. Croix - wrong shape and fleece type
Suffolk - right coloring in a way, but wrong fleece
Targhee - no, naturally polled
Teeswater - no way
Texel - nope, naturally polled
Tunis - nope, naturally polled
Wensleydale - no, wrong shape
Wiltshire Horn - no way.

Sooooo....an inconclusive investigation. I suppose they might be cross breeds. There is nothing in my book simply called Barbados - just the Barbados blackbelly.

Now, one caveat - under the Barbados Blackbelly, there is something else called the American Blackbelly that was developed from the Barbados Blackbelly. The BB is polled but the AB has large curling horns. The AB is described as having gray to brown coloring and black highlights on underparts and points on nose, forehead and ears. It doesn't say that they should have black legs like yours, and they don't seem to normally have white fleece. Do they have black bellies?

Sigh...

Deary me but that was a lot of typing...lovely list...

I'm nothing if not complete..... ;-)

You shame those of us who are merely thorough...(*snort*)

Scottish Blackface?

Here is a site that may help http://www.sheep101.info/breeds.html

WOW! who knew there were that many breeds? That is incredible.
I am also impressed with your typing skills. I still use four fingers. hehehe

Oh my, Sue, I love their nicknames names! Dapper Dan kinda rhymes (probably the point, huh?)

I bet lambs are adorable too. I want sheep kisses! :-)

Sewincircle - back when I was in my undergrad years (like the late 80's) I used to spend my summers doing temporary secretarial work. I made a lot more money than flipping burgers, and I got to be a really fast typist! Sure has come in handy over the years! I'm glad my mom made me take typing in high school (but I hated it at the time)!

I DID take typing but my teacher was not able to pay attention to what everyone was doing. I was not doing! hehehe

LOL! I believe it! It was booooring!

ZZZZZZ! Hence I still peck as much as my chickens! peck, hunt, peck!

I now peck once I could do 1400 key strokes an hour. Hands and mind done work to good now. But it is enough to get by.

Love the sheep, I wonder if I could pass the babydoll sheep off as a poodle. LOL

Oh, good call, perhaps a standard poodle!!!???

It could make a good play pal for your crazy running dog!! You could rest a bit!

He is a herding breed, I think he would love his on herd to herd around.
Of course I would have to give it one of those puffy hair cuts. LOL

Wren, you must mean 14,000 key strokes an hour, not 1400. 1400 key strokes an hour would equal 23 keystrokes a minute, which is like hitting a key once every 3 seconds. I'm quite sure you can hit a key once every 3 seconds right now!

Wow Claire, that was extensive! Sorry Sue I haven't a clue either. Also, without imposing too much, Claire do you think you could look at the pics of my two sheep in my WholeFamDamily thread to see if you maybe recognize their breed? You need not write all the nos down just the strong possibilities. If you wouldn't mind? To go with the pics, I just want to add that..... They are naturally polled I believe, and they keep their wool all year so they cannot be hair sheep like I was originally told. So sorry for the hijack, but I couldn't resist after Claire's wonderful and extensive book results. Edited to add that they are a little taller than my pygmies, and heavier, but not a really large sheep. I was thinking Polypay, but I really don't know.

This message was edited Jan 8, 2009 11:59 PM

Claire you are right I dropped a '"0" My typing now is not to good.

See, your typing HAS slowed down. hehehe
It happens to everyone! ;)

No worries Wren, I just wanted to show everyone how truly impressive your typing skills were in their peak....14,000 keystrokes per hour is awesome!

Thank you,
I had fun with it when after I was downsized and was working temp. At one job the boss said if we did so much work we could change the day we had off to another day.. I looked at him and asked what would we do the second half of the day. After he checked the record of how much I did a day he said "WOW " They tried to get me back after the accident but by then I could not type fast. Same with the bank that I did data entry for. One of the boss was bragging on what the new girl did and I had done twice as much. she shut up. Both places wanted me to go to work for them. Oh well make me feel great after being downsized after 27 years but what made me really feel great was the company could never find anyone who could do the job as well as I did.

Isn't it nice when OTHERS get to learn a lesson now and then?! LOL. I don't mind my own growing pains, but it's nice sometimes to watch others learn too...

Are their tails docked, or do they have natural short tails? They can't be Scottish Blackface or the ewes would have horns too. They sort of look Icelandic but the head shape is kind of strange and their ears look a little too big, to me anyway. The wool doesn't look quite right either. Can you tell if they have a double coat?

Maybe they are a cross between either Shetland and something else, or Icelandic and something else.

Unless the ewes were dehorned...does it look like they were disbudded or anything?

They could be hamp/rambaley (sorry cant spell) we raised some of this cross that looked like that or a barabodo/hamp cross too. I'm down to one Navajo wool/fine wool cross ewe lamb, neighbor dogs help me get out of the sheep business. But I'll keep this one as I was born in a sheep raising family.

Wow, Claire, that was alot of typing! Whew that makes my wrists ache just thinking about it.
Thanks for all the great input everyone. Sorry I've been missing but I've been helping take care of my 85 yr old uncle. Time is abit tight. I don't know if I'll ever really know what they are! Although a thought did cross my mind, the previous extension officer does raise sheep maybe he might have an idea....

They seem to me to be some sort of fleece type as their wool isn't as tight as I'm used to seeing on my previous sheep. The previous owner told my neighbor that they were purebreed but I don't think so.

The ram is just plain nuts; he is very skitterish which gets the ewes in a panic. We are going to keep them together for a couple more weeks then he's getting separated. I don't think she handled him at all.

Last night I did get to give the two bigger ewes a nice chest rub-their eyes got all dreamy and one of them actually rested her head on my knee! I found their weak spot!

Sue :-)

sheeps-eyes are nice...;-)

Yes they are!

I still haven't heard one sound emanating from any of them. The sheep101 website stated that ill sheep are quiet. I haven't seen any signs of illness-good body weight, normal stool, clear eyes, animals are dry(no fever), wool isn't falling out, alert and definately able to run. I'm abit stumped on this!