# Good temperament-oriented breeds...



## ToshRunner (Jun 23, 2013)

Hello all!
I am curious in getting a trio of wethered rams (for fiber arts), but wanted outside opinions on breeds and their various temperaments thereof.

I'm still in the re-searching period, so no sheep in mind to buy right away. So far I have my sights on hardier breeds. I live in a warm, scrubby grass environment. I'll have to feed them good hay often. Mostly I am looking for a breed that is just all around soundness and possibly a higher fiber.

My thoughts are:
-North County Cheviot
-Clun Forest
-Hampshire
-Jacob

Any sheep outside of this list that anyone would like to mention for having a good easy temperament (generally speaking) would be great. I know the North County Cheviot has been mentioned in at least one link that I found somewhere to be a more aggressive breed. I put it down on my watch list because they are so hardy.

Also, anyone who has had any experience with any of these sheep, feel free to type a reply.

As a side note I should include that I am not looking for the sheep of the finest wool--but I wouldn't rule it out. Right now I am just trying to find the most important traits: temperament, vitality, fiber quality, and meat. In that exact order too.

Thanks for any help supplied!

Tosh


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## RovingAcres (Mar 3, 2013)

What do you mean by good temperament? Do you want them to be cuddly like puppies or just not aggressive?

I have jacobs and even my rams are safe and sensible but they don't generally want to be petted or anything. And when jacobs are wild they're really wild and can take some time (and snacks) to get tame. They do have fairly nice, medium-fine wool and they're tough as nails. Some hay daily and maybe a hoof trim once or twice a year and they're good to go.

If I were putting together a herd of fiber wethers I would go for cormos, personally. They love cuddling and will curl up at your feet like a cat and take a snooze. I have 3 cormo rams right now and have never seen them butt anything, even during breeding season. They need a little more maintenance than my jacob sheep but not excessive amounts and their wool is amazing! Spinners fight me for it!


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## bergere (May 11, 2002)

The only mellow Jacobs I had, ones that were easy to halter train and handle... Were PuddleDuck and Swallow Lane lines.
The others would not tame down. 

Most breeds of sheep can be tamed down and easy to handle. If they come from folks where the breeder is actively breeding sheep like that. 

You should go to the breeders that have the sheep you are interested, see if their sheep come up to you, wither they are calm around people or not. Will they eat grain out of your hand?

When I raised the breeds of sheep I had... I ended up settling on Brecknock Hill Cheviot, now called Miniature Cheviots (original sized border cheviots)
I tamed all of mine down, well except the rams, but the rams were mellow too. 
If had one that ended up, even the slightest bit aggressive, they would end up in the freezer.
One of my signatures of my breeding stock, is, they were mellow and halter training already started.

I know that is a rare thing, but there are few people out there that do that. 

Fast forward many years later...

Now I have two pure bred Katahdins, a Katahdins/Dorper/St Croix mix and a little Finn ewe lamb.
The hair sheep were what I would call average in taming down and halter training. 
They are all gentle and easy to deal with.
The Finn ewe lamb... she was a snap to train. Very calm and friendly, over all very easy to handle.
She comes from a line of Finn's that only has 2 to 3 lambs... which is good. 

The older I get, the more mellow and gentle I want my sheep to be.

Cormo sheep I have heard, are also mellow... but they are huge! 
Fleece is wonderful to hand spin... so is Blue Face Leicester... BL is one of my favorites to hand spin right now.


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## ToshRunner (Jun 23, 2013)

RovingAcres said:


> What do you mean by good temperament? Do you want them to be cuddly like puppies or just not aggressive?
> 
> I have jacobs and even my rams are safe and sensible but they don't generally want to be petted or anything. And when jacobs are wild they're really wild and can take some time (and snacks) to get tame. They do have fairly nice, medium-fine wool and they're tough as nails. Some hay daily and maybe a hoof trim once or twice a year and they're good to go.
> 
> If I were putting together a herd of fiber wethers I would go for cormos, personally. They love cuddling and will curl up at your feet like a cat and take a snooze. I have 3 cormo rams right now and have never seen them butt anything, even during breeding season. They need a little more maintenance than my jacob sheep but not excessive amounts and their wool is amazing! Spinners fight me for it!


