I am trying to find out which breeds I can cross to come up with really good hand
spinning fleeces and still have good rate of gain for the excess lambs to go to
market.<<
This is a no-brainer. First decide what kind of fleeces you consider
good hand spinning fleeces then match a breed to your needs. No need to
try crossing breeds unless you are into this for the long run and have
the time and interest to pursue a predictable end product.
I raise three different breeds of sheep with a fleece range from the
finest (merino) to the coarsest (karakul). I consider all of them good
hand spinning fleeces. Just depends on the project that I have in
mind. Obviously, karakul won't do for a baby's sweater but merino is
equally inappropriate for rugs or saddle blankets.
Some breeds of sheep will produce a good carcass at a pretty young age.
The trick is to match your spinning needs with one of those breeds.
Rambouillet, Columbia, Targee and Corriedale grow very quickly and would
produce a good freezer lamb pretty early. Romney is a bit slower but
will also give you a good meaty lamb. Border Leicester, Cotswold and
Lincoln will do likewise. Merino is a pretty poor candidate for a
freezer lamb as they are slow and not very meaty. Karakul are just
plain weird with their fat tails and unless you have a good ethnic
market, probably not a good choice. Shetland are very small. Jacob are
also small. Finn sheep produce a wonderful fleece (my personal
favorite) but are very slow to mature to a marketable carcass size.
Also consider what breeds do well in your area. Not all sheep are
created equal. For instance, Merinos will do very poorly in Oregon.
Romneys excel in Oregon. Ask around in your area who raises what and why.
Don't arbitrarily cross off the meat breeds. Some of the fleeces from
the meat breeds are wonderful. I personally like Cheviot and Suffolk.
(I don't recommend Cheviots for a novice shepherd. These have been
described as Arnold Schwarzenegger (sp?) on speed!)
Find someone who raises the type of sheep that you are interested in and
try a sample of fleece. I played with fleece from several breeds before
I decided on Romneys. I also raise the karakuls for sentimental
reasons and have colored fine wools. I raise a real range of wool types
to cover the various things I want to do with my spinning although at
this point, I am producing way more wool that I can spin in a lifetime.
I have about 65 head of sheep.
Robin Snyder, spinner, weaver, shepherd
Border Collie Rescue - CA www.bcrescue.net
San Diego County, CA
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