Jacob Sheep

My family's flock of sheep that I have helped with for a long time is Jacobs so I have a particular interest in this breed. 

The picture above is one I took of some of our Jacobs back in the summer and shows the attractive appearance of the Jacob which adds an interesting feature to many paddocks and fields. 

The breed also produces a good quality, soft fleece which appeals to spinners and crafters. The Jacob also boasts an attractive skin used for rugs as well as horns sought after to make crooks from. 

They are hardy sheep and attract few diseases, making it simple to overwinter them outside as we do every year. Jacobs are also known for having very few feet problems and health problems meaning that they breed for a very long time. In our flock alone we have a few that have been rearing lambs for over 7 years. 

We also late lamb, as is common with jacobs meaning that we have very high lambing percentages; 190% is a realistic aim for a lambing percentage with this breed. At lambing time, Jacobs are ideal for novices or part time farmers as they lamb very easily and normally independently.  Ours are lambed outside every year and normally they lamb by themselves and all we have to do is fetch them in. This is ideal for saving labour times on the farm. Jacob ewes are extremely good mothers and we have found that if monitored they can easily and succesfully produce sufficient milk to rear triplets. 

Jacob meat has exceptional flavour retained even in hogget carcasses and many customers prefer jacob lamb to other lamb. Customers are also prepared to pay a premium price for the good quality carcass. 

If you have any questions about the breed feel free to leave a comment,  also comment with any other interesting things about the breed and any experience you have of them.

If you're on twitter head on over and follow me @oxforddownsheep. 

Comment with the next breed you want me to cover and I will do my best :)