{"id":32809,"date":"2018-01-01T11:30:57","date_gmt":"2018-01-01T16:30:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/developer83.wordpress-developer.us\/culturecheesemag\/?p=32809"},"modified":"2017-12-28T19:19:52","modified_gmt":"2017-12-29T00:19:52","slug":"farm-animal-gulf-coast-native-sheep","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/developer83.wordpress-developer.us\/culturecheesemag\/farm-animal-gulf-coast-native-sheep\/","title":{"rendered":"Farm Animal: Gulf Coast Native Sheep"},"content":{"rendered":"

L<\/span>ikely descendants of Spanish colonial flocks, Gulf Coast Native sheep\u2014also known as Gulf Coast sheep, Woods sheep, Louisiana Native sheep, and Florida Native sheep\u2014are one of the oldest breeds in North America. Prior to World War II, thousands roamed feral in the American South country-side. Twice a year, farmers would round them up, shear them, tag any new lambs, and select a few for meat before releasing the herd back into the rugged pastures.<\/p>\n

Thanks to a muggy habitat, the breed evolved to tolerate high temperatures (hence their bare faces, legs, and bellies). Their most desirable trait, however, is resistance to common parasites, such as roundworm and foot rot (a bacterial infection in the hoof). Hoping to foster that hardiness among future generations, farmers began cross-breeding Gulf Coast Natives with their own flocks. Sadly, this genetic mixing eventually led to the breed\u2019s endangerment. (A post-WWII focus on livestock that yielded high amounts of meat, wool, and\/or milk was also a factor\u2014Gulf Coast sheep are fairly small, don\u2019t produce much milk, and are not as woolly as other breeds.)<\/p>\n

While current owners of Gulf Coast Native sheep are passionate about preserving the animals, they\u2019re scarce. It\u2019s estimated that fewer than two-dozen breeders remain in the United States, including Melody Hartsell of Hartsell Farms in Salisbury, N.C., who calls the decline of her preferred breed \u201cunfortunate.\u201d<\/p>\n

Appearance and Temperament<\/h2>\n

The look of Gulf Coast Native sheep varies geographically; there are multiple distinctive flocks in Texas, Alabama, Florida, and North Carolina. They range in color from cream to brown to black, and may be spotted. They are polled (hornless), horned, or scurred (have partially developed horns). Typically rams weigh 125 to 200 pounds; ewes clock in between 90 and 160. Both sexes average 30 to 48 inches tall. Their wool is also noticeably softer than that of other breeds.<\/p>\n

Gulf Coast Natives breed nearly year-round, lambing about three times within 18 months. Given their wild origins, the sheep are fairly independent and may be wary of people, Hartsell says\u2014especially when lambs are separated from their mothers.<\/h3>\n

\u201cIf they decide that they don\u2019t want to be around you, they won\u2019t be around you,\u201d she says. While standoffish, flocks aren\u2019t void of personality. \u201cThey express an entire range of emotions that any person can relate to,\u201d says Ellen Hogan of North Florida Craftworks, who raises Gulf Coast Natives in Trenton, Fla. \u201cThey are smart, intuitive, gentle, and personable.\u201d<\/p>\n

Milk<\/h2>\n

With an above-average lactose content, Gulf Coast sheep milk is exceptionally sweet. \u201cIt is rich, with a capital \u2018R,\u2019 and delicious,\u201d Hogan says. The milk may become even sweeter with dietary tweaks. \u201cOur girls are on a pasture with blackberry bushes and native grasses,\u201d Hogan continues. \u201cThe blackberries give the milk a real boost.\u201d The trade-off: an extremely low milk yield\u2014generally, ewes produce just enough to feed their young.<\/p>\n

\u201cI milked my ewes by hand, and I would allow a lamb to nurse on the opposite side while I milked,\u201d says Sarah Green, a former owner of Gulf Coast Native sheep based in Connecticut. \u201cIt was a very calm experience for all. (Since) I did not separate mother and lamb, my yield was (extra) low, maybe a quarter cup per ewe per milking.\u201d<\/p>\n

