The primary product from the Jacob
sheep is the superbly flavoured meat, lean, succulent and tender,
there is nothing to touch it for farm gate sales and satisfied
customers who came back for more, year after year.
The natural colours of the Jacob fleece
allow many shades to be spun without the use of dyes, providing
a wholly natural product well suited to the 'luxury' end of the
market. Good quality, clean fleeces are in demand from hand-spinners,
and the range of commercially spun wools, whether entirely from
your own flock, or as part of a share spin-scheme, open up many
possibilities for adding value to your wool clip.
Cured Jacob skins make excellent small
rugs, and for the ambitious can be crafted into interesting and
unique articles of clothing. There are small
tanneries around
the country which will deal with small quantities, for those not
brave enough to have a go themselves.
A small, but significant, product,
the horns of the mature Jacob ram, when available, are in demand
from the craftsmen carvers of traditional walking sticks and crooks.