[elfirin]

Hi,

As the next step in our smallholding pilgrimage we'd like to get a small flock of sheep. We want a rare breed, ideally of Scottish origin but if not then happy in the Scottish weather. But we would like something that is small and relatively friendly/docile, and is good eating. Ideally, we'd start with three, and would eventually be looking to have a little breeding flock, once we gained more experience (but we'll build up to that slowly!).

Can you recommend any rare breeds that would be suited to this? 

Thanks!

[cairnhill]

Hebrideans of course 

[lachlanandmarcus]

Or Shetlands!

Hebs or Shetlands would both be very suitable!!

[Dizzycow]

Hebrideans! (I know someone who may sell if you're interested.) 

[doganjo]

What about Soay's?  No nothing about sheep but they are so cute!

[Fleecewife]

There are four Scottish Rare Breeds of sheep - Soays, Castlemilk Moorits, North Ronaldsays and Borerays.  In addition there are Hebrideans and Shetlands which are no longer rare but remain under the umbrella of the Rare Breeds Survival Trust as minority breeds.
Sometimes when you are not sure just what you want it can be a good idea to get a handful of wethers of a breed you are interested in.  You can 'practice' on them then eat them - if you don't like the breed then you can get something different next time, or if you love it then you can buy some breeding stock and get going, with a little bit of knowledge under your belt.
From what you are needing, I would say perhaps Shetlands would be a good starting point.  They are small, usually easy to handle (but don't hand feed a Shetland tup as they can get over friendly which leads to head butting etc), taste very good and you can use the fleece - they are also easy to source.  As I mostly keep Soays and Hebs I am not being biased when I suggest Shetlands (I used to keep a few and still have one very old lady  )

[elfirin]

Thanks everyone, very glad to get your opinions! And thanks for the details on the Scottish breeds, Fleecewife, good information and good advice - think we will do that and get a few wethers to start off with.

Don't worry, I won't be bottle-feeding any tups, made that mistake when I worked for a wildlife centre in Canada once upon a time and fostered a bighorn ram... you can imagine the fun games he thought up!   

[Andrew]

If you would like to see Shetlands, we have a small flock and are 10 miles from Glasgow. We will have some wethers for sale when they are weaned.

[lachlanandmarcus]

Heres some of my Shetland lovelies! Amazing meat, melts in the mouth, yumm!!

[goosepimple]

We have soays, they're beautiful like small deer, super easy care, have lambed without a hitch, good mums, self shear beautifully, are very friendly with bucket in hand, couldn't have been easier actually.  All the rare breed sheep are pretty much easy care, although an RBST rep told me recently that Castlemilk Moorits can sometimes be a little fragile.

[Fieldfare]

Castlemilk Moorit- or an example of what would happen if a sheep could design itself

[Dougal]

Best to stick to either shetlands or jacobs. Both are fairly easy to procure at a reasonable price while remaining
real easy to look after. Unlike many of the minoriy breeds they also give decent commercially sized lambs for putting in the freezer, especially if you are just borowing a commercial ram from a local farmer to get yourself
started. Other breeds, like the moorits, tend to be more of a ornamental sheep and will struggle to produce cuts of meat anything like the size you will normally find to buy. On the other hand these breeds do have some advantages such as the ability to shed their own wool to save shearing and the like.
I'm perhaps bias because I keep Cheviots and Texels which are both fairly commercial in their outlook but in the long run will taste the same as any other breed. The flavour is in what your sheep are fed and how fast they reach killing size rather than simply down to the breed. That said many people I know who keep jacobs commercially say that their meat is particularly tender due to the short muscle fibres in the meat.
All the best with the adventure though.

[PDO_Lamb]

Don't be put off by the smaller size of some of the rare/minority breeds.  As the processing costs are per head they work out more per kg of meat because of the lower yield. However, if you have to buy feed for them over the winter, their smaller appetite will more than make up for having less meat to sell/eat.

Why worry if the joints do not fill a standard supermarket plastic tray? In my view you dilute the qualities of the primitive breed meat if you cross breed.

You will of course need an abattoir not too far away. Most local butchers will do the cutting up bit if you don't want to do it youself. Then all you have to do is invite your friends round for a tasting session to sell all you can produce.

[janeislay]

We've just killed our first Icelandic at one year old; it made 20kg dressed weight which surprised me.  And as for the flavour - it was much much nicer than our Texel Xs and our Lleyn Xs.  I'm completely converted.

So this year we'll be putting Icelandic rams to not only our purebreds, but to all the Hebrideans, and to our commercial white sheep too (which are actually Hebridean X Lleyns).

I'm going for flavour and ease of management, not size.
Jane

[Fleecewife]

I agree that biggest is not necessarily best and all the Scottish Native sheep I quoted above are reknowned for their excellent taste.  They reach a good size when matured slowly and killed at 16 months, which is the ideal time.  Sometimes Soays need an extra year.  Scottish Blackface are also apparently high in the taste stakes but I haven't tried them.  I think that probably all the more slowly matured breeds have a special taste when compared to commercial young lambs.  Young lambs may be tender when flash cooked, but I prefer my meat cooked more slowly and for it to be full of flavour.  Our Heb gigots average at about 2.5 kgs, so over 5lbs, which is surely big enough for most families?