The Worlds Smallest Breed of Sheep

A Garole Ewe - breed average weight 12-15kgs

Certainly the record holder would depend on many  factors and there would be several contenders but there is one thing that all these  diminuative breeds of sheep have in common and that is adaptation to environment. Outside of breeds miniaturised such a babydolls - we are talking about native breeds that are naturally small, that have  adapted for environmental conditions and as such the selection process is a natural one.

The Garole demonstrates in no small measure how valuable these breeds and their adaptations can be from an environmental and scientific point of view.

Not only does the breed survive in wetland conditions that would finish off most breeds of sheep through footrot alone, they have the booroola fecundity gene. This coupled with bi-annual lambings makes them highly prolific. It also puts paid to the assumption that Ouessants only produce single lambs as they would be incapable of carrying twins due to their size.  Clearly small sheep can carry twins or even triplets or quads in the case of the Garole but the lush abundant vegetation means that Garole lambs are not dependant on the ewe for milk beyond a very short period following birth,  allowing the ewe to maintain a high fertility rate.

The genetics which provide these sheep with the tools for survival in such climatic conditions may not be the same in the Ouessant sheep but the Ouessant does show   adaptation to environmental conditions.These, often marginal breeds  maintain a living reservoir for the future and whilst some traits may be obvious and have apparent applications others such as disease resistance maybe less obvious but equally as valuable. Already the Garole has been  subject to a number of cross breeding programmes and scientific studies to exploit an  economical advantage. Studies in the Soay have already demonstrated the environmental advantage to  maintaining a heterogenous population and that adaptations may not always be readily apparent and could in the short term be considered counter productive. It may  take a little work to see if its possible to tease out some of the secrets of the Ouessants adaptation to the environment  but there are enough clues.