It's believed to have been obtained by crossing Border Collies with several smaller breeds, such as the King Charles Spaniel and the Pomeranian, for the purpose of herding the small
Shetland sheep.
The yarn is some of my first handspun (and some handdyed) from
our Shetland sheep, and not entirely consistent in gauge.
Our veterinarian connected us with
some shetland sheep farmers, all «neighbors» that we had never met.
Not exact matches
The bucolic
Shetland Islands are home to barely more than 20,000 people and 400,000
sheep.
That's right,
sheep outnumber people in
Shetland 20 to 1.
Take the
Shetland Sheepdogs as an example; they defend their owner's property, and they can herd flocks of
sheep.
Shetland Sheepdogs have a reputation for being gentle yet persistent with the
sheep.
Just like the
Shetland Pony and several varieties of
sheep, the dog was bred to be a miniature size which survived the rugged island terrain better than large sizes, thus making them ideally suited for that terrain.
The Bowmont
sheep are a cross between Saxon Merino (75 %) and
Shetland (25 %) and are very close to the Australian Merinos.