Samuels Ranch Sheep 

When Arlene and Shad switched from cattle to sheep in 1968, their breed of choice was the Hampshire. Until 2007, Samuels Ranch still bred and registered Hampshire sheep. 

​

Over the years, we found it more and more difficult to find a purbred Hampshire ram who could handle our rugged mountain life. We get snow in the winter, and triple digit heat all summer long. Add to that our rugged terrain with slopes that are 30% to 70%, and it takes a sheep that's truly hardy and adaptable to thrive here. We have purchased at least 4 expensive Hampshire rams who didn't even survive to a second breeding season. No matter what we tried, they just failed to thrive. 

​

So along the way we tried a Dorset ram, and we were thrilled with the vigor of the lambs. The ram himself lived to a ripe old age. We also tried a Corriedale ram, and he was really something, reaching a truly remarkable age and thriving on our rangeland. 

 

We have had such great success with our cross-breading, that we are well and truly sold. Most of our herd now are composites:

Hampshire x Corriedale x Texel x Suffolk 

or

Hampshire x Corriedale x Texel x Dorset

​

When we first heard the term "composite" we rolled our eyes, too. Years ago, you would have been laughed out of the ring for trying to sell a crossbred ram, and now they're bringing some of the highest prices at CWGA sales. We find that we were doing it before it was cool, so hey, we might as well adapt to the marketing.