Featured Image courtesy Frankcheez\/Flickr<\/a><\/em><\/strong><\/h4>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Gulf Coast sheep breed nearly year-round. Given their wild origins, the sheep are fairly independent and may be wary of people.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":86,"featured_media":32812,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"wprm-recipe-roundup-name":"","wprm-recipe-roundup-description":"","cybocfi_hide_featured_image":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[2166,2165,2167],"coauthors":[968],"class_list":["post-32809","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-blog","tag-florida-native-sheep","tag-gulf-coast-sheep","tag-woods-sheep"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nFarm Animal: Gulf Coast Native Sheep - culture: the word on cheese<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/developer83.wordpress-developer.us\/culturecheesemag\/farm-animal-gulf-coast-native-sheep\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Farm Animal: Gulf Coast Native Sheep\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Gulf Coast sheep breed nearly year-round. Given their wild origins, the sheep are fairly independent and may be wary of people.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/developer83.wordpress-developer.us\/culturecheesemag\/farm-animal-gulf-coast-native-sheep\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"culture: the word on cheese\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2018-01-01T16:30:57+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/developer83.wordpress-developer.us\/culturecheesemag\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/gulf-coast-sheep.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"750\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"500\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Rachel E. McLean\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Rachel E. McLean\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/developer83.wordpress-developer.us\/culturecheesemag\/farm-animal-gulf-coast-native-sheep\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/developer83.wordpress-developer.us\/culturecheesemag\/farm-animal-gulf-coast-native-sheep\/\",\"name\":\"Farm Animal: Gulf Coast Native Sheep - culture: the word on cheese\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/developer83.wordpress-developer.us\/culturecheesemag\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/developer83.wordpress-developer.us\/culturecheesemag\/farm-animal-gulf-coast-native-sheep\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/developer83.wordpress-developer.us\/culturecheesemag\/farm-animal-gulf-coast-native-sheep\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/developer83.wordpress-developer.us\/culturecheesemag\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/gulf-coast-sheep.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2018-01-01T16:30:57+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/developer83.wordpress-developer.us\/culturecheesemag\/#\/schema\/person\/7be2e91e0f5b540dfd9a26098698ad61\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/developer83.wordpress-developer.us\/culturecheesemag\/farm-animal-gulf-coast-native-sheep\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/developer83.wordpress-developer.us\/culturecheesemag\/farm-animal-gulf-coast-native-sheep\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/developer83.wordpress-developer.us\/culturecheesemag\/farm-animal-gulf-coast-native-sheep\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/developer83.wordpress-developer.us\/culturecheesemag\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/gulf-coast-sheep.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/developer83.wordpress-developer.us\/culturecheesemag\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/gulf-coast-sheep.jpg\",\"width\":750,\"height\":500},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/developer83.wordpress-developer.us\/culturecheesemag\/farm-animal-gulf-coast-native-sheep\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/developer83.wordpress-developer.us\/culturecheesemag\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Blog\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/developer83.wordpress-developer.us\/culturecheesemag\/category\/blog\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":3,\"name\":\"Farm Animal: Gulf Coast Native Sheep\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/developer83.wordpress-developer.us\/culturecheesemag\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/developer83.wordpress-developer.us\/culturecheesemag\/\",\"name\":\"culture: the word on cheese\",\"description\":\"Culture, America's magazine for cheese lovers, delivers stories about cheeses, cheesemakers, travel to gorgeous cheese regions, and practical tips on buying, presenting, and cooking with cheese.\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/developer83.wordpress-developer.us\/culturecheesemag\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/developer83.wordpress-developer.us\/culturecheesemag\/#\/schema\/person\/7be2e91e0f5b540dfd9a26098698ad61\",\"name\":\"Rachel E. McLean\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/developer83.wordpress-developer.us\/culturecheesemag\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/e24144406ef8f7b219e35be5d475a902\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/developer83.wordpress-developer.us\/culturecheesemag\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/LI-96x96.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/developer83.wordpress-developer.us\/culturecheesemag\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/LI-96x96.jpg\",\"caption\":\"Rachel E. McLean\"},\"description\":\"Rachel is an editorial intern at culture for Spring 2017. She is Junior at Boston University studying Journalism and Communication with an emphasis in Public Relations. Known as \\\"the cheese queen\\\" among friends, she's had a passion for fromage from a young age.