More Than Handsome, Tunis Sheep Deliver The Goods
DAVE LEFEVER
Lancaster Farming Staff
WAYNESBORO (Franklin
Co.) Tunis sheep will turn your
head.
Their slim, coppery faces and
long ears are not the most famil
iar of sheep features. That rusty
look, also found on the legs, can
range from tan and cinnamon to
a rich red. The wool is creamy in
color.
It’s the darker-faced Tunis
that attract many people, accord
ing to Don and Miki Schrider,
who have been raising Tunis for
about eight years on their 10-acre
farm between Waynesboro and
Greencastle. They maintain a
flock of 12-15 breeding ewes,
along with two rams and young
stock.
“Everybody really wants to get
their hands on the deeper red,”
Don said.
According to the Schriders,
however, the best functional
qualities of the breed are not re
lated to the degree of pigmenta
tion.
“Color has nothing to do with
the economy and production of
this sheep,” Miki said.
Good mothering ability, effi
cient growth, top-quality meat,
and usable wool sometimes pre
ferred by handspinners are some
of the traits that have helped win
widespread support for Tunis
sheep.
They are also known for their
docile nature, high percentage of
twin births, strong milk produc
tion, and longevity.
Miki Schrider with one-day old Tunis lamb, born with a
double coat of deep red.
More About The Breed
The American Tunis evolved from a number of importations of fat
tailed sheep from Africa and the Middle East in the late 18th and
early 19th centuries. These sheep were crossed with some established
European breeds to improve the meat characteristics.
The earliest documented importation occurred in 1799. They came
as a gift to the U.S. from the ruler of Tunisia, his highness the Bey of
Tunis, and were entrusted to the care of Judge Richard Peters of
Pennsylvania who became an outspoken advocate of the breed.
By the 1820’s, Tunis were in much demand by butchers in eastern
Pennsylvania. Descendants of Judge Peters’ sheep, as well as addi
tional importations of fat-tailed sheep became established in Mary
land, Virginia, North and South Carolina, and Georgia. Thomas Jef
ferson imported “broad-tailed” sheep and kept them for many years.
He preferred them over his Merinos for their mutton and wool-pro
ducing attributes.
The breed was quite popular as in 1892, Ezra Carmen in a chapter
of A Report of the Sheep Industry of the U.S. wrote, “ But for the in
troduction of the flne-wooled Merino, these Tunisian sheep would
probably have become disseminated throughout the U.S., and in some
of them have become the prevailing flocks.”
The breed has a long, notable
history that includes grazing
privileges in the pastures of
Thomas Jefferson.
Descendants of ancient, fat
tailed sheep, the Tunis breed
originated in the arid lands of
Tunisia on the northern coast of
Africa. The first flock recorded in
the U.S. was at Belmont, Phila
delphia County, in 1799. Jeffer
son later owned a large flock and
was a leading promoter of the
breed, according to information
supplied by the National Tunis
Sheep Registry, Inc.
Their hardiness and heat toler
ance helped make them a favor
ite in the U.S. South during the
first half of the 1800 s. Most of the
large southern Tunis population,
however, became food for sol
diers during the Civil War, caus
ing a majority of the flocks to be
wiped out.
Flocks originally established in
the Northeast have survived and
served as seed stock for main
taining a strong gene pool and a
thriving population throughout
different regions of the country
today. In earlier years, Tunis
were crossed with some other
breeds, including Southdown and
Border Leicester. Today, no
crossbreeding is allowed for regis
tered animals, Don said.
While considered a fine-boned,
medium-sized breed, Tunis grow
rapidly through the pasture sea
son and into maturity. For lambs
destined for the dinner table, typ
ical slaughter time is early fall for
Origin, History
From Website information.
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Miki and Don Schrlder, with flock of Tunis ewes, due to lamb soon. Roxy, the dog, is
purebred Maremma, an Italian breed noted for its sheepguarding skill.
animals born in March or April
on the Schrider farm.
“They produce a 100-pound
freezer lamb about as fast as any
(breed),” Don said.
Some managers of meat breed
flocks, such as Dorset, favor
crossbreeding with Tunis sires to
produce the lamb crop, believing
this use of a Tunis “terminal
sire” results in more lambs,
greater weight gains, and tastier
meat.
According to the Schriders, the
meat of older Tunis sheep is also
delicious and “in some ways bet
ter” than lamb, even when ani
mals are slaughtered at four and
five years of age.
As Pennsylvania director for
the National Tunis Sheep Regis
try, Inc., Don noted that the
breed standard allows for a cer
tain range of traits, according to
personal preference.
While some breeders focus on
larger, show-type sheep, others
go for a smaller frame they feel is
more in line with original blood
lines. Breeders also have varying
opinions on other traits, such as
the ideal ear length.
According to Don, the differ-
The Schriders keep two breeding rams on the farm to help maintain genetic diversity.
Sampson, front, serviced the flock last fall. The other three are yearling rams, one of
which will be selected as a breeder.
ences in opinion are minor and
help demonstrate the breed’s ge
netic range.
“There’s a fair amount of di
versity that, allows for unique
breeding programs,” he said.
The breed standard allows a
bodyweight range of 125-175
pounds for breeding ewes,
175-200 pounds for rams.
JLambs should weigh between
seven and 12 pounds at birth.
They are bom with a double coat,
mahogany red on the surface,
that gradually turns into a
creamy-colored fleece as the ani
mal matures.
At the Schriders, lambs are left
to nurse their mothers well into
the summer, nearly until the end
of the natural lacatation period
of the ewes. Meanwhile, the
lambs are also supplying a large
part of their diet by grazing on
their own.
The Schriders rely on pasture
during the growing season. In
winter, orchard grass hay with a
bit of alfalfa makes up the bulk
of the ration. About two weeks
prior to the start of lambing in
March, they begin supplementing
the ewes with grain, continuing
through early lactation until the
pastures are green and ready for
grazing.
The Schriders caution other
Tunis breeders against feeding
more grain than necessary.
As a thrifty breed histori
cally able to subsist in desert-like
conditions Tunis can become
fat from overeating and also risk
birthing problems because of
overly large lambs, the Schriders
pointed out
They rapidly changed tfteir
feeding program soon after start
ing in the Tunis business. At that
time, they culled one of the adult
ewes, had it butchered, and dis
covered its carcass was covered
in a layer of fat several inches
thick, Miki said.
Now they monitor their ewes’
body condition frequently by
checking spines with their finger
tips, making sure the bone is not'
covered with tallow but can be
felt as a distinct ridge.
Because of their high milk out
put, Tunis have also been cross
bred with dairy sheep, according
to Don. A sheep dairy for cheese
production in Vermont has some
ewes that are one-quarter Tunis,
he said.