Meet the Sheep

sheep

Baaaah! The four new sheep (and the pioneers) at the 1880 High Desert Homestead are waiting to meet you.

It is the year 1880 at the re-created ranch, and the Blair family of homesteaders, bought the young sheep from a Willamette Valley outfitter passing through en route to summer grazing on the slopes of the Cascades.

In these times, ranchers have preferred raising sheep instead of cattle because it is more profitable. The number of sheep ranches in the Willamette, Deschutes and Ochoco regions are growing to meet the demand for cheap mutton in the mining camps of John Day, Baker City and the Idaho Territory.

Sarah Blair's husband is typically not at the homestead because he is away trading horses, so she decided that she will see how much she can earn raising sheep.  "Ideally, I will be able to sell whatever wool I can shear in the fall," she said.

Stop by and find out more about the challenges of life on the frontier.