Guest Author - Beth Firme

The word “sheep” brings to mind, for me, the image of a four-legged creature, about hip high on me, a bit weighty – 150 - 175 pounds or so – with wool that is white, brown, black, or any combination thereof. The size, in particular, has always struck me as important – large, meaty, and therefore not only good for wool, but for meat also.

It wasn’t until after I watched a movie on Celtic/Neolithic England that I began to realize that all sheep are not that large, and some a great deal smaller. This idea was supported by the small size of other animals from the Shetland Isles – Shetland Sheepdogs (or Shelties), Shetland ponies, etc. All of these are somewhat smaller than what most people would consider usual.

Shetland sheep are one of the breeds of sheep that are considered primitive or ancient. Originally thought to have been brought to the Shetland Isles by Viking settlers, their origins in Britain go back thousands of years. This particular breed exhibits many traits of wild sheep and is the smallest of the British sheep. Rams typically weigh 90-125 pounds and have spiral horns and the ewes are polled and weigh 75 – 100 pounds, with both genders being fine boned. Additionally, they are small and slow-growing. Their consideration as a primitive breed reflects the idea that they remain unimproved, which simply means that they get on about the business of survival and reproduction without much human interference or help.

As far as wool color and characteristics, Shetland sheep have much to offer. Their color range is extremely wide, from white to moorit (a reddish brown) to shaela (silvery grey), and including fawn, grey, dark brown, and black. They can be patterned, having a white crown or a dark belly or a light underside. There are more than 10 main colors and more than 20 color patterns which have become more and more rare as the demand for white wool has increased. Shetland wool’s Bradford count ranges from the upper 50’s to low 60’s with a micron measurement between 20 – 25. The Shetland grows a double coat, with an outer fleece with guard hair and a fuzzy, or more woolly, underfleece. The guard hair is useful for rugs and upholstery. The under fleece is useful for next-to-the-skin wear with a short crimp and high lanolin content. Fleeces are between two and four pounds and average a staple length of 2-4.5 inches.

Because of the wide variety of natural color, good yield, and overall fineness of the wool, Shetland wool is of good commercial value to shepherds in general and, more particularly, the economy of the islands. In the United Kingdom, and in the United States, the wool is valued by handspinners who wish to spin fine, soft, warm yarn. The wool allows for shawls to be knit whose fineness is gauged by the size ring through which they can pass.

All of theses characteristics, plus a few others have helped improve the standing of the Shetland sheep. They handle rough weather well, are good mothers, lamb easily, and give plenty of milk. Twins are common and the mothers can be very protective of their lambs. These traits, plus the wonderful wool they give, their somewhat friendly dispositions, and their marvelous coloration, have really helped to bring a breed back into the mainstream of the sheep world. In the last ten years a significant increase in number of pedigreed breeding ewes has moved the breed, previously classified as a rare breed, to minority breed status in the Rare Breeds Survival Trust.