Saint Nina’s Sheep
History of our flock
Our shepherding was initiated in 2016 by the donation of sheep as gifts to the Monastery by parents of our summer camp children. We began our flock with hair sheep but increasingly are moving the flock towards the Romney breed, a dual-purpose wool and meat sheep known for its calm and interactive temperament.
Our shepherding was initiated in 2016 by the donation of sheep as gifts to the Monastery by parents of our summer camp children. We began our flock with hair sheep but increasingly are moving the flock towards the Romney breed, a dual-purpose wool and meat sheep known for its calm and interactive temperament.
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Our Romney sheep
We are building a Romney flock that has recessive color, breeding for a range of variants of the agouti gene that provide fleece for wool ranging in color from white, predominantly beige or grey, to dark brown. Some of the sheep have striking patterns of white in a dark wool background. Currently we have a permanent flock of about 20 sheep, 15 of which are pure-bred registered Romneys. We have three registered Romney rams used in our breeding program. In 2024 six registered Romney ewes were bred, resulting in seven ram lambs and six ewe lambs. Six of these are white, with the others having a range of colors, but predominantly light blue agouti. |
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Uses of our sheep
Each year we sell some of our sheep and lambs for their meat directly or via a livestock auction. The predominant value of our sheep, however, is their fleeces. We send some fleeces to mills to be made into rovings or batting, which we use in felting projects. Some of the rovings are spun into yarn. An important use of the fleeces has become to purify lanolin from them. The purified lanolin is used in body care products made at the monastery: lotions, balms and body butter creams. |