History of Our Sheep

In 1979, Jonathan May of Maymont Farm in Timberville, VA imported 10 CSSNZ Registered Ewes (5 from the North Island and 5 from the South Island of New Zealand) along with 2 CSSNZ Registered Single Entry Rams to the United States. Jon's flock was the only flock ever to be registered in New Zealand. He spent two years in study at Massey University, NZ and stayed with Philson and Judy Sherriff of Pine Park Station in Marton on the North Island. Philson Sherriff was instrumental in the development of the Coopworth Sheep.

In 1984, Hope Yankey of Wild 'n' Woolly Farm in Mathias, WV purchased 10 yearling F1's from Jon. Among those yearlings was "Cookie", who is considered the Matriarch by Hope, as she was 1st of 1000 yearling ewes pulled by Jon and Hope, and produced TOP RANKED ewes in both wool and lamb throughout her life.

With her husband, Bev, Hope took over the management of Jon’s Coopworths in 1991 and continued to record and select, based on performance analysis, only those sheep worthy of breeding status. New Zealand sired rams obtained from Don Gnos and Maria Rooney (descended from imported ewes bred to OSU registered rams or AI’ed using NZOSR semen) were used to bring new bloodlines into the flock as needed.

Mission

Our mission at Malik Family Farm is to preserve the standards of the breed just as Jonathan May and Hope and Bev Yankey did before us. Strict adherence to the New Zealand CSSNZ Coopworth breed criteria has been maintained for all 40+ years. The Maymont / Wild ’n’ Woolly Coopworth sheep were bred for lambing percentages >200%; easy and unassisted lambing; excellent mothering; strong-willed, get-up-and-go lambs; hardiness and worm/dag resistance; easily handled, docile temperaments; and exceptionally white, lustrous, 6-10” long-stapled, 8-20+ lbs. heavily-fleeced, 35-39 micron, well-defined, soft and even crimped wool. We purchased our first Coopworth ewes and lambs from Hope and Bev Yankey in 2018 and have since purchased or leased rams from them. We now own and manage all highly selected ewes and rams maintained by Wild ’n’ Woolly (now Wilding Woolly Farm) for excellence in breed character and performance. These sheep retain the stocky, deeply bodied, black-tipped noses, and black hooves of the foundation New Zealand Coopworth Sheep of the 1960’s and 1970’s.