Below are some of the more obvious questions and answers.   Please feel free to submit questions either to info@rideausheep.org or post them on the discussion board.

Why use Rideau Sheep?

This breed is best suited as a maternal (dam line) breed that is used to improve characteristics such as prolificacy and milk production.   The mature ewe rountinely drops twins, triplets and even some quads and has no problem with raising these lambs - provided that she is fed properly.

How popular is the Rideau breed?

The Rideau breed was first available to individual producers in 1988.   At the time the herdbook consisted of only a couple hundred animals.   In the next 16 years this breed has become the pre-dominant breed in use as evidenced by the SFIP data where approx. 1/3 of all the ewes tested were of Rideau lineage.   Another full 1/3 were of unknown (crossbred) lineage and the remaining 1/3 is all the other breeds combined.

What is the advantage of using Rideau genetics?

By introducing Rideau blood into your flock you can improve the number of lambs born and weaned.   This immediately affects your bottom line as the #1 factor affecting whether your operation is to be profitable or not is # of lambs born/ewe/year .   This improvement wil be seen in the first generation of ewe lambs that are raised and their resulting pregnancies.