Are St. Croix Proven More Resistant Than Other Caribbean Breeds?

I've been seeing a lot of hype about the St. Croix breed. Their parasite resistance is touted as is their hoof health. I don't think the breed is available in Peru. We do have the Pelibuey and Barbados Black Belly. I don't see why these two breeds would be any less resistant than the St. Croix, since they were all descended from West African sheep (Pelibuey is believed to be descended from the West African Dwarf breed) and bred for centuries in essentially the same climate in the Caribbean. Have their been any studies comparing these caribbean breeds?

With my own sheep, I think that both St Croix and Barbados Black Belly have about the same level of parasite resistance. I had Dorpers for awhile but they were really difficult to maintain because they suffered quickly from parasites. I eventually sold off the pure dorpers, but I still have a ram that is 1/4 dorper. Both the St Croix and the black bellies do well for me in the tropics. The main difference is that the black bellies taste better to us.

I am thrilled to hear about the Barbados Black Belly sheep; it sounds like what I have been looking for (we are in Missisppi; I have been in Barbados, MS is HOTTER)...

The big question I have now is, does anyone in the Continental US have these for sale?  Or, at all?  Both posters are from outside the Cont. US...

Any help appreciated.  Thanks! Betsy

Betsy Carraway wrote:I am thrilled to hear about the Barbados Black Belly sheep; it sounds like what I have been looking for (we are in Missisppi; I have been in Barbados, MS is HOTTER)...

The big question I have now is, does anyone in the Continental US have these for sale?  Or, at all?  Both posters are from outside the Cont. US...

Any help appreciated.  Thanks! Betsy

I have seen Barbados Black Belly on occasion on FB groups or Craigslist here in the PNW.  They're around, but may or may not be available within a reasonable distance to you in Mississippi.

You might find this parasite info interesting:  https://www.blackbellysheep.org/about-the-sheep/articles/resistance-to-internal-parasites/

I don't think there is a lot of hard evidence that any of the carribean types vary all that much in resistance across the board.  I think this particular study showed that it varied year by year, but they all had better resistance than dorpers or other types of sheep.

I had Katahdins, they were pretty hardy and all around easy to maintain.  I don't know how they would have compared to another breed though!

Selecting a good breed to start with helps, but IMO management is 80% of keeping healthy sheep. Keep culling the bottom 10-20% and you'll have a strong flock. I found it took a year or two for my flock to really start to thrive in my system and those that didn't aren't here anymore.