What makes St Croix sheep special?
For consumers:
For consumers, St Croix meat tastes better. Here’s why: St. Croix sheep do not deposit fat within the muscles. As a result, they produce a lean meat that doesn’t have the tallow taste that is associated with most other breeds. The flavor is mild.
Utah State University measured the meat quality of pure bred St. Croix and some other commercial breeds. They found that the St Croix ranked best in flavor, juiciness and tenderness (shear force).
For breeders:
St Croix sheep are remarkably easy keepers.
Good temperment. Because of the docile temperament of rams and ewes, they are easy to handle and manage.
They are very good mothers. St. Croix ewes can lamb at 12 months of age and St. Croix ewes are extremely attentive to their lambs. Even first time mothers have this strong instinct.
High lambing percentages. Research statistics gathered by several universities indicate that St. Croix Hair Sheep produce an average of 2.1 births per lambing episode. This means that ewes often have triplet and occasionally quadruplet lambs. St. Croix ewes also ovulate during all months of the year which allows great flexibility in lamb production planning. St Croix high lamb survivability is thought to be due to the acute angle of the St. Croix ewe pelvis and croup.
Highest natural resistance to parasites. Unique to other sheep breeds, St. Croix Sheep seem to have a natural ability to resist parasite life cycles. Remarkably, researchers have suggested not regularly deworming St. Croix at all, only administering dewormers when there is a loss of body condition.