With telling automobile horn and unusual food colouring , Jacob sheep usually do folks to take a second look . The history of this unequalled breed is just as fascinating and coloured .
Jacob sheep originate in what is now Syria and Iraq , more than 3,000 days ago . One of the oldest sheep breed , the Jacob is named for the Biblical father of the 12 Hebrew tribes . Jacob , son of Isaac , was the first somebody in recorded story to practice selective breeding of farm animal .
Biblical History
As the Bible story relates , Jacob chisel his younger buddy Esau out of his birthright , and tricked his elderly blind Father-God into give him a blessing that was presuppose to go to his brother . Esau swore to kill him for that , so Jacob fled to his Uncle Laban ’s farm far to the east , on the plain of Aram . ( Aram is the Hebraic name for ancient Syria . )
Jacob fell in erotic love with Laban ’s younger girl , Rachel , and postulate for her hand in marriage . The uncle agreed , if Jacob would work seven years tending Laban ’s hatful of sheep and goats . But after seven eld of piece of work , Laban gave him the honest-to-goodness daughter , Leah , instead . Jacob had to mold another seven year for Rachel .
Jacob ’s wives bore him 12 sons who later on became patriarchs of the 12 kin group of Israel . The 11th Logos was Joseph , his ducky . Jacob chip in him a coating of many colors , and the envious sure-enough brothers sold Joseph to slave traders headed for Egypt . They severalise their Fatherhood he ’d been killed by a wild brute .
Jacob had worked for his uncle for 20 years by the time Joseph was born , and Jacob expect Laban to let him and his family line go back home . But Laban did n’t want him to forget . Jacob was a good herder and Laban ’s sheep and cattle had thrived under Jacob ’s care . Rudolph Laban begged him to continue , and told Jacob to name his wages . So Jacob harmonize to keep run and lean the flocks if he could have all the spotted and speckled sheep and goats .
The Biblical history describes how Jacob had a dream in which God instructed him to use only spotted rams for fosterage , and this result in a good deal that soon consist almost entirely of spotted young . This Biblical reference is one of the oldest documented examples of selective training . To fulfill his purposes , Jacob built cattle pen at the watering situation and confined pick out ewes with a spotted ram .
Eventually he get his kin and big flock of spotted sheep back to Canaan . afterwards as an quondam man , Jacob moved his category and pot to Egypt . Thus the Jacob sheep come to Egypt , and finally into most of North Africa . From there they went to Europe when the Muslims invaded and seize Spain in the 8th century . From Spain and North Africa some of these coloured sheep were eventually assume to England , where they outlast as a distinct breed .
Breed Characteristics
Because of their spectacular visual aspect , the Jacob sheep were presently notice by English Lord and imported as a novelty for enjoyment as ornamental animals . Jacob sheep have graced the large estates and state homes of England for many centuries ; their telling horns and color contributed to their popularity and survival of the fittest . The British Jacob was primarily an cosmetic park animal , and as such was not improved ( selectively bred for increased center and wool yield ) as much as modern breeds , according to Janine Fenton , who breeds Jacobs at her home in Fort Collins , Colo. Until very recently , the Jacob has not been genetically changed ; it retains most of the hardy characteristics of its ancient ancestor .
There are other breeds of multi - colored sheep in various contribution of the world , most of them bearing more than one set of trump . The twice - horned feature , call polycerate , is common in sheep develop in the Middle East . Some of these spotted , horned stock also spread to Europe , but most of them disappear by the l900s .
The first Jacobs imported to the United States were for game parks and zoos in the other 1900s . Some went to roadside zoos and exotic animal farm , and some were cross with other stock , cut the Jacob ’s unique genetics . The gene pool was then augmented by more imports from Britain during the 1950s and 1960s .
“ Unlike many other ancient breeds , the Jacob has not been improved to satisfy the commercial market place , ” says Fenton .
