Sheep

ROMNEY SHEEP

Romney Sheep

A few years ago Jade and I watched a segment on Landline about two ladies living in Tasmania making a living from 50 sheep. All the sheep had names and the fleeces were individually spun into garments and sold with the personal touch at the markets or online. Like us the ladies were vegetarian and the sheep were never culled. They stated that they only kept the Romney breed because of the high rainfall and the suitability of the fleece for spinning and weaving.

Well that show really got us interested in sheep, not so much as an income but as another tool for our desire to become more self reliant. We could learn how to spin and weave their fleece for making our own garments, maybe sell their offspring and have another animal for our pasture management.

We researched sheep breeds and found the Romney really was the best breed for Dorrigo’s high rainfall climate. Being black hooved, they are resistant to footrot and originated from the Romney marshes area in England. The next phase was to try and purchase some. We wanted about ½ a dozen and preferably coloured. Well that proved extremely difficult.

The Romney Ram William The Romney Ram William

The Romney breed is virtually extinct in N.S.W. Finally we tracked down a stud in Victoria and after a long trip we brought home a ram, 2 mauret coloured ewes and a white ewe with her 2 lambs (male and female). Unfortunately diesel fumes on the return journey made their fleeces almost black and the first shearing was unproductive. Since then their fleeces are looking spectacular and we are looking forward to their next shearing in spring.

Romney Sheep

Not having much time to do our own spinning and weaving at present, we will sell/barter some of the fleeces. The sheep have turned out to be excellent animals in the system. They are affectionate and friendly (we can hand feed them) and all have their own different character. Managing them organically, we have had no problems with worms or fly strike and even after 3 floods and massive rainfall this year – no footrot or fleece problems. Sheep certainly can be a worthwhile edition to any house paddock system and another addition to self reliance.

ROMNEY SHEEP PURPOSES IN THE SYSTEM

aid to sustainable gardening/farming
provide fibre – top quality home spinning wool
provide products for bartering
community surplus exchange in our spinning and weaving clubs
strip grazing the orchards
to graze low and even
straw from the night houses used for mulch or compost material
manure collected for feeding worm farms or used as fresh nitrogen layers in the humus making systems (note…our Romney sheep do nice big size manure droppings, not just little pellets. Hence easy to pickup and collect).

COLOURED SHEEP - UPDATED 2011

Our research certainly paid off. The Romney breed has been totally appropriate to our Dorrigo climate, our pasture and garden management and our lifestyle. We are extremely taken with growing fleeces and constantly amazed that our soil and healthy sheep can produce such beautiful, soft, long and lustrous wool.

I thought nothing would ever steel my time and passion from gardening......... Well, my wool did and has. Luckily, I can balance it all into my daily life. Our sheepie flock has grown and changed since we first started, and it always will. Also, our knowledge, experience and wisdom is far greater.

My direction is towards wool artistry. I love hand spinning, knitting, felting and weaving. to use your own homegrown wool fiber is indescribable. To wear the fleece of your sheep is..... so, so special. How can I explain it? We feel proud, honoured and extremely thankful for the sheep. We are wearing the wool off our sheep's back.

We are carefully breeding top quality Romney sheep and they are perfect in every way;

Attractive sheep
Placid, friendly nature
Quiet and easy to handle
Affectionate and wonderful pets
Adaptable to pasture conditions (thrive on poor or rich, lush grasses)
Ewes are excellent, protective mothers with high milk production
Easy lambing
Rams are manageable and not aggressive

Easy Lambing Easy Lambing

We Fleeces with long staple lengths are producing and growing fleeces that have a long staple length (Romney sheep are a Birtish long wool breed). We get;

Soft Wool
Wool with attitude.
Some fleeces are wavy, some locks, some crimpy - all are individual
Natural coloured wool from coloured sheep

lONG cOLOURED fLLECES I can produce amazing colour mixes from different coloured fleeces. I can even produce a beautiful delicate softness by blending our Alpaca fleeces with the Romney fleeces.

The most joy comes from breeding coloured fleeces. Coloured Romney sheep have fleeces with character. Our focus is now on coloured sheep. We have Blacks, Charcoal Greys, Blue Greys, Greys, Browns, Moorits and pure white ewes and rams. I aim to mostly breed solid colours, but on occasions we have sheep with beautifully marked heads. The natural colour of the sheep means there is no need for dying the wool for either knitting, felting or weaving. In any case, no dying could ever match the beautiful natural sheep colours in a finished garment or item.

HOME SPINNING

I thoroughly recommend the experience of working (playing) with a freshly shorn fleece. Sorting it, hand carding and then spinning. The life and energy in the fleece is a whole new experience - and Yes, you helped grow the fleece!

I love my sheep!

I love my spinning!

I Love making things from my own products!

I have gone from being a person who couldn't sew a button or knit a scarf just 12 months ago, to being hooked on making my own garments. I'm producing really beautiful garments easily. Yet it is always easy to produce good quality and beautiful products when the wool that you are working with is just that - beautiful - to start with.