\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/developer83.wordpress-developer.us\/culturecheesemag\/author\/rachel-mclean\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Farm Animal: Gulf Coast Native Sheep - culture: the word on cheese","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/developer83.wordpress-developer.us\/culturecheesemag\/farm-animal-gulf-coast-native-sheep\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Farm Animal: Gulf Coast Native Sheep","og_description":"Gulf Coast sheep breed nearly year-round. Given their wild origins, the sheep are fairly independent and may be wary of people.","og_url":"https:\/\/developer83.wordpress-developer.us\/culturecheesemag\/farm-animal-gulf-coast-native-sheep\/","og_site_name":"culture: the word on cheese","article_published_time":"2018-01-01T16:30:57+00:00","og_image":[{"width":750,"height":500,"url":"https:\/\/developer83.wordpress-developer.us\/culturecheesemag\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/gulf-coast-sheep.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Rachel E. McLean","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Rachel E. McLean","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/developer83.wordpress-developer.us\/culturecheesemag\/farm-animal-gulf-coast-native-sheep\/","url":"https:\/\/developer83.wordpress-developer.us\/culturecheesemag\/farm-animal-gulf-coast-native-sheep\/","name":"Farm Animal: Gulf Coast Native Sheep - culture: the word on cheese","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/developer83.wordpress-developer.us\/culturecheesemag\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/developer83.wordpress-developer.us\/culturecheesemag\/farm-animal-gulf-coast-native-sheep\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/developer83.wordpress-developer.us\/culturecheesemag\/farm-animal-gulf-coast-native-sheep\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/developer83.wordpress-developer.us\/culturecheesemag\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/gulf-coast-sheep.jpg","datePublished":"2018-01-01T16:30:57+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/developer83.wordpress-developer.us\/culturecheesemag\/#\/schema\/person\/7be2e91e0f5b540dfd9a26098698ad61"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/developer83.wordpress-developer.us\/culturecheesemag\/farm-animal-gulf-coast-native-sheep\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/developer83.wordpress-developer.us\/culturecheesemag\/farm-animal-gulf-coast-native-sheep\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/developer83.wordpress-developer.us\/culturecheesemag\/farm-animal-gulf-coast-native-sheep\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/developer83.wordpress-developer.us\/culturecheesemag\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/gulf-coast-sheep.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/developer83.wordpress-developer.us\/culturecheesemag\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/gulf-coast-sheep.jpg","width":750,"height":500},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/developer83.wordpress-developer.us\/culturecheesemag\/farm-animal-gulf-coast-native-sheep\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/developer83.wordpress-developer.us\/culturecheesemag\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Blog","item":"https:\/\/developer83.wordpress-developer.us\/culturecheesemag\/category\/blog\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"Farm Animal: Gulf Coast Native Sheep"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/developer83.wordpress-developer.us\/culturecheesemag\/#website","url":"https:\/\/developer83.wordpress-developer.us\/culturecheesemag\/","name":"culture: the word on cheese","description":"Culture, America's magazine for cheese lovers, delivers stories about cheeses, cheesemakers, travel to gorgeous cheese regions, and practical tips on buying, presenting, and cooking with cheese.","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/developer83.wordpress-developer.us\/culturecheesemag\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/developer83.wordpress-developer.us\/culturecheesemag\/#\/schema\/person\/7be2e91e0f5b540dfd9a26098698ad61","name":"Rachel E. McLean","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/developer83.wordpress-developer.us\/culturecheesemag\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/e24144406ef8f7b219e35be5d475a902","url":"https:\/\/developer83.wordpress-developer.us\/culturecheesemag\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/LI-96x96.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/developer83.wordpress-developer.us\/culturecheesemag\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/LI-96x96.jpg","caption":"Rachel E. McLean"},"description":"Rachel is an editorial intern at culture for Spring 2017. She is Junior at Boston University studying Journalism and Communication with an emphasis in Public Relations. Known as \"the cheese queen\" among friends, she's had a passion for fromage from a young age.","url":"https:\/\/developer83.wordpress-developer.us\/culturecheesemag\/author\/rachel-mclean\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/developer83.wordpress-developer.us\/culturecheesemag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32809","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/developer83.wordpress-developer.us\/culturecheesemag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/developer83.wordpress-developer.us\/culturecheesemag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/developer83.wordpress-developer.us\/culturecheesemag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/86"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/developer83.wordpress-developer.us\/culturecheesemag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=32809"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/developer83.wordpress-developer.us\/culturecheesemag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32809\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/developer83.wordpress-developer.us\/culturecheesemag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/32812"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/developer83.wordpress-developer.us\/culturecheesemag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=32809"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/developer83.wordpress-developer.us\/culturecheesemag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=32809"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/developer83.wordpress-developer.us\/culturecheesemag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=32809"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/developer83.wordpress-developer.us\/culturecheesemag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=32809"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}