"...when the last individual of a race of living things breathes no more, another Heaven and another Earth must pass before such a one can be again."
-William Beebe

Barbados Blackbelly

The Barbados Blackbelly is a hair sheep breed that evolved on the island of Barbados in the Caribbean. The breed descends from hair sheep of West Africa and European wooled breeds that were brought to the Caribbean Islands beginning in the mid 1600s. The Barbados is part of the family of Caribbean Hair sheep breeds attracting interest in a variety of agricultural systems.

Barbados Blackbellies thrive in the hot, humid environments that are challenging for most sheep. Barbados reproduce nonseasonally, meaning that they breed and lamb year round, and the ewes maintain pregnancies through the heat of the summer. The ewes are prolific, producing twins or triplets. Barbados are excellent foragers and highly resistant to parasites and diseases.

The breed is reddish brown or tan on the body, with black on the belly and legs and black bars on the head. Rams have a mane of thick hair that extends down the neck and brisket and may cover the shoulder. Ears point forward from the side without drooping. Sheep of both sexes are usually polled. Ewes weigh 100–150 pounds, and rams 175–200 pounds. This relatively small body size has been favored by both natural and human selection in the Caribbean. Smaller sheep tolerate heat more easily, and the smaller carcasses are desirable from the farmers’ point of view, especially when refrigeration is lacking.

The first documented importation of Barbados sheep into the United States occurred in 1904. The sheep attracted the most interest in Texas, where they have been loosely managed, often crossed with Mouflons (a feral horned sheep) and selected as game animals with large sets of horns. Though this practice has dramatically increased the number of Barbados type sheep in the United States, it has also made the population genetically variable. For example, most of the Texas sheep are now horned and smaller in size than the original island type.

This lack of genetic consistency has been a major obstacle to the characterization of the Barbados Blackbelly. The breed has also suffered from the lack of a breed association and registry to maintain pedigree records and promote the sheep for use in agriculture.

In the 1970s, Dr. Lemmuel Goode of North Carolina State University imported a small number of Barbados sheep directly from the island. Sheep from this importation have been the foundation for pure island type Barbados sheep in the United States. Though this type represents a very small portion of the total Barbados sheep population, it is the genetically consistent part of the breed and merits conservation. The number of Barbados sheep in Barbados is not known, but is estimated at a few thousand.

Prospects for the Barbados breed in the United States are improving. The strong market for hair sheep, both here and in other countries, has given encouragement to those who want to maintain the island type of Barbados. Interest in an association and registry for the breed has also increased. The Barbados clearly deserves such attention. Its African origin (unusual in the Americas) and adaptation to tropical climates (unusual for sheep) gives the breed significant genetic value and production importance.

Status: Recovering

Breed clubs and associations:
American Livestock Breeds Conservancy, P.O. Box 477, Pittsboro, NC 27312, (919) 542 5704, e-mail: albc@albc-usa.org, web: www.albc-usa.org

Barbados Blackbelly Sheep Association International, 3607 Scenic Valley Dr, Kingwood, TX 77345, (281) 360-2949, secretary@blackbellysheep.org, www.blackbellysheep.org