Pelibuey Sheep

New Sheep

Our sheep are not keeping up with how fast the grass is growing.  I love the size of the Shetland Sheep but they are more expensive than I want to pay for new sheep right now. We found an add for on Craigslist for Pelibuey Sheep. 

This information is all I could find: http://www.sheep101.info/breedsO-P.html#Pelibuey  The Pelibüey is a hair sheep, probably closely related to the West African, Red African, African or Africana breed of Columbia and Venezuela. It is descended from the West African Dwarf and is found in Cuba, coastal areas of Mexico, and other locales in the Caribbean. It comprises 75 percent of sheep population in Cuba.

Hair color ranges from beige, brown, dark brown, red, white, black, and roan, with both solid and a combination of colors found. Males do carry a throat ruff, but usually do not have horns.

Breed category: hair (meat)

Distribution: Caribbean, Mexico, South America

They are supposed to get up to just over 100lbs.  After several emails with the owner we decide to buy 2-4 new sheep.  I send Darling Husband and 2 oldest daughters to pick out the sheep.  I make it clear we are not ready for a ram so make sure we are getting GIRL babies.  They came home with 4 beautiful sheep and we put them in the pen with our sheep.  Max our smallest sheep decided to spend the next 30 minutes ramming into the new babies so we put them in separate pens. 

Max leading the new sheep.

The new sheep are very skittish and jumpers.  They may weigh 15 – 30 lbs, but when you are holding a 20 pound bouncing ball with sharp hooves and a mind of its own, it is a challenge.  I have started going out to care for the animals in the morning in my pajamas because I often need to change after taking care of them.  Every day they get a little easier to catch, put the halter on, and walk from one area to the other but is still isn’t easy.  2 days ago I was holding one of the Pelibuey Sheep and slipped on some poo and hit a board and now I have a huge bruise on my back.  

The Pelibuey Sheep keep breaking out of the temporary fence at one point our FFA sheep followed them and got into her grain.