RAVENNA, Ohio - Dangling strands of curly white wool, spiral horns, and a sprout of curly white bangs create a striking contrast with black markings on the face, ears, ankles and knees of what’s been called the “world’s cutest sheep.” Valais Blacknose sheep, a relatively new breed to the United States, are prized for their friendly, pet-like disposition, as well as their endearing appearance.

According to Fred Hayes, owner of Valais Blacknose of Lovers Lane in Ravenna: “If you Google ‘the world’s cutest sheep,’ that’s what comes up.” That’s what caught Hayes’ attention. “I’ve been around livestock since I was 10, and I’ve done everything on a small scale – I’ve had goats and my kids were in 4-H; I was in 4-H – this breed just intrigued me,” he said.

Since Valais Blacknose were not available in the United States, Fred and his wife, Cheryl, visited the United Kingdom. After attending a sheep show and visiting several flocks, they were taken with the breed. “Their disposition is so much different than a domestic sheep,” Fred said. “Their personality – they do have one – they’re just so friendly.”

The breed was introduced in the U.S in 2018 through frozen semen, followed by frozen embryos in 2019. That’s when Fred got involved.

“In 2018, they only allowed frozen semen to come across from New Zealand and the UK, so everybody started the breed-up program,” Hayes said. “Then in 2019, you could bring embryos, and that’s what we did.”

Because full-blood sheep could not initially be imported, breeders used a “breed-up” process. This involves breeding a full-blood Valais Blacknose ram with domestic ewes.

The “breed-up” program tracks genetic progress in sheep through five generations using the F-Scale (F1-F5). Fred explained the process he followed. “I took Scottish Blackface and some Suffolk-Hamp cross ewes – I took 25 of them – and then I artificially inseminated them so that the offspring would be an F1, which is 50 percent. And then to get the F2, you take the F1 ewes and breed that to a full-blood ram and so on and so on.”

A fifth-generation breed-up, or F5, is considered an American Purebred with a genetic percentage of approximately 97 percent.

Valais Blacknose of Lovers Lane relies on artificial insemination rather than natural mating to accelerate the growth of the flock and maintain high genetic standards. This also gives Fred access to diverse, high-quality genetics (via frozen semen) without needing to own or transport multiple rams.

After the initial use of embryo transfers in 2019, Fred now breeds his ewes through flushing: The process of stimulating a high-quality ewe to release multiple eggs, which are then fertilized and “flushed” out to be implanted into other surrogate ewes and IVF (In Vitro Fertilization). Eggs are retrieved directly from the ewe and fertilized in a lab setting before being transferred back to a recipient.

This allows a single high-value ewe to produce many more offspring per year than she could through natural lambing. “We did a lot of IVF in September, November and December, and out of that, we have 10 ewes, I think, four of them are having twins,” Fred said.

Despite the Hayes’ prior sheep experience, Valais Blacknose posed different challenges than other breeds. “They’re a high-maintenance breed, in the aspect of you have to shear them twice a year,” Fred said. “They come from the Swiss Alps, and the atmosphere is so much different compared to Ohio, Florida, Texas, California...the weather’s kind of hard on them.”

Originally bred in Switzerland as meat and wool producers, the Valais Blacknose has not yet reached dual-purpose status in the U.S. There are currently only about 1,000 in the U.S., and they are primarily sold as high-value breeding stock rather than for meat or commercial wool.

Prices as high as $10,000-$30,000 for purebred breeding stock hamper widespread access to the breed. “We haven’t got to the point where they’re a dual-purpose breed, “Fred said. “Some people will – at least the rams – sell them as pets.”

Twice-yearly shearing provides value-added income from their wool, which increases in value after processing. “They’re more of a fine wool breed, and just being so unique, you know, people value Valais Blacknose wool,” Fred said.

Recognized by the Ohio Sheep Improvement Association, Valais Blacknose are cropping up at shows around the state and the nation. “They will go into a class called AOB, which is ‘All Other Breeds,’ Fred said. “They’ll go with the fine wool breeds and colored breeds of sheep.”

They are primarily being shown by breeders, not as club lambs. “It’s not the club lamb thing,” Fred said. “People are showing breeding stock. This breed would not be able to compete in the market lamb show. They’re just not there yet.”

Hayes sees the number of breeders growing in the Midwest. “I know there’s a couple of breeders in Ohio that have a handful, there’s somebody that I talked to regularly in Iowa; he’s got quite a few, and a couple of people in Indiana,” he said. He’s also moving the breed further south.  “I sold 16 to a family in Florida this spring.”

The Valais Blacknose Sheep Society (VBSS) states there were nearly 500 purebreds and over 3,000 in upgrade programs in the U.S. in 2025. The VBSS had over 600 members by 2025, with many actively breeding, indicating a strong interest and growing numbers.