Sharing Our Love of These Charmingly Endearing Creatures
Our Story
Like many who meet the Valais Blacknose sheep for the first time, they captured our hearts with their adorable yarn-doll looks and puppy like nature. Originally from Switzerland, the breed has begun to take root in the United States through purebred embryo imports and breeding low percentage sheep to purebreds to create a diverse pure Valais gene pool (Upgrading or Upbreeding).
We knew nothing of raising sheep and only had experience with chickens, goats and our guard llama Caleb, but found that we wanted to be a part of bringing this beautiful animal into other peoples’ lives and homes.
We purchased our first ewes from Shepherd’s Lane in Oregon, Clara, an F1 (1/2 Teeswater and 1/2 Valais), Woolma, a foundation ewe with a mysterious past that makes us suspicious she has more Valais in her, and her Spitti lamb, Noodle, another F1. We will be breeding Clara and Woolma in the Fall of 2025 with 100% purebred Valais Rams, and Noodle in the Fall of 2026.
Around the Pasture
Resources
There are multiple Valais societies which you can register your animals at or look up a prospective animal and their ancestry, and each site has different requirements. The VBSS is the one we are currently familiar with and that our sheep are registered at:
· VBSS- VALAIS BLACKNOSE SHEEP SOCIETY: https://www.valaisblacknosesheepsociety.org/
· GRASS ROOTS VBSS ANIMAL REGISTRATION: https://breeds.grassroots.co.uk/USVAL/CoreCulture/en-US
Valais Blacknose Sheep have a few needs that are different than the average sheep. They need shearing twice a year, they are a large sheep and can reach almost 200lbs. The longer they are in the US and the UK, the more is being learned about their nutritional needs in climates other than their native mountain regions. Here are some links to other farms I have found with great resources and experience to share.
· PURE VALAIS: https://www.purevalais.com/resources
· OREGON VALAIS: https://www.oregonvalais.com/helpful-info-valais