Jacobs have a more archaic body shape , are fine bone and give a lean carcass with very little outside fat . Carcass fruit is very high , compared with more improved breeds ; there is very little waste product .
“ Ewes take less supplemental feed than other sheep during times of nutritional focus , and commonly lamb with no assistance . Newborn lambs are very vigorous , up and breast feeding quickly without help , ” says Fenton .
Jacob ewes are included in many commercial flocks in England because of their hardiness , relaxation of lambing , strong mothering instinct and very small need of the shepherd ’s meter and aid .
Breed Standard
Many sheep are anticipate Jacob sheep , but they may have no resemblance to the true Jacob , except for ingest four or more horns , or producing an occasional spotted lamb . Just because a sheep is spotted or polycerate ( having more than one set of horn ) does not entail it is a Jacob .
The Jacob is fundamentally a white sheep with random - colored mark , but the mark are intelligibly defined , with no mottling . The legs have short hair . blob sheep with wool below the hock are the result of cover with other breed . Merino sheep have spots and woolly leg , and some of the modern sheep breeds with Merino ancestry ( Rambouillet , Columbia and Corriedale ) occasionally have Elia with spots , woolly legs and sometimes wool onward of the horns . Dorset and Barbados crosses may also have smudge . These sheep mature larger than a Jacob , however . A Dorset cross might not develop as big as a Merino type , and can be harder to severalise from a dead on target Jacob , except it would have a tendency to lose its color .
In the Jacob , there is no fleece ahead of the horns . Horns are black , or black and snowy striped , but never white . The brass has declamatory , symmetric middle patches and a dark gag . ear are small and erect . after part is average length . fantastic sheep have short rear ( about four column inch long ) , while domestic sheep have long , heavily wooled fundament that are loosely docked . The Jacob tail is in between , reaching only to the hock . Hooves are black or striped . The most obvious hint to the purity of a Jacob is its offspring . Lambs are always spotted . If a ewe produces a grim lamb ( or calamitous with a few white marker on the extremity ) probably only one of the parents is a pure Jacob .
Jacob Sheep In America
The Jacob sheep today in North America is a small- to intermediate - sized sheep . grown ewes range in size from 80 to 140 pounds ; random-access memory weigh up to 180 pounds . Color is basically white with lilac or black spots . tegument is pinkish under the livid sheepskin and black under coloured areas . Legs and face are devoid of woolen . Jacob sheep never have black legs ; their legs are white with black maculation ( usually black stifle plot ) .
Since Jacobs have the polycerate gene , private animals may have two , four or six horns . The rams have the most spectacular horns , which can reach 30 inches or more in length . Jacob wool are light with very little grease . Because of the spots , fiber from a individual fleece can be spun into material with a complete spectrum from white through gray - lilac to dim , and these fleeces are very popular with hand spinners . The colors can be blended or separate to give uniformity of color or a plaid effect in the finished sweater , scarf , shawl or mittens .
Preserving the Breed
In 1976 , several people interested in maintain ancient strain became aware that there were Jacobs in the United States . These sheep were buy by breeders who wanted to preserve rarified , domestic farm animal . Ingrid Painter , who raise Jacob Sheep at her Puddleduck Farm near Redmond , Wash. , says the Jacob Sheep Society of Britain formed a subdivision of their association in 1982 to put down Jacob sheep in America that passed photographic review . to boot , the American Minor Breeds Conservancy started identifying and recording Jacobs in 1985 and published the Foundation Flock Book in 1986 . In 1988 , the American Minor Breeds Conservancy helped concerned individuals mould the Jacob Sheep Breeders Association ( JSBA ) and register . The first JSBA spate book was published in 1989 with 400 animals inspected and register . From these humble start the breed has grown and gained popularity .
