Welcome to Little Country Acres
Polled Shetland sheep in N/E Illinois
"The demand for bigger animals with more meat and heavier fleeces has throughout the past eighty years led to a dimunition in numbers and will finally lead to the extinction of pure Shetland Sheep." Cluness A.T. (1951) "The Shetland Isles". Hale, London.
E-mail us at littlecountryacres@yahoo.com Or call us at 815) 458-0123
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Welcome to Little Country Acres!
We are located just south of Joliet, IL.
Little Country Acres is home to a colorful flock of purebred Shetland sheep. We have been breeding Shetlands since 2002. Our goal is to produce fine fleeced, small but well conformed, primitive Shetland sheep.
Our Shetland flock is a little different than most, in that we are spearheading an effort to preserve rare polled rams. In 2004, we recognized that the poll gene in Shetlands was very rare, and no one in North America was working towards understanding, collecting, and concentrating this valuable characteristic that was probably introduced to the breed through Soay-like ancestors hundreds of years ago. We began the task of collecting and concentrating the poll gene with the intent of breeding for an entire flock of polled Shetlands. We are having much success in keeping the various colors, patterns, and spots in our flock as we work towards our goal of producing smooth polled rams. We are pleased that others have joined in our conservation effort.
The Shetland is a delightful little unimproved wool sheep that is easy to keep and raise. They are perfect for smaller properties, homesteads working towards self sufficiency, and for the novice shepherd.
The fine fleeced Shetland sheep offers a fine, silky, crimpy fleece for handspinning, felting, and weaving. We perform annual micron testing on our flock to aid us in our goal of providing fine, quality fleece in our breeding stock.
Shetland meat is tender and mild. They can be very affectionate and make wonderful companions for someone who just wants a few pets.
Our humanely raised flock is enrolled in the mandatory scrapie program, and we have tested negative for OPP and Johnnes. We cull unthrifty or unsound animals.
Little Country Acres offers carefully evaluated, purebred breeding stock. Our genetics can be found throughout North America, and even exported into Canada. We occasionally have pet quality sheep or raw fleece available. Please visit our sale pages see what we currently have to offer.
Please feel free to e-mail us, and we hope you enjoy your visit to our website.
