The Canadian Arcott breed is the second in our special 'made in Canada' breed study. Like the Rideau Arcott the breed was developed by the Agricultural Research Centre of Ottawa (ARCOTT) between the 1960's and 1980's. The Canadian Arcott was created using the Suffolk, Ile-de-France, Leicester, North Country Cheviot and Romnelet genetics. The breed is generally used as a meat breed in Canada, and are often described as being short and thick. They can adapt to either pasture based operations or confinement farming operations. The breed is almost always white, but they often have mottled coloured faces.
The Development of Canadian Arcott Sheep
If you want to read more about the development of the various Arcott breeds, check out this document from Agriculture Canada
Canadian Arcott Sheep from Dusty Ridge Ranch
The wool from the Canadian Arcott can be variable. Within a flock the wool can be quite different, and defining the breed standard can be a bit challenging. In general, Canadian Arcott wool is considered a medium wool, and can be enjoyable to work with both as a spinner or a knitter/crocheter.
The wool has beautiful lustre and will produce beautiful results if dyed. Canadian Arcott wool is white, although their faces have some mottling/colour.
Canadian Arcott wool will be a great choice for clothing like sweater, mittens, hats and even blankets. It has a rounded, full bodied feel to it, and will work great for textured pieces or cables.
Staple length: 2.5 - 3.5" inches
Fibre diameter: 24 - 24 microns
Fleece weight is between 4.5 - 5.5lbs
Form:Rectangular, blocky locks with defined crimp
Canadian Arcott wool - raw (not washed)
We source our Canadian Arcott wool from Sherry & Harold Bosma from Dusty Ridge Ranch. They farm both Canadian Arcott and Tunis sheep and have a large commercial flock.
I got to know Sherry and Harold in 2019 when I went to show Sherry how to skirt and sort fleeces. We had such a fantastic day and now I try to go to as many of their shearing as possible.
Sherry is also a fantastic tanner of sheepskins - you can check out their farm facebook here.
Dusty Ridge Ranch
I had the pleasure of joining Harold and Sherry for an Agriculture in the Classroom video tour of their farm and Q&A of our mill. You can check it out here:
Leg Warmers - In the Weeds Pattern by Melissa Labarre (to make these with one skein make them a one lace repeat shorter on each leg warmer)