Jacobs in the United States today are descendant of early imports date back to the routine of the century , plus additional consequence in the fifties and two more in the late 1970s . These later import provided some much needed new lineage , and were larger and weighty grind away than the earlier universe . The Jacobs in Britain before 1969 ( when the Jacob Sheep Society there was formed ) were also smaller and lighter boned than those in Britain today . The British Jacobs today can compete with commercial breeds for sizing and wool quality and are no longer considered an endangered stock or a primitive sheep .
Has this come about through selective training or the deliberate crossing with commercial-grade breeds such as the Dorset Horn ? panther believes that there are many tell - tale sign that the latter is unfeigned . “ By ‘ ameliorate ’ on an existing breed , it is sluttish to lose sight of the very reasons that first attracted a mortal to them , ” she says .
Advantages of Primitive Sheep
The advantage of the Jacob sheep in a commercial operation are actually the very characteristics that make them an “ unimproved ” breed . They are lowly and hardy , frugal to fertilize and have few wellness job . On pasture , stocking rates for Jacobs are about six sheep per acre , compared to about five per Akko with the larger breeds . The pocket-sized , fine - get up Jacob has no lamb problem in line with the meliorate stock that often postulate deliver assistance . Jacob ewes are also good mothers , and often have Gemini and casual triplets .
Selective breeding to create more weight and inwardness in advanced sheep strain has its disadvantage , such as make more lambing job . The ancient Jacob has shape more like a wild sheep , with more sloping hindquarters than mod sheep breeds . “ Through selective breeding , this incline has been resurrect , allowing the leg muscleman to increase in size , ” says Painter . “ This is the most valuable cut of meat on the carcass . vary the tilt of the pelvic bones means that the slope of the birth canal has also been changed . So lambs enroll the birth duct in improved breeds have to rear upward before they can be delivered outwards , instead of slither down and out , unassisted , as in sheep with sloping wharfage . ” For a few redundant pounds of “ wooden leg of lamb , ” modern breeds have had to give easy births .
The large drawback in showing Jacob sheep is that most judges tend to site as winners the sheep with big leg muscles and tails carried well up . But as Painter say , “ judges are never present at lamb sentence ! ” The change in the slope of the hindquarter is probably the most noticeable deviation between the old and raw Jacob .
The udders on Jacob ewe are small , yet they give plenty of Milk River . Jacobs with large weeping bag are probably not pure Jacobs . Scrotal sacs on Jacob rams are held high and smashed against the body , rarely reaching the hock , even in blistering atmospheric condition . “ The scrotum of rams in more advanced breeds are miserable and more pendulous and may almost attain the ground , becoming more prostrate to injury , ” says Painter .
Breeders like Jacobs because they still have many of the instinctive traits that have been lose in modern stock . “ Jacob sheep can intend , ” notice Painter . Breeders also wish them because the carcase is lean and tasty , with little fat and bone waste material , compared with up to 30 pounds of kidney blubber in some forward-looking sheep , plus the waste weight unit of their heavy bones . In England , where there are more Jacobs , the ewes are often cover to large mouton rams to produce larger , betimes maturing , thin - market lambs . “ The Ewe are more scotch to keep than the same identification number of a larger stock , ” explain Painter . “ Jacob ram are also used on yearling commercial-grade Ewe , to facilitate ensure less lamb problems . ”
Breeders who raise Jacobs find them extremely sellable as breeding lineage , and for their many products . Farm sale of freezer lamb , suntanned pelts , script - spinster fleeces , exotic horns for making walking stick , clitoris and various ornaments can institute breeders additional income .
The singularity of these sheep give many breeder a smashing mess of satisfaction , for Jacobs can be spawn to exhibit a specific spirit to suit each proprietor ’s personal druthers ; portion of coloration , two horns or four , fleck leg or clean legs , enceinte spots or minor . breeder can craft their own flock just the manner they require it and not quite the same as anyone else ’s . This hereditary multifariousness is part of the strain ’s appeal and may aid promise its continuity .
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This article first appeared in the Fall 2002 effect ofHobby Farmsmagazine .
