Hobby Sheep Breeds

Racka Sheep
Hortobágy Racka, Hungarian Racka or Hungarian Zackel – these are all names for an original Hungarian sheep breed that resembles a woolly antelope in appearance. In our country, it is kept mainly in zoos, but it is gradually gaining admirers among hobby breeders as well.

It is a primitive, coarse-wooled, hardy and robust breed with triple-purpose utility. In its country of origin, two varieties are described: the white Racka and the dark – black – Racka, which is rarer. It is small-framed, with ewes weighing between 45 and 55 kg and rams up to 75 kg. The fleece is mixed and hanging, white, coffee-golden, or black in colour. A distinctive breed feature is the long, upright spiral horns which, in the original type, grow at an angle of about 45° and adorn the heads of both sexes. In rams they may exceptionally reach up to one metre in length, while in ewes they are about half as long.

Jacob Sheep

The horns are also exceptional in the Jacob breed, which most likely originates from present-day Syria, where it is said to have been kept as long as three thousand years ago. The breed is even mentioned in the Bible (Genesis 30–31), where it is described that Jacob received these sheep from his father-in-law while working for him. Another historical account states that some of these sheep were washed ashore from shipwrecks during the invasion of the Spanish Armada in the reign of Elizabeth I..

In any case, due to their multiple horns and exotic appearance, Jacob sheep have been bred for several centuries on farms in England, where they were brought from the Middle East via North Africa, Sicily and Spain. They are therefore considered an English breed.

The advantages of this breed include very good productivity, resistance to harsh climatic conditions, and tasty lean meat. They were first imported into the Czech Republic in 1997 from the Netherlands.

Ouessant Sheep

The smallest breed kept in our country is the Ouessant sheep, which originates from the island of Ouessant off the coast of the Brittany peninsula. It is an undemanding breed, with rams weighing between 15 and 22 kg (ewes 12 to 16 kg) and a withers height of 42 to 49 cm (ewes 40 to 46 cm). In the Czech Republic, Ouessant sheep have been bred since 2004; they are used for grazing gardens as well as kept as pets.