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Are you new to raising
American Blackbelly or Barbados Blackbelly Sheep? --David Victor
I've spent hours reading, searching stores, talking to people, and looking for information on the web for handy tips on raising American Blackbelly (AB) and Barbados Blackbelly (BB) Sheep. It became a quest simply to improve my
small flock.
I've found tidbits of information here and there over the past several years and I've decided to make it my goal this year to create a small web-home that we can use to share useful information submitted by like minded people. Hopefully we can all help each other to raise sheep and perhaps to help the beginner herdsman. As time goes on, I hope that this site will grow and be under continual revision as people find it and an easy place to visit and openly share what they've done. Who knows, it could turn into a little specialty E-store eventually. I hope you'll view this place as useful and I hope that you'll contribute your ideas and elegant solutions learned while raising these animals.
As God has called us all sheep, perhaps we should learn a little about them . . . . .
In the spirit of that thought, you'll find developing pages in this site about fences, hoof trimming, building barns and other structures for your sheep, you'll learn to make troughs for feeding as well as other helpful containers, how to dig a pond and keep it from leaking away into the soil. In time there will be a definitions table to look up words that are new to you, information on simple halter training, registration information and breed standards for your sheep, and even ways to save your trees from the appetites of your sheep.
We'd enjoy hearing from you and look forward to your additions to this site.
| You might not have what you think you have.
There are a wide variety of sheep that we're simply calling "Barbado" that shouldn't be called by that name.
Here are some photo's of various animals and note their difference in colors and type
The Three Amigos 
Not all American Blackbelly look alike
They don't always produce proper size or color(These were Twins)
We call some 'barbado', but besides being the wrong name, they're the wrong color, having too much white and/or not having a black underside.
And some of us who don't know any better are mistakenly grouping in some sheep into the breed class that don't meet the standard, being solid tan and no black-belly (it's a Yellow Belly).
Is there a standard for what Blackbelly sheep should look and how they're called?
Yes there is. There are many names being circulated today that give the impression that any hair sheep with the same body type is an American Blackbelly or Barbados Blackbelly. This is and has caused confusion because the names are being applied incorrectly (I'm guilty too). I feel that much of the confusion is started and perpetuated at the small farm level.
Names like Barbados, Texas Barbados, American Barbados, and even American Blackbelly Barbados are adding to the problem of trying to speak to one another about the types of sheep we have.
There are standards for what the breeds SHOULD look like and what they are called. Several places to start looking for more reliable descriptions for these sheep are found here:
Barbados Blackbelly Sheep Assoc. Int'l
American Blackbelly
Barbados Blackbelly
North American
Barbados Blackbelly Sheep Registration
Breed Description
For pictures, and some general information, you might look at this page of the website for breeds that are being grouped, misnamed, and perhaps it's one you've just misidentified.
| Who am I?
My name is David Victor and I've moved about the country a few times these past 10 years. I was born and raised in Huntington Beach, CA (Surf city USA) and moved to Rochester, NY (Home of Kodak) about 8 years ago. A few years later I relocated here to Houston, TX (Home of inexpensive gas) and for the time being I'm slowly adapting to the summers here.
I manage a small chemical business and for the company's size it sits on a rather large property (10 acres) with a few usable acres that were left wild and heavily overgrown. As time went on I grew tired of the enormous weeds and vines wanting to reclaim my building. I saw that a majority of the local oil and chemical companies were raising a variety of animals for weed control and that started me thinking that I could do the same. The locals call theses animals "slow mowers" as I started to investigating the places where Chemical engineering on steroids had mixed with the rural country life.
It was interesting that in spite of the claims being made by environmentalists that the animals around these plants looked perfectly healthy and happy among the so-called "Polluted" Petroleum lands and processing plants. Mixed in and about these places I've seen horses (Arabians and others), goats (Boers mainly), sheep (any kinds that can survive the heat), and cattle (Angus, Brahma, etc. . .). Every one of them seemed healthy and abundant in the heart of a stainless steel maze. The evidence for pollution just isn't completely convincing to me. NASA space center also donates land to local school agricultural departments; it sparked my interest.
My first thought after seeing slow mowers in action was to raise goats, reasoning that they  were inexpensive, would eat everything in sight, and since I don't have a lot of time to spend in upkeep I figured that goats were fairly self sufficient. But when I discovered that these critters are just a tad too smart for most fences, well, plainly speaking, (using my best acquired Texan) "Sheep ain't smart" and I made my decision.
Having made a pair of good friends at church who own and work an 80-100 acre ranch a little North of Houston, they convinced and sold me my first two Blackbelly. I had admired their small herd and was poking my nose in their business when they started to educated me about the breed; the sheep seemed to be exactly suit what I was looking for. American Blackbelly CAN take care of themselves, tolerate the local heat and humidity, don't need a very attentive caretaker, multiply almost as fast as rabbits, and intestinal bugs don't do very well in them unlike other sheep and goats. Besides that, they taste good.
Today I pay a lot more attention to my flock than I should and it's become a small hobby that the owner of the business "tolerates" as he turns a blind eye to it. It's nice for me to have a small distraction, and what can I say, it helps to be a select specialist in your field -- Besides, the owner only visits a couple times a year and as long as the business does well he likes the park-like pasture rather than the wild overgrowth that I started with.
David Victor
Victor's Pasture |
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