Why Cascade Farmstead sheep?

After trying a variety of smaller breeds of sheep and still having difficulty in finding a breed to meet specific needs, much thought and planning went into combining the best characteristics of several breeds to create sheep that most suit the small farmer in need of a low maintenance producer of meat and fleece.

Is this a pure breed?

Every livestock breed that we know and recognize today was created at some point by humans; most were created in recent centuries and many were created in recent decades by combining desirable traits from selected breeds to create livestock to meet the needs of farmers. Some organizations specify that 4 generations are required before a breed is "recognized" but CFSA is recognizing 1st generation Cascade Farmstead sheep and has registered 5 generations as of 2011.

"Breed purity is assumed by many to be absolute, inviolate, and ancient. The truth is, the origins of most breeds are fairly recent.  Breed formation was simply a response to a need for predictable animals of a given type."

D. Philip Sponenberg, Ph.D.

July-August 2002 Issue

American Livestock Breeds Conservancy News

Okay, so there was and is definitely a need for this breed.  How did you get here from there?

By combining

• the hardiness and shedding ability of the tiny Soay sheep (utilizing many of the best rams from 9 bloodlines chosen from both the American and the British varieties)
  

• with the quick growth and tendency to multiple births of a wide gene pool of carefully selected Icelandic ewes, and
  

• the early maturity and ability to breed by each of these breeds,
  

• with a heavy selection process of the progeny toward these desirable traits over a number of generations,
  

• gives us a predictable breed that meets the needs of farmers on small acreages who desire a small sheep with no need for shearing and provides lamb of good carcass size by autumn without a need for grain or overwintering to reach these goals. 
  

• extensive planning and taking advantage of a wide gene pool allowed for the creation of 3 bloodlines.
  

Cascade Farmstead sheep are exactly that...  a practical and productive Farm Sheep.

© 2006 - 2011 Cascade Farmstead Sheep Association

© 2006 - 2011 Cascade Farmstead Sheep Association