Today, I'm going to explain a little more about the sheep that I raise (in honor of an assignment from Sheep class). The breed that I am talking about is the Romney breed.
Romneys were developed in a marshy area of Kent, England. This area had heavy rainfall which lead to lush forage for the sheep to utilize. Since their origin is from a marshy area the breed was selected for resistance to hoof rot, a disease which is pretty much what it sounds like and likes wetter areas. Romneys were imported to North America a few years after the turn of the 20th century, with the formation of the American Romney Breeders Association(ARBA) in 1912. However it wasn't until the 1970s that that first natural colored sheep were allowed to be registered in the organization.
Romneys are known as a dual purpose breed, which means they produce both meat and wool. The wool of the romney is easily spun by hand spinners and is valued for this characteristic. The fiber diameter of the fleece is supposed to be within the range of 29-36 microns based on the ARBA standard. This may seem quite a small number for some of you but in comparison the finest (smallest fiber diameter) of sheep is found on Merinos and averages around 19 microns but can even be as fine as 15 microns. The weight of the fleeces is also pretty heavy with most ewes yielding at least 8 pounds and rams yielding at least 12 per year, but generally they yield much more than they are advertised. My one ewe Posie sheared a 12.5 lb fleece with only 10 months of growth! (pictured before shearing). The fleeces also come in a range of shades, due to the influence of the agouti genes, but more on that later. The meat on the romney generally has a milder taste than that of other breeds which makes it perfect for those new to eating lamb. Lambs generally reach market weight by 6 or 7 months since they are a little slower growing than the more dominant meat breeds.
These sheep are generally medium sized with the ewes averaging 150-200 lbs and rams averaging 225 to 275 lbs. However even with their size the temperament of the romney is wonderful. They are calm, gentle, and make excellent mothers making them one of the best breeds for new shepherds. Heck, there are shepherds into their 70s and 80s working with romneys because they are so easy to work with.
So I hope this post gives you a bit more insight into our farm, as well as into the romney breed of sheep. If you'd like to find out more about sheep breeds, I recommend going to the list compiled by Oklahoma State, the link (Breeds of Sheep) is to the right under the helpful links section. It features all the major breeds and quite a few lessor known ones and information regarding each one.
On another note we had 2 ewes lamb this afternoon almost simultaneously, adding another 4 lambs (3 ewes and 1 ram) to our flock.
I never thought I would be writing a blog, but then again, I never thought I would do a lot of things. Seeing that this the first post I should probably describe the purpose of this blog, just so I don't confuse people. Well this is all part of a larger plan to build an online presence for my farm, Windswept Acres. I was working on making the website when it showed I could link a blog to it. So I figured "Why not?". I hope to make this a weekly thing but we'll see if other stuff gets in the way.
Here's the quick introduction: I'm from a small sheep farm in central New Jersey called Windswept Acres. We have about 20 romney ewes and 8-10 meat breed ewes. It all started as a 4-H project and has grown from there. We are starting to focus on the romney breed more and marketing the different products stronger than we have in the past. You can read more about it at windsweptacresfarm.com.
I'm going to talk about lambing cameras. Lambing cameras are wonderful devices. In the cold nights of Jan, Feb and even into March, it is never fun to bundle up in 5 layers and walk several hundred feet to the barn to check sheep and find no new lambs. It makes the treks that more annoying since you crawled out of the warmth of a bed, into the pitch black night, then to the barn to find nothing exciting happening. That's where the cameras come in. The cameras are installed so that you can view the barn from a computer. (it's especially helpful when you're 200 miles away at school. as shown in the picture above.) The interface allows you to see all the cameras at once, and you can make each individual camera screen larger if you need to focus on a specific ewe. So the cameras give the shepherd a complete view of the barn so all the sheep are seen. The resolution is pretty good too so it's easy to see if a ewe is lambing or there are lambs already born. The beautiful thing about the cameras is there is no need to go out into the frigid cold unless something is happening. It's wonderful!
Sorry if this blog isn't well-written, hopefully I improve as this continues.
For my next post I'll probably explain some more sheep stuff like lambing since it's that time of year. Hopefully there will be more lambs born by the time of my next post too!
