Breeds of Sheep whose Wool is Used for Carpets

When we look at the kind of wool sheep have there are 4 main types, of course this is not counting the hair sheep.

Of the wool sheep there are those such as the Merino and Rambouillete who produce fine wool; wool with a diameter under 30 microns. There are long wool sheep such as the Lincoln and Romney. There are the medium wool sheep, who are also meat, such as the Dorset, Suffolk, Texel, and Hampshire, and then there are the carpet wool sheep such as the Scottish Blackface, Navajo Churro, Icelandic, Elliotdale, Carpetmaster, Drysdale, Awassi, and Karakul. Certain breeds of sheep are more popular in certain areas.

The carpet wool sheep tend to have wool that has a diameter greater than 38 microns. The wool is considered too coarse for clothing but is perfect for carpets. The sheep that produce this coarse wool often have thicker double coats, and live in cold climates.

Some people may wonder if collecting wool from a sheep for the purpose of making a carpet is cruel, but it is not as cruel as you might think. Wool is sheared from a sheep not only so we can collect it but also so the sheep do not overheat in the summer. A heavy coat of wool on an animal in the summer can cause heat stroke. Removing the wool also helps the farmer identify any problems with external parasites (keds). 

Occasionally a sheep may be nicked in the process of shearing but a good shearer is fast and does not cause undue stress, or injury, to the animals. 

In contrast a “sheepskin rug” is when the sheep is actually killed and skinned for its pelt.

The fleece that is sheared from a sheep is washed and can be dyed 

If you are looking for a carpet be sure to check Carpetvista, with over 15,000 carpets, and roughly 2,000 added each month you are sure to find the right carpet for you. Their prices are great and they have a 30 day money back guarantee. 

Carpetvista is located in Sweden but they sell affordable quality carpets throughout Europe – prices are indicated in Euros.

Handmade carpets probably originated in central Asia and are now best sold under the name of the area in which the carpet was made or by which group of people made the carpet (example a Persian rug).

Meet Favorite Sheep

When we first got our sheep we thought it would be a good idea not to give them names, after all these were livestock animals, that might be sold.  As such our sheep ended up with non-name names, mostly color descriptions, because after all, we still needed some way of referencing which sheep was which and did not use ear tags. 

Soon one ewe got the name "Favorite" simply because she was the friendliest sheep and my daughter referred to her as her favorite sheep.

Here she is at one year of age, after her first shearing.

Favorite sheep became rather tame and would eat from your hand, but one day something went slightly wrong for Favorite sheep.

This was 2008, sheep were living with a donkey, llama, and miniature horses, including a miniature stallion.  All seemed to be fine together, and even now we are not sure if she got kicked, or had a stroke.  The only thing we do know is that one day she was not holding her ear correctly.  This was the summer, we checked the sheep daily but otherwise left them alone for grazing, and as such the small flock often got flighty and avoided us, when in the winter they always would come around looking for oats and treats.  Favorite otherwise looked fine, so we did not call the veterinarian at that time.

As time passed it was clear something had happened (xrays would have been expensive and finding out what happened really would not make a difference), however her tongue would hang from her mouth and it appeared she really did not have feeling in that side of her face, in fact food often builds up in her cheek and she spits it out regularly.

Favorite is at the front of the sheep, obviously still the "leader" of the other sheep, fast on her feet, but you can see she has something wrong when you look at her ear, eye, and face. 

Now... I know most keepers would have culled her (sold her or shot her) but... we had already named her "Favorite" how could we do such a thing?