 Because I am going for fiber on these sheep I am looking for non-aggressive types. I could probably handle the more aloof types of sheep like the Jacobs personality, but I certainly wouldn't mind ones that are so laid back that I can come up and check their coats without them minding, like your Cormos. I wouldn't mind really friendly ones. I guess my temperament scale would be super friendly (5) to more aloof (1). Anything between there is at least manageable for me.

I plan to handle these guys every day from lambs--so I would like my work to come to something with all that handling, and for me to actually have ones I can come up to without them running off.


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## ToshRunner (Jun 23, 2013)

bergere said:


> The only mellow Jacobs I had, ones that were easy to halter train and handle... Were PuddleDuck and Swallow Lane lines.
> The others would not tame down.
> 
> Most breeds of sheep can be tamed down and easy to handle. If they come from folks where the breeder is actively breeding sheep like that.
> ...



My idea is to find what breeds might fit me and my land best, and then scout out the 4H shows nearby and see about getting some names and numbers of those showing sheep I am interested in.

I read that the Jacobs were a bit more goat-like in personality (and I'm not wanting to go down that road). I want to try out sheep because goats are just too much...outlaw...for my sheriff kind of mind.

I figured it all comes down to what I like best, since sheep are sheep and not goats. But I know there has been a lot of work done on many of the sheep breeds and some can be really good in temperament. Those are the ones I want to find out about first.


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## purplequeenvt (Mar 3, 2013)

Look into Border Leicesters. They are a medium/large breed that has lovely curly wool. The rams, in my 12+ years of experience are gentleman. They are very personable sheep.


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## lambs.are.cute (Aug 15, 2010)

I raise romneys so am totally biased but they are the sweetest most of mine are friendly and calm and do fine on just pasture (infact I have to watch them if I am feeding the ones with triplets grain that the others don't get too much grain because they'll get way too fat). They have beautiful easy fleeces to hand spin - especially the Australia or new Zealand lines that people have started importing back here to improve the fleece of the American lines. The American lines have great fleeces too but they aren't quite as soft. These are good for meat and wool but they are smaller than the commercial meat animals a little bit. I like it because I can handle a 150-200+ lb ewe by my self but the commercial 300+ for ewes? not a chance. All the romneys that I've ever handled are fairly calm (even when there is a strange person in the pen picking out lambs) and quiet. I know when I hear my ram calling something is really wrong - last time there was a lamb tangled in the fence, the time before that there was a dog in the pasture. 

The only North County Cheviot I have experience with is the ones at the show I got to. They are wilder than anything imaginable and they are LOUD man are the loud. 

Hampshires are born with springs in their legs. I showed them in 4h for a while and I had a lamb that could jump 7 foot fence when she wanted. Not all of them jump but most seem to. Their wool is spinable and it seems like most handspinners that started out raising sheep started out with either hamps or suffolks because that's what they were raising. their wool isn't next to skin soft but it does make nice socks. Very durable. These sheep can get quite big ie 150+ lbs at 6 months, 300+ fully grown ewe.........


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## JD in SC (May 17, 2007)

Hello, 

I have had Cormos and Hampshire and currently East Friesians. 

I have never had a friendlier sheep than the EF's, but that is because they were handled a lot when young. 

My Hampshire ram was huge and an awesome animal. Never had any hint of aggression out of him. He was handled as the previous owners next show prospect. So he was rather tame. The Cormos were wild as the day was long, because they were never handled when young and I got them that way. Was a rodeo each time sheering or shots came around. 

