Bella Vita Farm & Fiber

CVM (California Variegated Mutant) Sheep and Romeldale Sheep

The CVM/Romeldale sheep are the same breed, just a difference in color.  The Romeldale was started in the early 1900's by A.T. Spencer.  He crossed imported New Zealand Marsh Romney rams with his Rambouillet ewes.  He wanted to increase the staple and length of the fiber on the Rambouillet, and improve the carcass quality.

The Romeldale breed was further developed by the J. K. Sexton family during the 1940s and 1950s. The criteria for selection by the Sextons were high rates of twinning, maternal ability, and non-seasonal reproduction. Other priorities included soft-handling wool, fleece weight (ten to fifteen pounds) with a grade of 60s to 64s. For many years the entire clip of the Sexton flocks was sold to Pendleton Mills, due to the high quality of the fleece.

During the 1960's, Glen Eidman, partner with the Sexton family, noticed a multi-colored ewe lamb in his purebred Romeldale flock.  Two years later, a ram lamb with the same coloration pattern was born.  So Glen crossed the two, the offspring were of the same unique coloration.  Glen continued crossing and developing this color pattern for 16 years and did not sell any of his stock of California Variegated Mutant (CVM) sheep.  When Mr. Eidman retired in 1982, only the top 2/3 of the flock was sold.  Today there are fewer than 20 breeders in the country with Mr. Eidman's CVM breed. 

 

CVM/Romeldale sheep continued

The Romeldales come in white or natural colors and can be solid or exhibit spots on their faces, ears or legs.  The natural colors range from white, taupe, gray, chocolate and black.  If the sheep has more than 3 of the color markings listed below that they are considered a CVM. 

Mature rams weigh between 225-275 pounds at maturity, while ewes range from 140-175 pounds.  Annually, each sheep grows an average of 6-12 pounds of wool with an average yield of 65%.  Staple length averages 3 to 6 inches and the Bradford count of 60 to 64.  The fleece should be bright, dense and uniform from front to britch.  The wool is soft and can be worn "next to the skin" with a well defined crimp from base to tip with no kemp present.  The variety of colors is second to none, and contrary to other sheep, the colors do not fade with age, but instead darken and the wool also gets softer.  This wool is a spinner's dream to work with and is sought after by many people in the fiber community.

Traditional CVM markings:

1.  Badger markings on face: dark eyes
2.  Badger markings on face: dark muzzle
3.  Badger markings on face: striping down sides of face
4.  Dark underbelly
5.  Dark legs: either black or brown, or both (can have white markings in this area also)
6.  Dark chest (from the chin all the way to the underbelly)
7.  Dark area under tail.

Reverse badger is all areas are light instead of the traditional black or brown and the rest of the animal's body is dark wool.

For more information or availability on CVM sheep or fleece, please contact Chris Spitzer at Yellow Creek Cottage.  Bella Vita Farm no longer has CVM sheep.