Romeldales are a rare breed of sheep developed in the United States the early 1900’s from crossing Marsh Romney rams with the Rambouillet breed, which is known for its fine wool. The breed was developed by A. T. Spencer to improve the staple length of the wool and the meat quality, so they are a dual purpose breed. About fifty years after the Romeldale breed was started, a few lambs were born with a badger type color pattern in a flock owned by Glen Eidman, who bred these colored sheep to bring about the CVM subcategory of the Romeldale breed (see our ewe, Grace, in the center of the photo). CVM stands for California Varigated Mutant, which is not the most attractive name for these adorable sheep. They are generally known as “CVM” for short. Their wool is very soft, with a Bradford count around 60s, and a fine/high crimp. All CVM’s are Romeldales, but not all Romeldales are CVM’s, which is just more descriptive of the color pattern, as they are otherwise similar in all other traits.
CVM/Romeldales are considered critically endangered by
The American Livestock Breeds Conservancy.
You can find out more information about Romeldales and CVM’s from the following websites:
