[jaykay]

Fleecewife, some of my Shetland lambs have very tight curls over their neck and shoulders and some have quite silky fleeces, with just waves. The different between African curly hair and European wavy hair I'd say  So - should I be keeping the curlies?

[Fleecewife]

Alan's sheep
 
The bloodlines of Gulf Coast Native sheep can be traced back to the original prolifteration of Churra sheep in the New World during the 15th century by the Spanish. Later, these Criollo-type sheep mixed intermittently with British and French breeds. Some strains may also show Tunis influence.^[1]
http://www.google.co.uk/imgres?imgurl=http://www.albc-usa.org/images/GulfCoast.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.albc-usa.org/cpl/gulfcoast.html&h=269&w=360&sz=66&tbnid=NndCEH4ESLdD1M:&tbnh=93&tbnw=124&prev=/search%3Fq%3Dgulf%2Bcoast%2Bnative%2Bsheep%26tbm%3Disch%26tbo%3Du&zoom=1&q=gulf+coast+native+sheep&usg=__4LeaQ7oHb5lfLgt29IVIvGAG3MU=&docid=zEYXQbkzYTECBM&sa=X&ei=uzvQT721DeOy0QW_x8HJCw&ved=0CIABEPUBMAM&dur=938

Thank you for that Tizaala.  The breed sounds wonderful - totally adapted to local conditions, a real native rare breed and well worth preserving.  AllenFrost - you should include some information about your breed if you advertise the fleeces online, as many spinners like to support the rarer types.  It would help your sales too if you could get a knowledgeable spinner to take a look at your fleeces and show you their good and bad points, so you know what to promote when selling in future years.  Good luck with them 

[Fleecewife]

Fleecewife, some of my Shetland lambs have very tight curls over their neck and shoulders and some have quite silky fleeces, with just waves. The different between African curly hair and European wavy hair I'd say  So - should I be keeping the curlies?

There was some discussion of this on the Shetland Online group recently and opinions were split as to whether birth fleeces are a true indicator of the adult fleece.  So from that point of view you are best not to make any decision until the lambs are older.  I have found that what seems a wonderfully fine and crimpy fleece at first shearing has metamorphosed into a horrible brillo pad by the second shear  .  Some people would only keep the fine crimpy lambs, whereas others said that the silkier ones had turned into perfectly good adult fleeces.
Then there is the question of why you are keeping your Shetlands.  If you want to breed topclass show winners then your criteria for lamb selection will send you one way, but if you just want some interesting and varied fleeces for spinning then you might want to select slightly different fleeces ie a wider range of types.

[AllenFrost]

Thanks for the info on the Gulf Coast Natives and the advice on selling the wool.  This is my first shearing so next season I'll have more time to investigate the market.   

[jaykay]

There was some discussion of this on the Shetland Online group recently and opinions were split as to whether birth fleeces are a true indicator of the adult fleece

That's worth knowing, thank you  Don't think that I'm breeding for showing yet, but might and anyway I like to make sure my stock is good. But mainly because I want their fleeces and meat.

The most silky wavy lamb is from a ewe with perfectly good crimp in her fleece and the tup has, so maybe she'll get curlier with age.

[PDO_Lamb]

Here's a photo of a sample off the neck of one of my Shearling Shetlands. Each year I try to pick out some of the better fleeces for private sales  (£5 per kg for the best. £2 per kg for the good). Most goes to the wool brokers.
 

[PDO_Lamb]

Sorry folks my photo is a bit big if you click on it. The fist time I have tried to post an image. However, I think you can count the crimps per cm