Advantages of Hair Sheep

As mentioned earlier in this Blog, we decided that hair sheep are the way to go.  They get thicker coats, and even have some wool hairs, in the winter, but shed in the spring and summer.  This means less work, particularly in areas where wool is not worth shearing and selling.  Hair sheep do not need their tails docked so that also makes them better for small farms like ours. 

Hair sheep breeds tend to be smaller, again, better to work with on small farms, or for people who are not big, tough, or have a lot of equipment.  Although some people consider them more nervous I have not found this to be the case as when we offer oats all our sheep cluster around to get their share, and will even eat out of our hands.

There are also many claims that hair sheep experience fewer problems with parasites.

We find having a hair sheep ram to be the best, as this also means smaller lambs, so fewer lambing problems for the ewe.  I would not suggest breeding a hair sheep ewe to a larger wool breed ram.  The hair x wool sheep have an odd sort of coat that sheds partially.

I would especially encourage anyone who wants to have sheep for pasture control to consider hair sheep.
We have owned Barbado hair sheep as pictured above, and also Dorper and Katahdin, which I am sure you will read about it other blog posts here!

Read more about the Advantages of Hair Sheep click here.

Learn more about the Breeds of Hair Sheep, click here.