shetlandinfo

Shetlands are small friendly sheep with personality plus. Ewes typically weigh 75-100 pounds and rams average around 75-125 pounds. Their small size and friendly nature make them ideal for beginning shepherds, smaller spaces, and children’s projects.
Being a primitive, unimproved breed which comes to us from the Shetland Islands, they are hardy, easy lambers, and their naturally short tails don’t require docking. The ewes can be crossed with other breeds for heavier market lambs with wonderful fleeces.
Shetlands are excellent browsers, often preferring leaves and brush over fresh grass.
They relish a treat of fallen tree branches after summer storms and they look like dancing
bears when they stand on two legs trying to reach rain-laden branches. They will strip bark from trees as well, so it’s a good idea to put a barrier around any young or valuable trees in the pasture. Also, some plants and trees can be poisonous to sheep, so you need to make sure they are not exposed to poisonous plants and trees.

Nutritional needs for Shetland sheep can be met by access to quality pasture, sheep mineral and fresh water. In the winter, a daily ration of grass hay will replace the pasture. Bred ewes do well with additional supplements four weeks before and after lambing. This can be in the form of a grain supplement (corn & soybean meal) or high quality hay. For ewes carrying twins, or ewe lambs carrying singles, I try for a 14-16% protein level.

Shearing is done once a year in the late spring. Shetland wool
is valued by hand-spinners for its softness, durability and wide range
of natural colors. The North American Shetland Sheep breeders
Association (NASSA) recognizes 11 whole colors as described in
the 1927 standard of the British Shetland Sheep Society: white,
musket (cream/oatmeal), fawn (taupe), mioget (a light honey-brown),
moorit (reddish brown), dark brown, black, shaela (frosty black),
emsket (blue grey), grey, and light grey. To add to the variety, there
are gradations between the eleven main colors. In addition, there are
31 recognized markings in Shetland sheep. This provides many
avenues for exploration when it comes to breeding for specific colors
and markings.
Aside from color, Shetland fleece comes in a variety of textures and lengths. Fleece length can vary from only a few inches to up to 8- 9 inches or more. NASSA recognizes three main fleece types: the kindly (short, soft and downy), the long and wavy, and the beaver, or dual coat, which is like Icelandic in that it has a long straight outer coat which sheds rain and a shorter, soft downy inner coat. A dual coat can literally be pulled apart and both layers processed separately. Truly dual-coated Shetlands are not as common as the long and wavy or single coated types. Although there is great variability among Shetland fleeces, a good Shetland fleece should always be fine, not coarse.

Most Shetland fleeces weigh 3 to 5 pounds unwashed. There is usually only about a one third loss of weight after scouring a Shetland fleece because Shetland wool isn’t as greasy as many other breeds. The smaller size and lack of grease makes the job of washing a Shetland fleece much easier than some of the larger breeds. Different parts of a Shetland fleece can be put to use for different projects. Traditionally, the soft neck wool was hand-combed and spun very fine for “wedding ring shawls” which could actually be pulled through a wedding ring. The coarser britch wool from the back legs and rump can be used for outer wear, socks or rugs. The bulk of a Shetland fleece is perfect for sweaters, scarves, mittens, hats or whatever projects one has in mind. For more information on Shetlands, their care and history check out shetland sheep info.com.