utilise : Barbados Blackbellies are meat breed sheep ideal for situations where their hardiness , productivity , parasite- and foot rot - underground , and ability to take care of themselves makes a difference , such as in low - input , organic , and grass - feed in lamb operations and on farms with poor - tone pastureland .
History : Barbados Blackbelly sheep evolved on the midget , tropic , southerly Caribbean island of Barbados in the western Atlantic Ocean . Parent stock included African hair sheep and European wool breed . According to historian Richard Ligon , write in A True & Exact History of the Island of Barbados ( London ; 1657 ) the sheep were already a discernable breed by the early 17th one C . The U.S. Department of Agriculture import four Barbados Blackbelly Ewe and one ram in 1904 and North Carolina State University make for in a group in 1970 ; additional undocumented importations probably occur . Texas is home to an guess 250,000 to 500,000 mixed - stock sheep come down from former import , but as of 2007 , there are fewer than 400 purebred Barbados Blackbelly sheep in the continental United States .
Conformation : Barbados Blackbelly Ewe weigh about 100 hammering , rams tip the scale at 105 to 125 pounds and occasionally higher . They get along in all shades of brown , tan or yellowish , highlighted with bleak under persona with mordant extending down the interior of the legs , mordant nose and foreheads , and the insides of their ear are black too . Rams have a head of hair of thick hair raise down their cervix as far as their briskets ; some have manes that address the shoulders as well . Both sexes ’ coats dwell of short , slick hair rather than wool ; in northerly climates , some purebreds develop wooly winter undercoats that shed in the bound . Both sexes are polled ( by nature hornless ) . Barbados Blackbelly sheep are merry , spry and reactive . These tendencies , when added to their colour and consistence case , make them resemble small deer or antelope when viewed from afar . Ewes are attentive , protective mother ; they ’re highly productive , Twin Falls and triplets being the norm . Barbados Blackbelly meat is milder tasting than lamb from most other breeds , and it ’s leaner , too .
Special Considerations / Notes : Barbados Blackbelly sheep do as cheeseparing as no - forethought sheep as any on earth . They adjust to all climate but do especially well in hot , humid piazza where wool breed fail to thrive . They should not be confused with Barbado sheep , a breed developed in Texas by breeding Barbados Blackbelly sheep with Rambouillet wool sheep and raging mouflon to create trophy RAM with huge , curling horns . Two organizations record and boost Barbados Blackbelly sheep .
