[atlanta]

Despite what Anke says, pedigree Shetland prices are much the same as unregistered sheep.  Show sheep can command slightly higher prices, but not a great difference.  If you do want to eventually breed, then buying some of this year's lambs, August time, would mean you have 15 months before you need to think about breeding, plus some wethers for the freezer.  There are plenty of breeders in your area.  Going to the York rare breed spring sale or some local agricultural shows would allow you to make some contacts, and the Shetland Sheep Society web page has a page giving details of breeders with stock for sale by area. 

By buying pedigree sheep, you are more likely to get sheep with good Shetland fleeces.  The finest ones can be sold for £10 or more to hand spinners.  White fleeces are of very high quality, but the point of Shetland sheep and the society in the first place was to preserve the coloured and patterned sheep.   Fleeces from southern sheep are not shorter.  Going for crimpier fleeces can make them seem shorter.  The Shetland standard for fleece has a size range that most pedigree animals meet.  The gene pool is quite large, I think. 

Try and ensure you buy sheep that have been well handled and are bucket trained.  They will be friendlier and you will find them easier to handle.  Half a dozen would be a good starter flock, that you could build up by breeding over the next few years.  Had you wanted to breed this year, I would have suggested buying some older ewes who have bred before, and know the score, which would be easier for someone lambing for the first time.   Hope it goes well for you.

[cambee]

Thank you all for the really useful tips. I'm going to read over everything with my husband and soon to be partner in full time smallholding over the weekend and gather my thoughts. Also we are going to look at some Icelandic sheep kept locally in the next couple of weeks as somebody has suggested that they are a similar keep to Shetlands.

[CrazySheep]

We keep Shetland sheep both registered and unregistered and so obviously biased. When first starting out with sheep we found it difficult to select a breed from the wide variety to choose from so we can sympathise with your position. We tried a few different breeds before settling on Shetlands and then built up our flock numbers.

It really depends on knowing exactly what you want the sheep for and trying to match the sheep breed to meet those needs. For us, Shetlands are the ideal breed for their wool and meat combined with their hardy nature and ease of handling. We also know and appreciate that they are not for everybody.

If you intend to breed then you will want to ensure that there is an outlet for your lambs. Fortunately for us, we have always sold our surplus stock. We now produce registered Shetland lambs and cross our unregistered Shetlands to a larger crossing ram to produce a larger more commercial lamb.

Our advice would be to start small with a pair of ewe lambs of whatever breed you feel suits what you are aiming to use them for and see how you get on. We found it is a very steep learning curve despite all the research beforehand. Build your numbers up slowly as you gain more experience and confidence before starting to breed.

Whichever breed you choose you will thoroughly enjoy the experience but beware as sheep quickly become addictive and have a habit of taking over your life.

Good luck with your new endeavour

[Marches Farmer]

Many pedigree breeders, especially down South favour a very fine fleece, which seems to push the breed to smaller size.

One of the things the breeders in the 18th and 19th centuries found, when selecting breeds to improve various aspects of their native sheep, was that improving fleece only works for one generation and after that the carcase would suffer.

Round objects.
Ex-BH breeds top class commercial sheep, one of the things he breeds for is 'a fine skin'.  Not for the fleece per se, but for the easier lambings it confers.  His conformation scores, and hence the prices his lambs fetch, have risen year on year, as has the quality of his fleeces.

E.g.  If you breed in Merino to improve fleece the first lambs will, indeed, have better fleece.  If you then put those lambs and to a Merino the carcase quality will start to decline.

[SallyintNorth]

There are plenty of sheep with good fleece and a good carcase.  Some Dutch Texels, some Cheviots, many Border Leicesters, for instance.  Plus, you can improve fleece on your own stock by incorporating fleece characteristics from other sheep - we lightened the fleece on our Texels-out-of-Swaley-Mules by crossing with Charollais, and of course this also improved the carcase considerably.

It's nonsense to correlate fleece quality with carcase, the characteristics are not genetically linked.

[Marches Farmer]

There are plenty of sheep with good fleece and a good carcase.  Some Dutch Texels, some Cheviots, many Border Leicesters, for instance.  Plus, you can improve fleece on your own stock by incorporating fleece characteristics from other sheep - we lightened the fleece on our Texels-out-of-Swaley-Mules by crossing with Charollais, and of course this also improved the carcase considerably.
It's nonsense to correlate fleece quality with carcase, the characteristics are not genetically linked.

Did you cross your Texels-out-of-Swaley Mules back to the Charollais a second time, after the fleeces had lightened?

[BrimwoodFarm]

I would buy a few store lambs and rear them on to kill in the autumn first before venturing into breeding ewes. Then you'll know if you can go right through and take them to slaughter, see what breeds suit your land etc. With primitive breeds you have to bear in mind too that the lambs take longer to finish so it's quite possible you'll have to over winter them and keep them until at least the following spring- so need to separate from any ewes running with a ram, and still have grass left for when lambing begins. A more commercial breed would finish by the first autumn and give you more space over winter.

This has been a great thread, as I'm thinking of starting out with a few sheep too. [member=25072]twizzel[/member] - this is a really good recommendation. What's the time scale for this...ie if I wanted to get going this year, when can I expect to be able to get the store lambs and then when would they be ready for slaughter (approx)?

[SallyintNorth]

There are plenty of sheep with good fleece and a good carcase.  Some Dutch Texels, some Cheviots, many Border Leicesters, for instance.  Plus, you can improve fleece on your own stock by incorporating fleece characteristics from other sheep - we lightened the fleece on our Texels-out-of-Swaley-Mules by crossing with Charollais, and of course this also improved the carcase considerably.
It's nonsense to correlate fleece quality with carcase, the characteristics are not genetically linked.

Did you cross your Texels-out-of-Swaley Mules back to the Charollais a second time, after the fleeces had lightened?

We did, and got seriously meaty girls but with fleece too fine for our climate.