Hog Island sheep are a breed of sheep descended from animals first brought to Virginia’s Hog Island in the 18th century. During the 1930s and 1940s, storm conditions forced the island’s residents to evacuate, leaving some sheep behind. These sheep adapted to the environment free of human intervention, becoming feral.

The breed is preserved by various organizations because of its relevance to American history and its resemblance to historical American sheep. It also possesses some traits that have been somewhat lost in more modern breeds.

Breed characteristics

The Hog Island sheep are a feral breed, descended from sheep abandoned on Hog Island in the 1930s and 1940s. It is believed that the breed was descended from the Merino breed, among others, possibly the Improved Leicester or other English breeds. The sheep are relatively small but tough and hardy. Rams weigh on average 125 pounds (57 kg) and ewes 90 pounds (41 kg). Lambs are born with the spotted or speckled fleece; about 90% of adults have white fleece and 10% black. Both males and females can have horns, and about half the total population do.

The Hog Island sheep is not commonly used in modern agriculture, largely because of its endangered status and because more modern breeds have been bred for other characteristics, including maximum size and fleece yield. It is nevertheless considered important to preserve because of the insight it may give into American history and the traits it has that modern sheep might lack such as its toughness, foraging skill, efficient use of food, and easy lambing.

History

Hog Island was colonized in the 17th century. The sheep that colonists would have been using at the time would have been the contemporary English breeds, but Merinos were known to roam the barrier islands, taken there by Spanish ships that wrecked and let the sheep loose. The colonists would have used some combination of these sheep in their flocks.

As an island, Hog Island had open space and lacked predators, therefore the colonists allowed their livestock to roam free, rounding them up only to mark them or to use them for meat or wool. In 1933 a hurricane destroyed most of the island; the inhabitants abandoned the settled areas and many sheep were left to fend for themselves, reverting to a feral state. The Nature Conservancy bought the island in the 1970s, rounded up the sheep, and removed them to prevent overgrazing. The breed is extremely rare today; with fewer than 200 registered animals it is listed as “critical” by The Livestock Conservancy.