Breeding Issues (Conservation Genetics, Scrapie, et)
Howling Oak Ranch
_______________________________________________
Commercial and crossbred flocks
We dispersed our commercial flock in 2008, retaining only a few black ewes. With our limited space, we have decided to focus on purebreds.
More information about St Croix crosses:
The St. Croix-cross is a hardy, prolific sheep and is suitable for commercial operations. St Croix hybrid ewes have shorter breeding intervals, higher fertility, higher lamb survival, and wean more pounds of lamb per ewe than do ewes sired by prolific wool-breed rams, according to a University study. St. Croix cross lambs have a mild flavor even when grown out to one year of age.
Cross-bred sheep can have a variety of colors and markings. This ewe, Kahlua, was by a hair sheep ram and out of a California Red type ewe. She had twins every year (except when she had triplets!), giving birth to her first set of lambs at 12 months of age. Her legs, face and belly were free of wool, and she shed enough of her wool that she did not require shearing.
This black ewe, Ophelia, is also half hair-sheep. She has just given birth to quadruplets in these images. Again, note the clean (wool-free) legs and face. This ewe did require shearing; however, her lambs usually did not (when she was bred to a St Croix ram).
The ewe in the foreground is 3/4 hairsheep (and a daughter of the black ewe shown above)-- you can see her shedding wool over her shoulders. A full-blooded wool sheep is behind her. Hair sheep hybrids may retain some wool along the top-line, which is easily clipped off in a chute.
Several commercial flocks use ½ to ⅞ St. Croix ewes bred to Dorper or part-Dorper rams. The Dorper is a mostly hair (some wool) breed with heavier bone and muscling than the St. Croix, so a Dorper ram adds size to market lambs, while the St. Croix ewes increases the likelihood of an easy birth, vigorous lambs, and multiple lambs per ewe.
St Croix crosses may be registered as Saint Thomas sheep (Class B, at least 50% St Croix and at least 75% hair sheep) and need not be pure white.