Fine Merino and lustrous longwools, hair sheep that never need shearing, dairy ewes and the wild-looking primitives of the northern isles: 27 breeds, with where they come from, what they are for, and how many are left.
Conservation status is from The Livestock Conservancy’s Conservation Priority List (United States). Micron counts are typical ranges and vary from animal to animal.
Deep body folds in older types, white face, dense crimpy fleece down to the hooves.
Spain's crown made exporting Merinos a crime for centuries; the flocks that left in the 1700s founded the fine-wool industries of Saxony, Australia and South Africa.
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Large, white-faced, rams often horned; a heavier-bodied Merino.
Louis XVI bought Spanish Merinos for his farm at Rambouillet in 1786; their descendants became the range ewe of the American West.
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White face, wool on the legs, bulky soft fleece.
Bred by crossing Merino ewes with Lincoln and Leicester rams to get good wool and good meat from one sheep.
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White face, lustrous long locks that hang in waves.
Bred on wet marshland, Romneys resist foot rot better than most breeds; they became the backbone of New Zealand sheep farming.
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The largest English breed, with heavy curling locks that can grow 8–15 inches a year.
Lincoln rams went around the world in the 1800s to add size and fleece weight to other breeds.
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White face, curly lustrous locks, a blocky meat frame.
Robert Bakewell's 'improved' Leicester was the first breed shaped by deliberate selection; Colonial Williamsburg helped bring it back to America in the 1990s.
Blue-grey face and long, ringlet-like locks with a high shine.
The whole breed traces to one ram, Bluecap, born in 1839.
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Roman nose, blue skin showing through white hair on the face, fine tight purl curls.
Its rams sire the 'Mule' ewes that fill northern British hill farms; spinners prize its soft, shiny fleece.
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Small, hardy, short-tailed, in about eleven named colors and many patterns.
A Northern short-tailed breed kin to the Viking sheep; Shetland lace shawls were fine enough to pass through a wedding ring.
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Short-tailed, horned or polled, in white, black, brown and grey.
One of the purest old breeds: Iceland has kept out other sheep for over a thousand years; tog and thel spun together make 'lopi'.
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Spotted black and white, often with two to six horns.
Named for the Bible story of Jacob and his spotted flock; American Jacobs are kept separate from the bred-up British type.
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Lean, long-legged, some rams with four horns; many colors.
The wool of Navajo (Diné) weaving; federal livestock reduction in the 1930s nearly destroyed the breed, and Navajo herders and the Navajo Sheep Project brought it back.
Small, open-faced, light fleece; colors range from white to black.
Shaped by centuries of heat, humidity and parasites in Florida and the Gulf states, with little help from people: tough where most breeds struggle.
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Small and hardy, open face, often horned rams.
A close cousin of the Gulf Coast Native kept by Florida families for generations; the Conservancy lists it separately.
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Large, white-faced, with a curly 'forelock' over the eyes.
Medieval Cotswold wool paid for the region's great 'wool churches'.
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Black face and legs free of wool, long body.
Bred from Southdown rams on Norfolk Horn ewes; now the most common meat breed in the United States.
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Dark brown face with a wool cap, heavy and fast-growing.
One of the largest Down breeds; its lambs grow quickly to market weight.
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White face, horned or polled, compact and well-muscled.
Unlike most sheep, Dorsets can lamb in autumn as well as spring, so farmers can have lambs out of season.
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White, wide, heavily muscled, with a short head.
A variant of the myostatin gene gives Texels extra muscle and lean meat.
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Small, mouse-brown face, teddy-bear look; the miniature "Babydoll" Southdown is a hobby favorite.
John Ellman improved the breed in the 1700s, and it helped found many other Down breeds.
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Hair sheep in many colors; grows a winter coat and sheds it in spring.
Bred by Michael Piel in Maine from Caribbean hair sheep and wool breeds, so farmers could raise lambs without shearing.
White hair sheep, polled, smooth-coated.
Strongly resistant to internal parasites, a big advantage in hot, wet places like Florida.
Black head and white body (the White Dorper is all white), blocky frame.
Created from Dorset Horn and Blackhead Persian sheep for dry South African range; its skin makes a fine glove leather.
White, pink-nosed, with a thin bare 'rat tail'.
One of the highest-yielding dairy sheep in the world.
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White, long-legged, light wool on the body.
Its milk is the milk of Roquefort cheese, aged in limestone caves.
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Small, brown, goat-like, with light belly and rump.
One of the most primitive sheep in Europe; it sheds its fleece naturally, so it is plucked (rooed), not shorn.
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Black, small, often with two or four horns.
Saved from near loss in the 1970s, it is now used to graze nature reserves.
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