Sheep in Colonial America

English Leicester sheep at Colonial Williamsburg

I've been learning a lot about sheep in Colonial times. As a shepherd - as well as a history geek - I find all the information very interesting! Here are some of the highlights:

1) England did its best to prevent sheep from being imported to the colonies to protect their monopoly on the textile industry. The Dutch, however, were very successful at sneaking the animals in.

2) Sheep were raised primarily for wool. Lamb and mutton (any sheep over the age of 1 year) were rarely eaten. Colonists needed to cloth their families, so the sheep were more valuable as wool producers. Sheep and lambs that were eaten were likely animals who were injured or had some defect that made survival unlikely.

3) Sheep were smaller than the animals we see today. They matured at about 60 pounds. Today's meat lambs go to market at 6 - 8 months old and weigh around 150 pounds. Mature English Leicester ewes (also known as Leicester Longwool) today will weigh up to 200 pounds. Quite a change from the 60 pounds in Colonial times. Rams can reach 300 pounds.

4) George Washington was very interested in sheep. He imported (apparently, once sheep were well-established in the colonies, England lifted the ban) English Leicesters and bred to improve the breed. He was one of many Colonial farmers interested in genetics and animal husbandry.

Katie - English Leicester ewe lamb at Twin Willows Farm

Last month this little girl came to live on our farm. She's an English Leicester ewe lamb, about 12 weeks old in this photo. Besides being a good wool producer for this handspinner, she's also a piece of our American history. Who knows, she might even be a direct descendant from that long-ago flock owned by President George Washington.

PeggThomas.com

Debut story releasing in April 2017 from Barbour.

The Care and Feeding of Colonial Livestock

Google books is an invaluable resource!

It started, as so often happens, as a quest to find a scrap of research info. I just wanted to know whether or not a backcountry farmer would feed oats to his saddle horse. I mean, they couldn't just drive down to their local feed store and bring home a bag of Omelene.

I asked my trusty 18cLife Yahoo group, which led to a whole array of answers.

Among other things, I was pointed to a handy resource: an old book, now available online, titled The Discipline of the Light-Horse by Captain Hinde of the Royal Regiment of Foresters. I discovered that oats were, indeed, common provender for horses since at least colonial times, and I plan on taking time to read the entire book. Though written with an eye to the War of 1812, it contains many references to the American Revolution.

Something else I learned, though, was that Germanic settlers--Germans, yes, but also Dutch and other continental Europeans of varying religious backgrounds--were the ones who introduced the concept of large-scale farming with big barns and big hay wagons. The practice of farming the land on purpose (for "business," some said) and rotating crops were a curiosity to their British neighbors, who generally turned out their livestock to roam and graze, then herded them in as needed. Thus, the term "Cow Pens" where the famous South Carolina battle got its name was an actual area where pens were built for the periodic containment of cattle. Saddle and work horses might either be pastured or staked out to graze. Horses and cattle both do just fine on grass only, or hay with a bit of grain in the winter, but they'd need to spend a lot of time grazing because it takes a lot of grass to feed that large of an animal. Hogs and chickens or other yard fowl were also left to roam.

Cattle drives were a thing long before the West was won

The purpose of fencing or stables in colonial times, in the backcountry or on the frontier, was more for the purpose of keeping predators out than containing livestock.

The rich meadows and forests of South Carolina were actually considered cattle country at one time, and many savvy cattlemen were of African descent, whether enslaved or not, trusted with the keeping and care of herds. The Florida "Crackers" (as in, the cracking sound of the cattle drivers' whips) were also famed for their ability to work cattle in the harsh conditions of central Florida, through heat and torrential rains.

So, what did the colonial farmer raise crops for, if not to feed his livestock? The concept of the cash crop (tobacco, rice, indigo) dates back to at least the first settlement at Jamestown, and like it or not, much of the grains grown (corn, barley) went into grain liquor, especially the making of whiskey. (There's a whole discussion, in fact, on how the different spellings of whisky and whiskey denote a British-made product or an American-made one.)

I was able to find "provenance for my provender," in the case of whether to feed a favored saddle horse at least an occasional bit of oats, but it probably wasn't the norm for every farmer, especially not in the Carolinas.