Debouillet

Jones ranched at Roswell and Tatum, and began in 1920 by putting Ohio Delaine rams over his Rambouillet ewes. A Debouillet Sheep Breeders Association was organized in 1954, and the USDA recognized the breed in 1955.

A medium-sized, smooth-bodied fine-wool sheep: ewes run 125 to 160 lb and rams 175 to 250. Ewes are polled and rams may or may not carry horns.

The fleece is the breed's argument: fine, long-stapled and dense, 10 to 18 lb a head at 18.5 to 23.5 microns with a 3 to 5 inch staple, close to Delaine quality. The ewes will breed out of season.

Gregarious, in Oklahoma State University's word, and hardy under arid conditions. The same profile describes them as adaptable to unassisted pasture lambing, which fits the southwestern range conditions the breed was developed for.

Wool, primarily, from one environment: the arid rangeland of the Southwest. Debouillets are hardy, capable of covering long distances between water, and they flock tightly, which is what makes herding practical in open country.

Dry range is the design brief; the breed is adapted to the arid Southwest and managed in large, herded flocks there. Like every fine-wool breed, the lamb crop is a secondary income rather than the main one, so the system around them has to be a wool system.

The trade is regional. The breed is concentrated in New Mexico and neighboring states and is uncommon elsewhere, so the pool of breeding stock is small. Ask the seller directly who keeps the animal's registration records, because the breed association has little public presence and the paperwork trail matters more for it, not less.

Recent sale prices on HoofnHorn, where there are any, are further down this page.