How We got here...

A mother and daughter team raising pedigree Dutch Spotted sheep.

 

Our sheep journey started 18 years ago when we moved to a smallholding of 9 acres. We had horses and wanted to get out of being in a livery yard. There is a night and day difference having your horses at home.

To help with the grazing we took on 4 orphaned lambs from a nearby farmer and bottle fed them, they were so vulnerable and we didn’t have a clue about sheep, but we soon learnt from the farmers and anyone who was willing to teach us.

We kept the wether as a pet, as he followed me everywhere and was convinced he was a dog not a sheep. He lived until he was 9 and became part of the family, regularly playing with our 3 dogs. The others became living lawn mowers!

 

We welcomed a 14 year old girl into our family that we had come to know through the horses. She spent her weekends and school holidays staying with us and helping with the horses and sheep. Her passion for both soon grew and the three of us each year took on a bunch of sock lambs, either bought at market or the neighbouring farmers. The fun then began with weeks of time consumed by bottle feeding. It was always worth it to see them grow up and become big enough to sell to friends and family as meat. Knowing exactly where your dinner has come from and what went in to it makes a big difference.

 

A neighbour of ours had some Jacob sheep which we really liked the look of. They were stunning to look at, so we decided to buy 4 ewes and put them in lamb and have the experience of lambing. We soon became hooked on the experience, there is nothing quite like bringing new life in to the world and watching them grow.

 

At the beginning of 2023, due to personal circumstances, our life with horses came to an end. We decided we would enlarge our flock of 12 sheep to keep the land grazed.... this is where the spottie madness begins!

We had been introduced to the Dutch Spotted Sheep by an acquaintance . At first we were not sure about trying a new breed as we had always had Jacobs (better the devil you know!). We ended up buying 3 ewes, 1 ewe lamb and 2 ram lambs, a nice little starter flock.
Well... it didnt take long to become potty about spotties! They have such lovely natures, gentle and laid back and unlike most sheep, they are very friendly, even the rams. We very quickly acquired more and ended up this year with 6 in lamb so we now have 20 pure spotties and a few grade 4s and grade 3s.

 

Our story to date:

We now have a flock of around 40. As well as our spotties we have kept a few Jacobs and a hand full of Spottie x Jacobs.

We put a spotty ram over our Jacobs last year and found the offspring are so much bigger.

 

So to round up our experience of the Dutch Spotted breed so far: they are good lambers with plenty of milk, excellent mothers and the lambs grow quicker and bigger making for a good carcass weight for meat. They are so easy to handle, most of them are easy to halter train, they are just an all round lovely breed who will take scratches all day!

 

Our Goal:

Now that we are potty for Spotties we want to contribute to the growth of the breed in the UK and the numbers found in the South East by breeding good quality, happy, heathy stock.