Shetland Sheep - The Thousand Year Survivors

I’m not a sheep breeder – not yet.  I think, though, that if I had the land and barn space, I’d be unable to resist adding Shetland sheep to our small hobby farm.  Most Shetlands are calm and easy to manage.  They’re hardy, and their wool is a handspinner’s delight. 

An ancient British breed, Shetlands are thought to have developed from Viking sheep brought a thousand years ago to the remote Shetland Islands, located between Scotland and Norway.  There, in isolation, they survived for centuries under harsh conditions on the wild heaths and grasses.   Shetlands belong to the Northern European short-tailed type, along with Finnsheep, Icelandics, Norwegian Spaelsau, and Romanovs.  Among the breed, there still is evidence of a slight double coat and a tendency toward molting, or spring shedding of the coat. 

Shetlands were considered rare, a threatened livestock breed, until very recently.  The breed now is listed by the American Livestock Breed Conservancy as recovering – good news for the breed and for all of us who appreciate diversity.  Great Britain’s Rare Breeds Survival Trust considers it a minority breed, which is an upgrade from its previous status of “rare.” 

Shetlands are small, with rams weighing in at about 90 to 125 pounds and ewes at 75 to 100 pounds.  Ewes typically are polled, and rams have spiral horns.  They’re fine-boned, with short, fluke-shaped tails that do not require docking.  The lambs are relatively slow growing, as is common among primitive breeds.  That trait is balanced by their natural hardiness, thriftiness, easy lambing, adaptability, and longevity.  The eyes generally are good mothers, easy lambers with plenty of milk.

The wool is soft, yet strong and durable.  It has a silky, but slightly crisp hand.   Its well-developed crimp gives it a light, airy feeling.  On the Shetland Islands, the fleece staple length is 2 to 4 ½ inches.  Staple lengths as long as 6 inches have been seen in the U.S.  Fleeces are generally 2 to 4 pounds, but a ram fleece of five or six pounds isn’t uncommon.  The fleece is generally shorn now, although in the past, the wool was plucked during the natural molt.  The plucking procedure was known as rooing.

The fine, soft wool found around the neck is the source of the yarn for the traditional Shetland Lace shawl.