The Accidental Smallholder Forum
Livestock => Sheep => Topic started by: clydesdaleclopper on June 06, 2010, 06:32:42 pm
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I'm looking to acquire some registered Gotlands. Does anyone keep them or know of someone who does?
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There is a Gotland Society. The last secretary I knew was called Barlow from Devon - biggest breeder. Sorry but I can't find his contact details for you. Worth googling. They are lovely sheep - big and placid, easy lambing with lovely curly fleece. If I find the address I'll come back with it.
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Someone on River Cottage Forum called Gotland Ewe - would they might have them either that or strange name for a lady!!
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David Barlow Chairman lives near us, is a great bloke and has some lovely sheep....contacts [email protected] 01404 42141
He will know of a breeder in your area
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Good luck with it, I was going to have Gotlands, but I found the society and breeders I met to be amongst the most unhelpful and unfriendly folk I've met in the sheep world.
Changed breed and got on famously with that society and breeders.
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Good luck with it, I was going to have Gotlands, but I found the society and breeders I met to be amongst the most unhelpful and unfriendly folk I've met in the sheep world.
Changed breed and got on famously with that society and breeders.
We are not all like that and I have met people like that in all breed societies....just humans I'm afraid :-\
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I tried phoning the chap who runs the Gotland Sheep Society and I've never heard back from him. It doesn't bode well.
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Well he is a busy man! He is a very nice person actually!
I get about 100 emails and 10 - 15 impt phone calls re work per day and sometimes I just forget!......we all do and that can be forgiven at times eh?
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Gotlands Placid? We had two Gotland shearlings last year - real escape artists, climbers, attacked the fruit trees, damaged fences, restive - just like hyperactive goats. They went early to the freezer. This year we have Ryelands - now they are placid.
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Blimy.....everyones got it in for both gotlands and the society!
I have had lots of breeds of sheep in over 30 years and I can safely say Gotlands are big placid friendly sheep....but they are active sheep and actually very like wensleydales in charecter.
Their fleeces are worth a lot of money and I for one love them as they felt like a dream! They cross well with other breeds and we have some gotland x shetland fleeces....fantastic!
The skins sell from £70 upwards and I have more demand for them than any other breed....oh and the meat is good too!
Seadog.....I really hope you had the skins cured as shearling skins are about £100 each :o
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David Barlow of the Gotland Society is really nice - he spent ages discussing the breed with me and couldn't have been more helpful. Rumours fly around about different breeds of sheep - for example as well as Hebrideans we also keep Soays, which have a reputation for jumping and being impossible to handle. When people ask us about that we just point to our Soays - they are the ones coming up to us and visitors, asking for treats and showing intelligent curiosity, definitely not jumping the fences. From my experience, sheep reflect the handling they receive, much as any other animal - treat them roughly or leave them running wild and they will be wild or wary; make it so that the other side of the fence appears more attractive than this side and they will jump to get to the other side; but if you treat them calmly and gently you will have manageable stock. Our Gotland and Gotland (Shetland) crosses were lovely, calm and dignified.
Sheep breed societies are amazing, a bit like ducks on the water - they can appear calm and organised on the surface but underneath they can be a frantic maelstrom of rivalry and pettyness, just like the ducks paddling feet. As long as the work gets done and the breed doesn't suffer, so be it. It seems to go in cycles and depends very much on just who is on any committee. Worse than Crufts sometimes ::) But don't let that put you off a breed - you can have as much or as little to do with any society as you want, and it could well be that when you get to know the members you will find that they are far friendlier than you first thought. They are just people, in all their glorious variety 8)
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I'll maybe try emailing the chap as I definately want Gotlands. The message I left might not have got passed on.