Jacob Sheep

I've been checking into getting some sheep, mostly for novelty and weed eating on 5 acres, and came across these which are available about 2 hours drive away. I'm not sure if they are really the same breed as in Genesis but they are growing on me and this add to the novelty.

Others are really playing this breed up as extremely rare and pedigreed back to Jacob biblical flock but all I know is they are available for $200-$400 nearby.

My wife shouldn't be too upset with just a couple showing up.

 

This guy speaks of “Jacob’s lost flock” and refers to his “biblical code expert” to sort the mystery out.

He makes an interesting point that these sheep have 2, 4, and 6 horns that can get pretty long and this would explain how the sheep got caught up in the bushes. He makes several other proof claims that I couldn’t even spell…

They ask for contributions to maintain “the Lost Flock of Israel”. They don’t raise them for milk or meat but only raise them just to “fulfill biblical prophesies” and you can name their baby lambs for $180 or for a lessor fee you can nickname the adults if you'd like to help out.

BTW, I don’t expect to be eating or milking mine either and if anyone is interested in naming my sheep I’m sure we can make a deal!

 

Well, contacted the breeder and they are going to have a good selection of Jacob Sheep babies to choose from in 2 months.

In the meantime, I'm a bit concerned about keeping coyotes off my sheep, they are like super defenseless. I understand an Alpaca will herd with them and protect them and I found a guy that is desperately trying to clear out his sick brother's herd and is making some real good deals. I would just take one but understand they get very upset if they are all alone so might have to get 2. I figure the wife should understand why this is necessary once she sees how cute and defenseless the sheep are.

 

The Anatolian Shepard sounds great for the job of protecting all the livestock on the property. I see there is 1/2 of a 12 weeks old litter nearby for $950 each but not sure I'd like the independence and I have 3 little dogs and one Dogo Argentino, which I used to be a rather well know breeder of Dogos, and this breed is able to deal with a coyote but this one needs to be kept in a fenced area within the property that has concrete under the fence to keep her from digging out and generally they are extremely high prey drive, killed all my chickens and any cat, bob cat, skunk, porcupine, javelina, wild dog pack, etc. that ever dared to come on the property so that is an issue. Although, the one I have left is a complete passive dork and I'm still mad at her for letting the coyotes take my Chihuahua without so much as a peep or chase. I've had other Dogos that wanted to hunt coyotes and were protective over whatever they considered part of the pack though and been planning a breeding with my line bred female to my neighbors Dogue de Bordeaux to get a big powerful trained coyote hating killer. Some of her line:



+ What the neighbor's looks like


= could create some interesting possibilities. I figure I can train the right pup for the job. But in the meantime...

Maybe 1 adult Alpaca for $150 (50 to choose from) could be happy enough to wait 2 months for his sheep herd friends.

 

I said the same thing but understand they mostly just faint when attacked and don't even scream. A horned goat would probably be different story but they are nothing but trouble!

 

I've actually used electric wire for many years but have quite a few issues keeping it working although, there was a time that for the most part it contained a pack of 5 rowdy Dogo Argentinos for a few years. Had a lot of shorts from the wire coming into contact with my chain-link fence, I started with the wire high at about 12" and the dogs figured out to go low, I put the wire low and weeds got around it and shorted it. If super excited my crazy Dogos would just push the wire into the fence and short it out then dig under and bend the chain-link up (like the time they killed my neighbor's escaped 350lb hog ) and maintaining the gates connections was another issue, people were scared of them, didn't see the wire or hit it with the gate. My solar units just didn't have enough bite especially because of the how dry the ground gets in the summer, I had it hooked to 3 x 8' copper grounding rods and still getting a poor ground. I did have a big 10 mile capable electric unit that worked and lasted me pretty good for a few years.

Anyway, after my sweet little dog became a snack for the coyotes (She ran out the exercise room doogy-door one night and I followed within a minute but she was already gone, then I heard the coyotes celebrating out at my gate. My one Dogo was just standing there looking dumb.) I sealed off all the doggy-doors around the house except the laundry where I built a 50' x 80' pen up against the house that nothing was getting in or out of that wasn't supposed to and next time my electrical wire failed the pen also became the escape artist's big dog's main home, but current the coyotes have no deterrent for the rest of the property.

Actually, the switch from a high prey dog breed to a protection breed does make a lot of sense for my circumstances and the Anatolion Shepard or Kangal does sound to fit the bill. I also miss having chickens. Found another liter only 4 weeks old where I could probably reserve the pick of liter and thinking to give a call tomorrow to see how much.

 

My new Jacob Sheep picks!

My lamb Ram about 12 hours old, 4 black boots and 4 horns.


My Lamb Ewe1, 1 day old, lots of spots.


My Lamb Ewe2, 2 days old.

 

Just don't let the wife hear you say that, I have yet to spring...err... discuss this matter and I need to break this information to her s-l-o-w-l-y...

Actually all 3 of my lambs were born in a set of twins so I could very well have 4 more by this time next year.

 

I would hold off a dog until around 18 months or so before breeding but it seems with sheep the standard is to let nature takes its course.

Also I hear "lambing" has several challenges with babies turned all kinds of odd ways, one leg of each in twins coming out at the same time, babies twisted together at the cord and so on. I'm usually pretty good at that kind of thing but this sounds like an art where it would good to witness a veteran at work beforehand.

 

They are pretty rare, although I found another liter a couples hours away and talked to the breeder. He would offer pick male (of 3) and his male is huge, 155lbs and over 6' on his hind legs. He is for making the selection as soon as possible, however I want to see the movement and will grade on confirmation and disposition which needs to be more like 6 weeks.

I didn't realize they were so big! I once raised English mastiffs so I'm not shocked about it but switched to Dogo Argentinos 20 years ago for their more super dog athletic performance and being less susceptible to joint damage.

The natural coyote killing instincts really appeals to me but I'm pretty sure a 5th dog is not going to go over to well the wife, especially when she finds out the puppy will turn out to be the size of small horse! I'm still thinking about this one...

My plan has evolved several time already, such as from 2 sheep to 3. I also found out from the owner of a petting zoo (the breeder of my sheep) that the Alpacas are basically defenseless and too passive for real protection and he totally talked me into that a Lama would be a much better pet and defender, so that is still under consideration too.

 

Another thought is that I have these awesome chain-link pens I built for the dogs (rarely ever used though) that are about 150' from our home. They are in 3 sections but can be opened up into a 20' x 80' pen. It has a large walk-in Gambrel barn shaped "dog house" with a low porch roof on each side and I've pretty much decided to make this my sheep shelter. So if the sheep run the property only during the day I think I could train to return to the shelter at night where I could lock them in and might not even need the extra protection.