Breeds You Need
Hundreds of varieties of livestock are suitable to raise on a hobby farm! Here are a couple of chickens.
Australian Shepherds, Colored Angora Goats & Harlequin sheep
Australian Shepherds
The Australian Shepherd excels at controlling large and/or slow-moving flocks of sheep and herds of cattle, and is highly regarded for its superior ability to effectively manage livestock in tightly confined spaces. It’s powerful and intense by nature, easily learning the appropriate force and distance needed for the livestock being worked. Utilizing a loose-eyed approach to stock, a working Australian Shepherd will often display wear, grip and/or an authoritative bark, as well as eye when necessary, to handle its stock.
The Australian Shepherd Club of America was established as the parent club for the breed in 1957 and incorporated as a nonprofit corporation. Increasing interest in competition led to the development of performance programs. Today, these programs provide certification and titles in agility, conformation, obedience, rally, stock dog and tracking, as well as junior handling. For more information, visit the ASCA website: www.asca.org.
Harlequin Sheep
Kathleen Sterling, owner of Black Sheep Farm East in Virginia, developed Harlequin Sheep about 40 years ago. A variety of breeds were used to develop the Harlequin including Karakul, Tunis, Corriedale, Lincoln, Border Leicester, Romney, Montadale and Southdown.
Breeders continue to improve on the size and look in accordance with Sterling’s vision. Farms across the United States and Canada are producing health, hardy lambs yearly toward the achievement of 500 American Purebred Harlequin sheep. Once the registry reaches that number, the breed will be closed to outcrossing with registered Babydoll Southdown Sheep, and it’ll continue improving the breed through the current seven generations.
As of 2020, there were only 16 American Purebred sheep in the registry representing a tremendous growth opportunity for breeders to get in early as Harlequins take a prominent role in the miniature sheep world.
Considered a miniature sheep with shoulder heights at or less than 23 inches, Harley weights range from 80 to 120 pounds for ewes and rams weighing 90 to 150 at maturity. Their compact size, lower weights and lack of horns (naturally polled) make them easy handling.
Known for its fine, medium-staple length wool, Harlequin fiber is similar Babydoll Southdown fiber. Babydoll/Harlequin crosses, representing the first out-crossing to increase bloodlines often are born with a rich, dark, brown fleece, sometimes with a white spot on the head or chest. When a tricolor fleece is processed, the roving is a beautiful gray. The fleece of most mature Harlequins can be separated into off white, brown, gray and tan to produce roving in those colors individually.
Despite being relatively rare, Harlequins are affordable. If you are considering them to obtain or maintain an agricultural exemption on your land or purchasing for your kids or grandkids as a 4-H or FFA project, you’ll find they are truly worthy, due to their versatility. To learn more, visit the Harlequin Sheep Society website: www. harlequinsheepsociety.com.
Colored Angora Goats
When you think of mohair, your thoughts probably turn to a scratchy, heather-pink sweater your mom or grandma wore in the 1960s — the same sweater that left a trail of fuzz clinging to everything it touched! Today, though, anyone who raises Angora Goats will meet that vintage reflection with staunch debate.
In the 1980s and 1990s, producers fine-tuned the Angora breed to one that grows soft, luxurious white mohair for the goat’s entire lifetime, leaving behind the itchy stigma of yesteryear. Simultaneously, a movement in the Pacific Northwest took off in the niche hand-spinner community. Avid fiber artists sought to raise a backyard animal that would produce skin-touch soft fiber in a spectrum of natural colors for use in hand-spun yarns and without a drop of chemical dye. After years of thoughtful, selective breeding and relentless pursuits to meld the quality of white Angoras, the Colored Angora Goat was developed.
Today, Colored Angora Goats bring higher prices per pound for their magnificent red, brown, apricot, black, silver, and even multicolored and patterned mohair fleeces. Still exclusively raised on hobby farms across North America, Colored Angora Goats are treasured by those who keep them, whether for fiber, show, 4-H and FFA projects or brush clearance or even just as pets.
Angora Goats are considered the most efficient fiber producers in the world. Mohair grows 1 inch per month, and fleeces average between 5 to 10 pounds each, with two shearings per year (unlike sheep, which are shorn once). Quiet, docile and easy-going, Angoras are generally easy to keep. As seasonal fall breeders, they don’t possess the strong odors often associated with other goats. Angora Goats enjoy the company of others, and keeping at least two is always the best plan. Castrated bucks (wethers) produce the softest mohair for a lifetime.
Angora Goats are typically respectful of their surroundings. A woven wire fence of at least 48 inches in height is standard. Treacherous terrain full of thorny plants poses no challenge. Rocks and boulders are seen as opportunities to play and reach for tree limbs. A simple lean-to roof on higher ground often fulfills a shelter, offering a place to get out from the weather. Solid walls to block cold winds, especially after shearing, will be essential.
Unlike sheep, goats thrive on brush and low-lying trees. Angoras were first introduced to the Southwest in the 1800s because of the abundance of brushlike forage that other livestock wouldn’t touch. Angora Goats are clever browsers and not terribly picky. Find out more at the Colored Angora Goat Breeders Association website: www.cagba.org.