# Self Sufficiency/Living off the Land or Off the Grid > Livestock and Animal Husbandry >  Pitt Island sheep ( New Zealand wild sheep )

## newzealandsurvival

I have just purchased two Pitt Island sheep one ram and one ewe, I already have two Arapawa Island Ram lambs that I will either put in the freezer or on sell, both these breeds are listed as rare breeds, they were originally put on off shore islands around New Zealand by whalers a few hundred years ago and have since became their own recognised breed through adpating to the land over time. They self shed their fleece, dont get dirty backsides or flystrike so are very easy to own with little or no work required. The rams have very impressive horns. below is a link if anyone is interested in wild sheep breeds pictures etc.

The boy in my Avatar picture is my original Arapawa island Ram, those horns are only 18 months worth of growth.


http://www.rarebreeds.co.nz/pittisland.html

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## crashdive123

Cool.  I'm sure there is a baaaaaaaaaad joke in there someplace. :Innocent:

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## Rick

Since they self shed are you able to collect the fleece? How much meat do you get off of one (how large do they get)? There were a lot of stats on the pages but nothing about weight (that I saw). They are nice looking animals.

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## newzealandsurvival

generally the fleece is very tatty if left to fall off on its own, they will go completely bald around the stomach and back legs/tail area, then the body fleece will get dragged off on branches etc. people that want to keep the fleece intact will shear them before it starts to fall out. they are the same size as standard sheep but shorter legged, the arapawa sheep are more solid than Pitt sheep, although I have seen some very large and powerful Pitt Rams, the Ram I had could knock me over very easily ( which is why I dont have him anymore ) . The meat is very lean and slightly stronger than normal sheep, more wild game tasting.

I believe that there are also Arapawa goats somewhere in America, Plimoth Plantation ? They are decendants of Cottager goats from England which are now extinct in all of Europe. these goats are very small and solid animals, true pure breds can be found in NewZealand easy enough, people pay huge money to get them taken over seas to try and get them established.

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## Rick

That's neat. I suppose if they shear then they try to do so just prior to the shed or molt of whatever it's called. That would give them the longest growth cycle (longest fur) I would think. 

The one you have appears to have a very heavy coat while the Pitts on the link don't have quite as heavy of one. Is that just the difference in the breeds? (As you can guess I know nothing about sheep.)

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## newzealandsurvival

That ram in the photo was in his first winter as you can see by the snow so had a heavy fleece, the following summer he lost his fleece, the pics of the ones in the website are probably at different stages in the year, thinner fleece probably from growing a new fleece after the summer malt.

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## Winnie

Could well be a descendant of the Wiltshire Horn Sheep.

http://www.wiltshirehorn.org.uk/

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## Winnie

Could well be a descendant of the Wiltshire Horn Sheep.

http://www.wiltshirehorn.org.uk/

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## Winnie

Well that's odd. I've never had a double post before, can't seem to delete it either.

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## newzealandsurvival

they are thought to be from Saxony Merino sheep, but there will be a mix in there as Im sure the original breeding numbers would have had different lines in there, very possible that wiltshire would have been in there in the first releases.

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## crashdive123

> Well that's odd. I've never had a double post before, can't seem to delete it either.


Sometimes it happens - I think it's gremlins in the wiring.

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## crashdive123

> Well that's odd. I've never had a double post before, can't seem to delete it either.


Sometimes it happens - I think it's gremlins in the wiring.

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## Winnie

Oh ha ha, you so funny!

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## Rick

Oh, sorry all for the double posts. I was checking the oil and must have bumped some wiring. Let me zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz oh, crap. coil. I hate when that happens. Ah, there it is! Loose spark plug wirrrrrrrrrrzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.

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