St. Croix Sheep Breed – Everything You Need to Know

Table of Contents

1 ST. CROIX SHEEP QUICK PROFILE OVERVIEW
2 PHYSICAL CHARACTERISTICS
3 EWE BREEDING & MILKING INFORMATION
4 SHEEP MEAT PRODUCTION INFORMATION
5 SHEEP WOOL PRODUCTION INFORMATION
6 SHEEP SKIN PRODUCTION INFORMATION
7 GOOD TO KNOW ABOUT THE ROMNEY SHEEP
8 HISTORY
9 Video
10 USEFUL LINKS

The St. Croix sheep are very pretty sheep that have a hair covering the body instead of wool. They are of a medium well sprung frame with long muscle type or pattern. They have a mild Roman nose profile with a finer boned facial structure. They usually carry their heads very upright and are an active alert breed.

ST. CROIX SHEEP QUICK PROFILE OVERVIEW
The St. Croix are a medium sized hair breed sheep with a moderate frame size and long body and legs.
Country of Origin:	United States of America
Other Names:	Virgin Island White, White Virgin Islanders or White Virgin Island sheep
Breed Size:	Medium
Main Purpose:	Meat and can be used for sheep skin and milk
Can be used for	Breed, **LSC, Meat, Milk, Wool
Temperament:	They have a active and alert but not at all wild as they are quite docile
Ideal Climate:	Heat, Cold, Most climates
Conservation Status:	Listed by the *ALC Status/Rarity: Threatened
Health Issues?	No known health issues
Good Starter Sheep?	Novice to Intermediate sheep farmer/keeper level
Sheep Associations:	St. Croix Hair Sheep Breeder Association and the St. Croix Hair Sheep International Association
Sheep Clubs:	Please refer to the St. Croix Hair Sheep Breeder Association and the St. Croix Hair Sheep International Association breeders/members directories for more information
Note: ALC stands for American Livestock Conservancy * LSC stands for Landscape Management – the animal is used for controlling various vegetation growth

PHYSICAL CHARACTERISTICS

The St. Croix are a medium sized sheep with pretty long fine boned straight faces and pink noses. They have a long compact body with long legs. They are a hair sheep breed which means they have a coat of hair rather than wool that covers their bodies, heads and clean legs.

Color(s):

White

SHEEP ⇒	EWE	RAM
Breed Weight:	68 kgs	90 kgs
Breed Height:	Unclear they are medium sized	Unclear they are medium sized
Hair:	They have fiber/hair that is shed annually and does not contain any wool fiber.	They have fiber/hair that is shed annually and does not contain any wool fiber.
Ears:	Medium sized, fine textured and alert at the sides of their head	Medium sized, fine textured and alert at the sides of their head
Horns:	Polled	Polled
Matures at age:	10 weeks/15 months or 15 years	10 weeks to 15 months
Puberty Age:	5 to 12 months	5 to 7 months
Breeding Age:	18 months	1 year
Breeding Traits:	Breed up to twice per year	Cover 5 to 10 Ewes in 1 season

EWE BREEDING & MILKING INFORMATION
The ewes can breed up to twice a year and have an abundance of good quality milk high in butter fat content.
Breeding Period/cycle:	Usually lasts 24 to 36 hours
Estrous cycle:	Ave. 17 days/13 to 19 days
Gestation Period:	Usually, around 150 to 155 days but most gestation is 152 days
No. Lambs/Litter:	From 1 to 3 lambs per birth
Lactation Period:	Usually, around 150 to 240 day but most are milked for 180 days
Milking From:	4 to 6 weeks after lambing
Milk Quality:	Good, Quantity: Up to 3 liters per day
Milk Ideal for:	Cheese production and lamb feeding
You may Also Like:	10 Best Sheep Breeds for Milk

SHEEP MEAT PRODUCTION INFORMATION

The St. Croix sheep breed has a good taste that does not have the flavor from the lanolin that is produced by wool sheep. There have been taste tests done on the St. Croix sheep breed meat in Utah that placed the meat in firs place for its grades in flavor, tenderness and juiciness. The meat has a mild flavor, good grain and produce a lean meat. The sheep tend not to deposit fat within their muscle.

Meat Production:

Yes, Quality: Excellent

SHEEP ⇒	LAMB	HOGGET/MUTTON
Approx. Maturity Weight:	58 kgs	79 Kgs

SHEEP WOOL PRODUCTION INFORMATION
The St. Croix sheep are a hair sheep breed which means they grow a fine coat of hair in the autumn to winter months rather wool and it is shed each spring time.
You may Also Like:	10 Hair Sheep Breeds

SHEEP SKIN PRODUCTION INFORMATION

They can be used for the sheep skin which has a good quality to it.

Skin Production?

Yes, Quality: Good – tanned hides have been likened to a deer skin quality.

Skin is used to Produce:

Kid skin leather products such as shoes, car seats, fine leather coats, gloves, etc.
Chamois cloths, leather goods such as seats, shoes and other garments and leather materials such as furniture, etc.

SHEEP ⇒	EWE	RAM
Age they Produce from:	3 to 10 months for Kid skin 1 to 2 years old for Normal leather	3 to 10 months for Kid skin 1 to 2 years old for Normal leather

GOOD TO KNOW ABOUT THE ROMNEY SHEEP
A few more interesting facts to know about the breed
Child-Friendly?	They are pretty docile but very active and vigorous as such no child should be left unsupervised around them
Landscape Management?	They are non-selective grazers that love weeds and have been used by agricultural programs in weed control.
Where to buy them?	Please refer to the St. Croix Hair Sheep Breeder Association and the St. Croix Hair Sheep International Association breeders/members directories for more information
General Information:	The St. Croix are used to train working dogs and are used in sheep dog trials. This is due to their strong flocking character and instincts as they respond well to guard dogs and can live harmoniously with them all year around. They are hoof rot resistant, fly-strike resistant, have a high parasite resistance and have a high lambing survival percentage. They are very popular with small farmers as they do not need to be sheered due to the hair fleece which is shed every spring.

HISTORY

It is believed that most hair sheep breed originated in West Africa and were introduced to the Caribbean in the 1500’s. It was from these sheep that different hair breed sheep were developed in the Caribbean region.

The Virgin Island hair sheep breed was introduced into the United States by Michael Piel who was at the time a resident of Maine. This first importation was believed to be in the 1960’s.
In 1975 a second importation of these sheep went to the Utah State University and was taken there by Dr. Warren Foote.

It is from the flock on sheep imported by Dr. Warren Foote that the St. Croix breed of sheep was developed in America.
The St. Croix is a rare sheep breed in America and is listed by the American Livestock Conservancy as “threatened” with roughly 5000 registered sheep reported in 1999. But the breed has since been gaining popularity especially amongst small farmers as the breed does not require a lot of overhead in the process of sheering which usually accounts for a large overhead once a year.