There are an awful lot of nice sheep breeds out there - it is tough to
decide. And some of the crosses have phenominal fleeces.
But to me the big factors were:
liking the looks of the breed, liking the product, having a market for
the product (lambs and/or fleece), choosing a breed that will thrive in
my climate, keeping only easy animals. I work full time, frequently
have visitors and do not have time for mean or difficult animals on the
farm. Everyone there from chickens to sheep are mellow breeds.
We looked at several breeds that appealed and of those, eventually
narrowed it down to Romneys. They do really well in the mud of NJ
Spring, humidity and heat of the summers and still can live outside all
winter and lamb in Feb with robust lambs. They are available locally
as well as nationally, have a wide range of accepted fleece types and
colors and are pretty sheep.
I did not spin at that time so relied on local spinners and teachers to
tell me what their favorite fleeces were. Even though Romney are dual
purpose I knew we would be raising the lambs mainly for show and
spinners flocks, not for meat. The spinners all voted for Romney as one
of their favorite fleeces.
And I love the personalities, ease of caring for them and big, clean,
shiny fleeces in so many different shades. I can spin right off the
sheep - the fleeces are low grease, clean and sweet smelling. Fiber
preparation is simple.
They are such sweeties and really like people. They hang out with me and
have to know everything we are doing - noses in everything. Just
sheared yesterday - the coated fleeces were so reflective and gleaming
in the light they were like pearls.
Julie in NJ
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