A friendly Suffolk, who had a prolapsed rectum, and some mixed Corriedale/Chormos who were also wild.

All have been very hardy, none were friendly unless they had basically been bottle fed or worked with when young.

JD


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## Maddiequus (Nov 4, 2003)

My Icelandics are literally like dogs; will follow me anywhere, always cheerful, have never been physical with me even accidentally. That's true of the ram as well as the ewes, and all three have massive horns. They are sheared twice a year.
The Shetlands I had in my previous flock would eat from my hand, come when called, graze around my legs if I sat in the pasture. I handled them more than I have my current flock. They're very smart, hardy, independent sheep with lovely wool and a mild taste if you decide you want meat.


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## farmmaid (Jan 13, 2003)

My East Friesians are very sweet...............


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## ErikaMay (Feb 28, 2013)

I would say rather than going by breed look at the breeder as an indicator towards temperment. Someone who is with their sheep daily will breed friendlier gentler sheep than sheep left out on the range. 

Sheep have personalities and there are different personalities in the same breed. I managed to tame a flock of wild Jacobs with grain, patience and lovin's. 

I've got an EF who came to me wild, crazy and terrified after already having a loose screw then being the only survivor to a coyote attack. Ah, yes, for the first month she nearly killed herself trying to flee from any movement around. Now? She's accepting of the scratches behind the ears. A little jumpy, but I've got my hands on her everyday. The other EF was just begging for cuddles this evening. My bottle baby from last year? She doesn't like being touched. Never really has. Her sister? likes a good ear scratch and is now milking. Different personalities. 

That said, if you get them young and handle them daily they will get used to it. Everyone in my barn accepts my daily pats.

I do recommend Jacobs as a starter sheep. Much harder to kill by accident, generally calm personalities and lots of variations in the wool. They are very smart, at least my line was, but will escape fences if they believe there is good enough reason (better grass!) I had one ewe figure out how to use her horns to open gates up! They will eventually figure out to stand on their hind legs to reach the top of your willow bush or favorite rose. Very entertaining sheep with lots of personality. 

Too bad you don't live in Oregon. I've got three little boys who would make wonderful fiber sheep. EF X Jacob with the softness of the EF wool and the length and crimp of the Jacob. oh well!


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## ToshRunner (Jun 23, 2013)

ErikaMay said:


> I would say rather than going by breed look at the breeder as an indicator towards temperment. Someone who is with their sheep daily will breed friendlier gentler sheep than sheep left out on the range.
> 
> Sheep have personalities and there are different personalities in the same breed. I managed to tame a flock of wild Jacobs with grain, patience and lovin's.
> 
> ...



Thank you for your post--very helpful.

Jacobs do sound quite a bit like goats. I think I would like them, but probably not quite as much as some of the more laid back types--but as you mentioned, it all depends on the lines, the handling, and the natural personality of the animal itself.

I am going to wait until after the 4H fair season around here to see what local Sheep breeders have. Gather information and contacts. Decide upon what I find then. Here in Tennessee there are so many people who breed the hair sheep--which are fine, except I like the wool types. And the only time I see people with the sheep I like are at the fair.

Oh, and I'm glad you mentioned the bottle feeding. I know that with goats you usually get either an unruly goat or a super friendly one with bottle feeding. I wasn't sure if it was that way with sheep. I prefer the attitude of goats when they haven't been bottle fed. They can still be handled very well when on their moms, but at least they understand that they are a goat.

Again, thanks everyone for your opinions and tips. I'll be keeping a lookout for all these breeds and watching for breeders who have them.


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## MDKatie (Dec 13, 2010)

I'd stay away from Hampshires, because their wool isn't the best and they are not normally easy keepers. Cheviots can be VERY flighty. I LOVE Romneys, they're easy keepers and generally docile. I'd say find a breeder with calm sheep, then get the lambs after weaning and spend lots of time with them. And wethers are normally much more docile than rams.


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