St. Croix

They spread as subsistence livestock, and they were valued for something besides meat. Their manure was critical to the sugar cane crop.

The American population comes from two importations. In the 1960s Michael Piel of Maine brought over a ram and two ewes of the Virgin Island White landrace to use in creating the Katahdin. In 1975 Dr. Warren Foote of Utah State imported 22 ewes and three rams from St. Croix itself, choosing a consistent group of polled white sheep.

Foote's group became the registered American breed, with a registry established in the 1980s.

Centuries in that climate produced a sheep adapted to heat and humidity, and the adaptation is visible. The coat is hair rather than wool, and it sheds, so there is no shearing.

Most are white; solid tan, brown, black and spotted sheep occur. Mature rams grow a mane that can reach their knees, and both sexes are polled.

On weight the sources differ: The Livestock Conservancy gives averages of 165 pounds for rams and 120 for ewes, while Wikipedia puts them at 200 and 150.

Docile, by the Conservancy's description, and easy to handle; charging and head butting are uncommon even in rams.

Unlike several other primitive breeds in this catalog, they flock properly and can be worked with dogs.

Meat, with a tender, mild product, and some milking for cheese. They also work as land managers: eager foragers used for weed and brush control.

The reproductive engine is the economic case: ewe lambs are fertile at about six months, twins are the norm, and two lambings a year are not uncommon.

Heat and humidity are home conditions. The parasite resistance is well documented and far better than most breeds carry, with resistance to flystrike and hoof rot besides.

They fit low-input systems in hot climates; that is what centuries of the Caribbean selected them for.

The Livestock Conservancy lists the St. Croix on Watch: recovering, not recovered. The American population still traces to a few dozen founding animals.

That narrow base is why registration matters; the book is what keeps the American St. Croix a breed rather than a generic white hair sheep.

Two organizations serve the breed, St. Croix Hair Sheep Breeders, Inc. and the St. Croix Hair Sheep International Association; ask which registry the papers come from.

Buy on records, not on looks. A white hair sheep is not necessarily a St. Croix, and the traits you are paying for, parasite resistance and fertility, ride in the pedigree.

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