Breeding sheep for Fleece Quality

Many years ago my husband and I were talking and he asked me. "If you could raise just one breed of sheep, what would it be?"

What only be able to have one breed of sheep. What a drastically awful idea. I don't think I could bare it. Right now I am working with at least 3 different breeds and crosses of them. You see the problem here is that I am a spinner and I'm not really a spinner who goes looking for a certain type of sheep. I want a certain type of fleece. I love a good long staple with a good bit of crimp and lots of luster. I also want it to be soft.

We started with Lincolns and Border Leicesters. They were both very nice breeds with the beginning fleece qualities that I like. We had tried some Romney, but I didn't really like the fleece quality that came out. The fleeces just weren't talking to me. Those of you who are spinners and dealt with raw wool know what I am talking about. LOL.

The Lincolns and Border Leicesters were doing a good job. Then I read about the Bluefaced Leicester and their fleece qualities. This brought about intrigue. I liked this idea. A longwool that had the possibility to be worn next to the skin. We did get a Bluefaced Leicester ram and have used him the last 3 yrs. I am very impressed with the quality of wool that we are getting and hope to only improve from here. This year we are going to be using the Border Leicester ram again over most of the ewes. I am hoping to use the new Lincoln ram over the Lincoln ewes.