3 Reasons to Raise Blackbelly Sheep
There are a ton of sheep varieties out there you can raise. Some breeds like the Dorper or Katahdin get larger, equating to more meat, but that comes with a bit more maintenance. I did a lot of research before stumbling across the Blackbelly.
There are two types of Blackbelly – the Barbados Blackbelly and the American Blackbelly. Ours are the American Blackbelly (it was a 2-year waitlist to get our hands on Barbados Blackbelly). These sheep are very similar. The main differences are that the Barbados sheep are poled (no horns – ewe or ram) and can grow to be slightly larger than the American breed.
If you’re looking for a cuddly, uber-friendly sheep, this likely won’t be the breed for you. While these sheep are not mean, they definitely like their space. They like to socialize at a distance. You also don’t ever want to turn your back on your ram. They can knock you down real quick if you’re not careful, however, I don’t think this is specific to Blackbelly rather all rams/males in general.
Aside from the obvious - these sheep are ADORABLE as babies and BEAUTIFUL fully grown, we selected this breed for a few very practical purposes.
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That’s right, they have a low-maintenance coat!
One of the major benefits of the Blackbelly is that we don’t need to shear them! I’m all about doing things myself, however, this seemed very daunting first starting out – catching them, putting them in a contraption to hold them steady, and then carefully shearing them. We decided best to pass on attempting this process, for now at least.
These sheep grow a thicker coat during fall and winter. As the weather gets warmer, they self-shed! They do look a bit raggedy for a few weeks but we do very minimal to help them out. If they let us, we’ll give them a quick brush to help out but they’re pretty self-sufficient in getting their summer coats together.
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I consider this point almost a trifecta in terms of how amazing this sheep breed is. They do well in the heat, disease and parasite resistant, and eat just about anything available.
In our area of Texas, it gets HOT. Triple digits and humidity. In other words, just miserable for a few months out of the year. We wanted a sheep that would be able to withstand the heat and the cold (even if it’s not terribly cold during the 1 week of winter).
They also tend to be very healthy. We’re not close to a vet that treats sheep, and we also didn’t want a breed known for needing antibiotics or frequent human intervention. Our sheep have fit the bill and we’ve been very lucky so far to not have any issues. We also let our animals roam, rotate them, and keep their stalls clean so we can mitigate any potential illnesses entering our flock.
Lastly, they’re great eaters. We’ve had a bit of a drought this summer and while we do supplement, they still manage to find quite a bit of greenery and shrubs to forage on. xt goes here
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We’ve had two breeding seasons now and we went from just 5 to 22 sheep in two seasons!
We were fortunate to welcome our first surprise baby on April Fool’s! Momma was a champ and amazing from the start with her little lamb. Since then, we’ve had quite a few additional babies join our ranch. Of those, only one baby was rejected (it was a twin and can be common). All of the ewes have taken great care of their babies, are very protective, and the Auntie Ewes actually do a great job of helping oversee the other babies. We’ve had to do nothing to help with these babies. (We did bottle feed the baby that was rejected. Unfortunately, she didn’t make it past a few days – definitely a devastating loss for us all here.)
With this, they have shorter gestational cycles (around 5 months) so they can birth twice a year. They’re also known for having multiples. Additionally, a ram can start procreating around 6 months and the ewes are fertile at around 8 months old so you get a big bang for your buck!
I’m sure you’ll notice the one major thing not on this list – TASTE! This is very subjective to personal preference, so I didn’t include this, however, I can say this particular meat is tender, not gamey, and lean! Anytime I’ve served up some of our lamb to our friends and family, I’ve received nothing but chef’s compliments!
As people new to the ranching game, this has been the perfect breed for us. If you’re considering raising sheep, I couldn’t recommend this breed enough!
