The Jacob is a British breed of domestic sheep. It combines two characteristics unusual in sheep: it is piebald—dark-coloured with areas of white wool—and it is often polycerate or multi-horned. It most commonly has four horns. The origin of the breed is not known; broken-coloured polycerate sheep were present in England by the middle of the seventeenth century, and were widespread a century later. A breed society was formed in 1969, and a flock book was published from 1972.
The Jacob was kept for centuries as a “park sheep”, to ornament the large estates of landowners. In modern times it is reared mainly for wool, meat and skins.
Source: The Jacob Sheep Society (United Kingdom)
Why Choose Jacob Sheep?: Jacob sheep are an ideal breed for both large and small flock masters and possess many features and benefits.
Prolific: 190% born alive is a realistic lambing percentage. High lambing percentages are to be expected, particularly to ewes lambing later in the season.
Easy lambing: The breed is noted for its easy lambing attributes, which is ideal for novice or first-time sheep keepers or for those whose time is limited. This is also a benefit where saving labour on the farm is desirable.
Good Mothering Qualities: Jacob ewes show consistently good mothering qualities and many will successfully produce sufficient milk to rear triplets without resorting to supplementary feeding.
Hardy & Long-lived: Easily over wintered outside and attracting few disease problems. Jacob sheep also attract less foot problems than many breeds. Having good feet and high health status allows Jacob sheep to keep breeding for many years. Ewes rearing lambs for 7 years or more are not uncommon.
Carcass Quality & Flavour: Ideally suited for deep freeze or farm-gate sales. The exceptionally full flavour and leanness is retained even in hogget carcasses. Customers supplied direct always come back for more, preferring Jacob lamb to product sourced from regular outlets, often being prepared to pay a premium price for this quality. When crossed with any of the popular terminal sire breeds, the Jacob ewe produces fast-growing lambs capable of meeting the exacting standards of today’s retail trade buyers.
Wool & skin: They also produce high quality wool which is excellent for spinning and weaving. The unique colour of the wool makes every garment or woven item individual. The tanned sheepskins make very desirable rugs and the skins can also be used to make a variety of other goods.
Special attributes for small flock owners: The Jacob sheep also has many other attributes apart from its excellent mothering abilities, prolificness and carcass quality that make it the perfect choice of sheep breed for any smallholder.
Appearance: A flock of Jacob sheep can make an attractive sight and add considerably to the front paddock or orchard.
Wool: The breed yields a fairly soft fleece of good quality demi-lustre wool often sought after by local spinning groups and craft makers.
Skins & Horns: The attractive skins of the Jacob breed can be turned into rugs. Stick makers also seek out horns from mature rams to produce attractive coloured crooks.
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OSU Feguson College of Agriculture
http://afs.okstate.edu/breeds/sheep/jacob/
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History of the breed
The origins of the Jacob are not known.[4]: 4 It has been bred in the British Isles for several hundred years. Sheep of this kind, little different from the modern breed, were shown in paintings from about 1760 at Tabley House in Cheshire, and – by George Stubbs – at Wentworth Woodhouse in Yorkshire. In the de Tabley family, the tradition was that the piebald sheep had come ashore in Ireland from a wrecked ship of the Spanish Armada in 1588, and been brought to England by Sir John Byrne on his marriage.
In 2009, a study which used endogenous retrovirus markers to investigate the history of sheep domestication found the Jacob to be more closely linked to sheep from Africa and South-west Asia than to other British breeds, though all domestic breeds can be traced back to an origin in the Fertile Crescent.
The Jacob was referred to as the “Spanish sheep” for much of its early recorded history. It has been bred in England for at least 350 years, and spotted sheep were widespread in England by the mid–18th century. The British landed gentry used Jacob as ornamental sheep on their estates and kept importing the sheep which probably kept the breed extant.
A breed society, the Jacob Sheep Society, was formed in July 1969. Mary Cavendish, dowager Duchess of Devonshire, who had a flock of Jacob sheep at Chatsworth House in Derbyshire, was the first president of the society.
Jacobs were first exported to North America in the early 20th century. Some individuals acquired them from zoos in the 1960s and 1970s, but the breed remained rare in America until the 1980s; registration began in 1985. The first North American association for the breed, the Jacob Sheep Breeders Association, was established in 1989. The Jacob was introduced to Israel in 2016, when a small flock of about 120 head was shipped there from Canada by a couple who believed the breed is the same one mentioned in Genesis.
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Is there a difference between US and UK breeds?
The UK Jacob Sheep and the American Jacob Sheep are considered different breeds. The American Jacob still carries a lot of the primitive traits that they were first valued for and the UK Jacob has been improved for higher carcass weights. The standard also vary slightly between the two breeds. “Variability is present, but this is characteristic of an unimproved, primitive breed. During the same period of time, the British Jacob has been selected for greater commercial productivity, including larger size and more uniform appearance. In this way, the populations in Britain and North America have diverged.
The American Livestock Breeds Conservancy has listed the North American population of Jacobs as a ‘conservation priority’.
https://livestockconservancy.org/…/jacob-american-sheep/
Information kindly supplied by Jennifer Zenker.
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Jacob Sheep Breeders Assocation (USA)
Website: https://www.jsba.org/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/JacobSheepBreeders
The Jacob Sheep Breeders Association (JSBA) took over the work began by the American Minor Breeds Conservancy , now known as the The Livestock Conservancy. The AMBC began identifying Jacob Sheep in North America in 1985. By 1988, the AMBC assisted the JSBA in forming a breed association and registry from a core group of breeders interested in the continuance and conservation of the breed. The first JSBA flock book was published the following year with over 400 animals inspected and registered. By 2006, more than 10,000 Jacob Sheep had been registered by JSBA. By the end of 2018, the number of JSBA-registered Jacob Sheep exceeded 18,000. Despite a steady increase in numbers, the American Jacob is still listed as a rare breed by the The Livestock Conservancy.
