Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
Royal White
The Royal White is a hair sheep, developed in the 1990s by Bill Hoag, who
at that time was a Utah Realtor. Hoag leased a piece of land to an area sheep
rancher and became fascinated by his Rambouillet sheep. He started studying
sheep and decided to develop a new breed. He became convinced that hair
sheep made more sense for lamb production, because they reduced cost. He
acquired a fl ock of St. Croix sheep and bred them to Dorper rams. His breed
began gaining attention in the sheep industry, and today there have been
more than 10,000 animals registered with the breed society.
Ewes typically have triplets and quadruplets and sometimes even larger
litters. They breed throughout the year, produce lots of milk, and have high
lamb survivability. They also have parasite and disease resistance.
Santa Cruz
Another island feral breed, Santa Cruz sheep hail from Santa Cruz Island, one
of the Channel Islands off the coast of California. The Santa Cruz breed has
lived on the island for about 200 years and has been feral for at least 70 years,
though the sheep were removed in the 1980s in an effort to improve island
vegetation for native species (see Sheep and Conservation Efforts, below).
Like other island sheep, Santa Cruzes are small. Most are white, but black,
brown, and spotted sheep are also found in the breed. They have medium to
fi ne fl eece that is especially soft.
SHEEP AND CONSERVATION EFFORTS
Like the Hog Island breed, Santa Cruz sheep were removed from
their island after it was acquired by The Nature Conservancy dur-
ing the 1980s. Individual breeders, primarily in California, now
maintain the population. Don Bixby, of the ALBC, says, “Though
this type of conservation effort is not for everyone, it does have
the satisfaction of protecting a truly unique genetic resource from
disappearance.”
