North Ronaldsay Sheep

WHY KEEP NORTH RONALDSAY SHEEP?

The Short Answer...

1. Great grazers, not fussy, eat brambles, thistles, scrub not just grass

2. Easy to handle due to their small size

3. If you have them from lambs and spend time with them they become extremely friendly

4. Easy to bucket train

5. Have good feet - not prone to foot rot

6. Have wonderful fleeces if you like crafts, like using fleece for spinning, felting or knitting

7. Great characters, all individual personalities

The Long Answer...

Having decided sheep were a better choice for paddock management than spending time (or money if we got contractors in) to cut our paddocks for hay, we then had to choose a particluar breed.

After much research, and knowing we didn't want something that was just white, non descript with a fluffy fleece, we stumbled upon North Ronaldsays. These seemed perfect as pet lawn mowers, they are not commercially viable for meat due to their small bone structure and are on the Rare Breed Survival Trust watchlist (RBST) of rare and endangered breeds. They are of a small handable size and relatively low maintenance from a labour point of view.

Their fleeces can be many colours from white to varying browns, greys and very dark brown/black. But they also have many patterns too which are much more distinctive when young. The predominate colour seems to be a mid grey, or moorit as it is known. The lambs are born with strong colours and then their fleeces fade with age into lighter shades and the markings gradually deminish except for on their faces.

They do have some little quirky historical genes that date back to the bronze age and having lived on the Island of North Ronaldsay and eaten seaweed for centuries and centuries. They are intolerant to copper in their diet and this is something that anyone keeping these sheep should be well aware of from the outset. You must never feed them any standard sheep feeds that contain copper as this can kill them. There are special 'Tubby Ron' feed licks that can be put out in the field for them to use as and when they require which will help combat any copper toxicity, and I very much recommend these.

The fleeces of a North Ronaldsay sheep can get very thick if it is a very cold winter, but when sheared the fleeces are great for craft work. We have used them for making felt items such as bags, slippers, wet felted art pictures and needle felted pictures. Some of the wool we have processed into yarn which in turn I knit with to make, hot water bottle covers, gloves, hats, scarfs. I have found the wool a great, strong fibre to work with which has never irritated the skin.

We love our ronnies, have lambed them 6 times over the last 15 years, sat and watched them for hours, smiled at the lambs playing in the field jumping and skipping around, laughed at them when they know they are being naughty but they pretend they don't know they have been. They are actually very intellegent and know exactly when they have misbehaved!

They are definitely not a money maker, they are a hobbiest's breed but we wouldn't be without them and absolutely love them to bits.

They are such characters, all have their own traits which they seem to pass down from mother to offspring, such as Bobby who always used to tilt her head sideways when stood still to look at you, the same as her daughter now does. Or Lily who we sadly no longer have, loved cuddles and a scritch under her chin and who would stand their indefinitely until you moved away and now her daughter Amy, son Splash (a wether) and twin grand daughters Evie and Ella all do the same.

I know we made the right choice keeping North Ronaldsays and glad we didn't just deciding to have baron paddocks onto which a machine turned up once or twice a year to cut or top the pasture. I throughly recommend this breed to anyone who wants to keep sheep as small scale grazers, for a hobby or to breed for showing.

Let's help keep this breed in existence, they well deserve a place in our countryside.

CURRENT STOCK AND PRODUCTS FOR SALE

Bird nesting wool - 100g bags of natural wool straight from the sheep. No chemicals used. Unwashed and ready to put in bird boxes and to be used as nesting wool for natural birds and in avairies.

£2.65 per bag plus 2nd class postage (unfortunately the postage is not cheap at cost at £3.25 for up to 5 bags).

Full fleeces - available straight from the sheep. Great for spinning and feltmaking. Can also be used for insulation, hanging basket liners, mixed into your compost heap to make fertiliser and many other craft projects. Full fleeces are £7 each plus postage.

If you would like any further information regarding stock for sale or wish to buy any products, please email us info@woolandfeathers.co.uk where we will get back to you, usually within 24hrs. Thank you.