[WhiteHorses]

Sheep aren't a day one thing for me to get but I would like suggestions on suitable breeds please.
I'm looking to get a few sheep to cross graze with horses and supply us and maybe family/friends with lamb and to round up with my semi trained but a bit wimpy collie. Characteristics I'm after are:
Smallish so easy to turn/handle - I have handled commercial ewes but I'd rather have something lighter
Pretty because I'm shallow
Nice meat
Hardy, will survive a Scottish winter and peaty quite wet soil
Easy to lamb/good mothers
Not escape artists
Don't need loads of shearing

I am keen on Hebrideans but they may be a bit too primitive and wild for an easy life! 
I'd be grateful for suggestions and also for current realistic prices.

[lachlanandmarcus]

Apart from the last two I would suggest Shetlands as they are readily available, and definitely meet all the other criteria. They are what we went for having very similar requirements. Escape wise, with normal stock fencing they are fine but they won't respect dodgy stuff if the grass is greener outside. Shearing wise they are easy as they are small (I have hand sheared up to 19 by myself) but some also too their fleece and don't need shearing, it depends on the genetics.


They are also not expensive (tho registered a bit more than non registered). They come in all sorts of colours and only the rams are horned. The meat is delicious.


I will have some ewe lambs (unreg but by reg ram) in multicolours available later in the year but I'm not sure of what area you are, we are Aberdeenshire.

[Fleecewife]

I keep Hebrideans and they aren't at all wild, once they get used to being in a small, well-handled flock  .   They are stunning to look at and full of character, not too hefty to turn, taste delicious, lamb easily.  Train them to a bucket and feed them in a pen (including a tiny bit through the summer) and they will be simple to handle.
 
Another breed you might like is the Shetland - small and very easy to handle, so friendly it can be OTT sometimes  , very tasty, beautiful fleece, all sorts of colours so you can tell them apart - and spin their fleece  .  Some people have said that Shetlands are flighty too, but ours won't stop rustling around in our pockets for biscuits 
 
The ewes of both these breeds weigh about 35 to 45 kgs, the tups a bit more.  For meat lambs you need to keep them over until the following summer when they are 16 months old to get a worthwhile size carcase.
 
I don't have any advice on using a sheepdog with them, but I know there are several experienced folk on here who will help.
 
Just seen L&M's post - saying pretty much the same thing  .
 
I would add that most Shetlands can be roo'ed, so don't need shearing at all.  It's a great bit of time spent communing with your animals, in the sunshine as you remove their fleece for them

[Cuil bay]

I have 4 shetland and shetland x ewe hoggs for sale - used to horses as I keep them with my arab horses.  (I like them because they are small and easy to handle and have never had problems with lambing, no fly problems as they have genetically short tails, and used to west coast highland weather.

[Foobar]

Black Welsh Mountain?
They tick most of your boxes:
  -  Smallish so easy to turn/handle - yes  ewes 45kg, rams 60kg. well natured sheep.
  -  Pretty because I'm shallow - yes very handsome, and they don't show the dirt like white sheep do
  -  Nice meat - excellent meat
  -  Hardy, will survive a Scottish winter and peaty quite wet soil - yes, and they have good feet
  -  Easy to lamb/good mothers - brilliant mothers, milky
  -  Not escape artists - there are some that are, but there are plenty that aren't, easy to train (with the aid of food)
  -  Don't need loads of shearing - well, in your environment they will probably keep quite short fleece, but it does still need to be shorn


Buy from a hill farm rather than a lowland one, and you will get the smaller types.  They can grow bigger in the better lowland conditions.

[Fronhaul]

I am so shallow I have BWMs and Shetlands and I love them both.  Both breeds really tick all the boxes.

Some of my BWMs do occasionally wander next door but always seem to come back fairly quickly.  And I did discover to my great embarassment that a certain Shetland ewe and her lamb spent a great deal of time visiting next doors dairy herd.  Not once did I ever find her out of the field so she was obviously nipping back to where she should be every time she heard us coming.  But it is a little difficult to argue with a positive identification of a moorit Shetland with a white nose and white patch on her head and a multi coloured lamb at foot when the only other sheep in the immediate area are Lleyns.  Luckily our neighbour sees the funny side of incidents like this.

[FiB]

well not 'easy care' (ie you do have to shear them) but Lleyn and Beulah have been fab as my first flock and tick other boxes.  They are hardy welsh mountain breeds - not sure if they are up to scottish winters tho?!  Mine have all lambed outside with no help (1 rejection was from a 'pet lamb' mule).  I went for Beulah because I like the look of them as well as all the other things on your list - that IS important!  Havent eaten one yet but expecting good things
 

[Marches Farmer]

Are you planning to run the sheep in the same field as the equines?  Depends on temperament but I've known a horse that used to pick sheep up by the neck and chuck them back on the ground if it was in a bad mood (not mine I may add but then I only like horses that are pulling a cart or a plough)..

[lachlanandmarcus]

That's a good point. - I rotate my horses with the Shetlands but I don't have them in the same field at the same time as one of the horses would certainly attack the sheep. Also, the benefits in terms of hoovering up the horse worms is not as high co grazing as it would be if you rotate them in turn.

[Ina]

Are you planning to run the sheep in the same field as the equines?  Depends on temperament but I've known a horse that used to pick sheep up by the neck and chuck them back on the ground if it was in a bad mood (not mine I may add but then I only like horses that are pulling a cart or a plough)..

 A friend of mine has a couple of Clydesdales in with the sheep - no problem at all, and they could easily pick up even one of the big rams... So it really does depend - they may be perfectly fine in mixed grazing. (I even know of one place where they mix horses with ostriches!)

[OhLaLa]

Are you planning to run the sheep in the same field as the equines?  Depends on temperament but I've known a horse that used to pick sheep up by the neck and chuck them back on the ground if it was in a bad mood............

That's a good point. - I rotate my horses with the Shetlands but I don't have them in the same field at the same time as one of the horses would certainly attack the sheep............

I have to say my first thoughts were the same as the above. I've heard additional stories and would never put equines in the same field as sheep at the same time. Mine would certainly have their moments and the sheep wouldn't be able to get out of the way fast enough.
 
Sheep and horses do not mix.
 
 
 

[twizzel]

Our lambs were out with 2 horses last year and were fine, although the horses are very chilled out native types. This year they are turned out with the cows and get on fine with them too. Guess it depends how relaxed your animals are- you know them best

[sabrina]

My sheep always ran with the ponies, no problem. On Shetland you see sheep and ponies roaming together all the time.

[WhiteHorses]

I haven't decided whether to rotate or run horses and sheep together or some combination. However I know Neon is fine with sheep as I used to rent a yard with 8 acres and every summer borrowed 25 Welsh x ewes and their lambs to graze it off. He sometimes pulled faces but otherwise pretended they didn't exist. Other horse is new but has been out with sheep and cattle and is very laid back so I don't anticipate problems.

I do agree that it would be better to rotate, however at the moment it one big six acre plot (with very good standard stock fence round the perimeter.) Short term I will electric fence for the horses.

Thanks for the suggestions I will research Shetlands and the other breeds suggested.

[sokel]

I have 3 ewes a new born lamb in with a 15hh Cob and he is 100% with them, before the lamb was born it wasnt uncommon to go out there to see 3 sheep and a horse all standing in the stable together and when we moved the sheep the horse went mad untill we put them back together