Oh The Fiber – Montadale Sheep – an exquisite breed

Lovely herd of Montadale sheep by kgough8688 of flickr

Montadale are a line of sheep that were cultivated in the 1930’s by E.H. Mattingly. He was mid-western commercial lamb buyer who wanted to breed a supreme sheep. Mattingly wanted to schlep the characteristics of mutton sheep together with big western range sheep. Thus the montadale was created and is designed  to be dual purpose sheep raised for both meat and wool. The two families applied for this project were the cheviot(you can check out the post on cheviot here) and Columbia breeds.

Montadlae sheep by MDSheep on flickr

Cheviot was chosen for it’s carriage, robustness and muscularity. The Columbia was chosen for it’s burly build and substantial, thick fleece. Mattingly tried breeding columbia rams to cheviot ewes, but breeding cheviot rams to columbia ewes(this proved to be the better cross), this crossing was chosen to be the cornerstone for the new breed. Over the next few years the breed was refined and has attracted the acknowledgment of sheep producers.

gorgeous montadale ewes thanks to Why Soitenly ! on flickr

Montadales are a polled breed. The rams weigh in at an ample 200-275 pds and ewes at about 150 to 200 pds. This breed is available to spinners in colors but the Montadale Sheep Breeders Association is very specific on coloring for registration purposes.

Information from Oklahoma State University,and Breed standard from the Montadale Sheep Breeders Association.

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