Frequently Asked Questions

Corsican-type sheep are are well known and bred for their majestic curved horns. Our flock is no exception! We consistently keep rams with the best horns for breeding. Medium or wide spread horns are both desired and bred for, as opposed to ones that curve too close to the head. Our 1-year-old rams typically push 16”+ horns, and if a ram can average 1” of horn per month past age 2, we consider that to be good horn production. 

While some believe horned ewes produce ram lambs with better horn production, we like them because they are easier to handle! You can grab hold of one by the horns to check on her and keep hold of her for check ups and administering medication. It has taken over a decade of breeding to have mostly horned ewe genetics in our flock, and we've never been hurt by them either! That being said, we do keep a few polled (unhorned) ewes around since they have an easier time sticking their heads through the fence and keeping our fence line clear ;)

We view our sheep family kind of like Labrador Retrievers; they can be yellow, black, or chocolate but are still the same breed. Even 2 black labs can have chocolate or yellow puppies! We enjoy having a colorful flock, and are currently working on breeding for spots, which often come from solid white ewes when bred to a colorful ram. Though we are crossing Painted Deserts and Texas Dalls, we are carefully managing all breeding by purposefully choosing how to pair our rams and ewes.

To start, we do some preemptive work by never allowing a lamb that seems to be prone to parasites or is not thriving to remain a breeding member of our flock.  Because we have been doing this for almost 20 years, we have a very hardy/healthy flock. We only deworm when we need to, as parasites will develop a tolerance to the medications, and we do not deworm the entire flock—only the ones that need it. We use the FAMACHA worming program, allowing us to detect levels of anemia caused by parasites which will cause the eyelids to become pale. 

We have experimented with quite a bit of cross breeding and have experience with the following breeds:  Wiltshire Horn, Soay, Mouflon, American Blackbelly, Black Hawaiian, Desert Dragon, Painted Desert, Texas Dall, North Country Cheviot, Rambouillet, and Jacob. It takes about 4-5 generations to “breed the wool out” when cross-breeding hair sheep with wool sheep, but normally after 1-2 generations, the need for shearing is gone. Typically, 3rd and 4th generation crosses will remain “fuzzy” and sometimes retain some wool, but not enough to need shearing. We have settled into a flock we are proud to share with you!