[Jane & Richard Suffolk]

Bit to far I guess but, if you get some hope you enjoy them as much as we do.

[macgro7]

I'd love to come! Thanks for the invitation.
Maybe if you are passing by one day

[macgro7]

I asked a more goat specific question about the angora goat smell:
http://www.accidentalsmallholder.net/forum/index.php?topic=77815.0

[macgro7]

As for the dietary preferences,
I know goats will eat docks, bindweed and a lot of other weeds.
Would sheep eat them to? I do have quite a lot of them + brambles + nettles

[Fleecewife]

Sheep will eat some docks but not too many, nettles when they are old, tree bark and leaves, many meadow plants, cow parsley.
Sheep will get stuck in brambles and stand there til they die unless you either scare them out or disentangle them.

[macgro7]

I've cut the brambles down and keep feeding the new growth to rabbits but they grow faster than I can cut them

[Dogwalker]

Long brambles aren't good with angoras, they can get very twisted up in them same as sheep.

[Steph Hen]

Not angoras, and I'm NO expert, but although I read loads and visited several goat keepers, no one told me what a pain in the butt goats can be. Mine were really needy!
I think it's mostly because they were bottle fed. They like being able to see me.
managed to soil their water after about half hour.
Wouldn't graze unless I was with them. (Lost all their condition and every ounce of fat before they finally tucked into the hawthorn and brambles!)
Won't eat a whole hay rack of hay/bundle leaves - they nibble it ravenously for 20mins then stand about bleating and yelling until I empty and refill.
New goat (just posted in your other thread: had been a bucks companion) and he knows how to be an animal and do things like graze, eat and drink water!
Just a wee heads up!

[pharnorth]

Hmm. Well Steph Hen clearly had a bad experience but can't say I've come across this with my goats. Sounds more like a separation issue based on hand weaning and not enough animal to animal contact and not species dependent. These same issues arise in bottle fed 'pet lambs' they need to be left to socialise properly with their own kind.

[macgro7]

Ok i suppose i would have to go and see someone with angora...
You are right... I know a place where they keep only pygmy wethers and they don't really smell...
In another place they keep golden guernsey nannies but they have a Billy in a paddock next to them so I think the smell comes from him!

What about ouessant sheep vs shetland?

[Dogwalker]

Probably depends why you want them.  Ouessant are tiny, about knee high for a mature wether.
I sheared a couple for a friend this year, they were really over fat just on grass.  She has 2 wethers, 2 angoras does and 2 alpacas together on a (I think) 4 acre field with very lush grass.
If they are just for pets/grass mowers they'd do but very small joints and not worth the cost of processing of meat I don't think.

Sheep would suit better for grass mowers than goats, depends how weedy it is.
Angoars need shearing twice a year.

[macgro7]

They primary purpose would be pets/meat/grass+weed control.
As well as eating grass in our gardens on weekend they can graze at the allotment - I have a plot bordering my garden. They will have a lot of forage.
I'm still not sure which one to choose. Ouessant are smaller but generally more expensive and less people have them. Also limited colours.
In comparison to pygmy goats how much larger are adult shetland ewes?
I'd rather go with ewes instead of wethers...
I was just looking at the state of my "pastures" - near the house (front and back) mostly grass with clover and some dandelions and other weeds. Brambles growing from the edges.
On the other side of the brook, where chickens are at the moment there is lush grass but in some places there are a lot of docks and other weeds. Will shetland (or other primitive sheep) deal with the weeds as well as goats would? That's my only concern...

[SallyintNorth]

I have a flock of mixed and crossbred primitives, and I'd say they do like varied foliage, yes, not just grass.  In fact, be aware that they'll trim trees and hedges, and ringbark any young trees they can reach....

Shetland ewes are larger than pygmy goats. 

If you're wanting smaller sheep with interesting colours, might you be persuaded to look at one of the rarer breeds, to help the breed as well as to have nice and interesting sheep?  For instance, North Ronaldsay.  Or Boreray.

[macgro7]

Yes why not. What size are the north ronaldsay and boreray in comparison to shetlands?
Another breed I wanted to have for quite some time is portland.
They are all roughly the same size right? Are portland more like the lowland sheep or have they got the same eating habits as northern breeds?

[SallyintNorth]

I'd say NR, Boreray and Shetlands are roughly similar in size, Portlands a wee bit larger, but still not large.

All have fleece of interest to handspinners, by the way .  NR and Boreray more of an acquired taste, being double-coated, but popular for their colours and rarity.  Portland very easy-going fleece, nice to spin, suitable for sweaters and so on.  [member=11700]Tiva Diva[/member] has Portlands.

Shetlands... a good Shetland fleece is a dream - but there are a lot of Shetland fleeces around, as the breed isn't rare, and many spinners either know a local flock that has good fleeces or just mail order one from Jamieson & Smith, the Woolbrokers on Shetland.  Not to put you off the breed (I think they're wonderful), but to set your expectations.

Mind, any of these breeds' fleeces in the city would be of interest to spinners who aren't used to being able to get fleece locally!

Sorry, I'm a bit of a fleece nut