Sheep Breeds

Did you know there are more than 200 breeds of sheep? Some are raised for wool, some for meat, some for milk, some for a combination of those traits. A few are even wild, such as the Bighorn sheep of North America.

Some sheep reared for meat are hair sheep; they don't have wool, just hair that they shed yearly. The American Blackbelly is one of them.

American Blackbelly

The Cotswold is considered a tri-purpose sheep. They produce high-quality wool, meat, and milk.

Cotswold - Sierra and lamb

Some sheep have great wool, but they aren't so desirable for eating. Others represent the opposite: flavorful meat but so-so wool.

Friesian Milk Sheep and British Milk Sheep are examples of good dairy sheep. Yes, sheep can be milked just like goats. Sheep's milk feta is lovely.

Friesian Milk Sheep

British Milk Sheep

To see pictures of many of those 200+ breeds of sheep and to find out more about them, go to http://www.ansi.okstate.edu/breeds/sheep/. All of the photos in this post, except the one of the Cotswold (she's mine) are from that website.

Let me know which are your favorites. Mine, of course, is the Cotswold, but I find breeds such as the Welsh Mountain, the Manx Loaghtan, and the Exmoor Horn to be fascinating.

Welsh Mountain

Manx Loaghtan

Exmoor Horn