Hillside is the farm name and flock prefix for Jacob Sheep bred by Gary and Dianne Anderson of Sparta, Michigan. We have bred and raised Jacobs for more than 30 years. The name “Hillside” was selected during a period we lived in the flat, hill-less Central Valley of California and with a particular site in mind where we intended to retire someday. “Someday” arrived in 2007, when we retired from our positions at the University of California, Davis and relocated to Gary’s home state of Michigan. Our sheep graze the rolling hills of West Michigan in Michigan’s lower peninsula. Our house and barns were built on 20 acres that were part of Gary’s family farm.
Gary retired as Distinguished Professor from a career of research and teaching at the University of California, Davis. Dianne retired as Associate Director of Service, Veterinary Genetics Laboratory, at the University of California, Davis. Our careers inspire our interests in and dedication to preservation of Jacob Sheep, a heritage breed. Little did we know when we decided in the early 1990s to raise Jacob sheep that their hardiness, strong maternal instincts, and vigorous lambs would fit so well with our busy careers.
Rams and ewes in our flock are registered through the Jacob Sheep Breeders Association. We believe that recording pedigrees contributes to preservation of this rare breed. We emphasize good fleece quality in our breeding and selection programs and garner positive responses from fiber artists who use our fleeces in their artistry.
Each year, our ewes are bred in November to lamb in April; their lambs are available to go to new homes during the summer. We economically price our lambs to reduce obstacles to joining the community of Jacob breeders and becoming a conservator of the Jacob breed. Our lambs are of high quality but not high price! Please contact us ([email protected]) for further information.
Please check the links to photos on our sale pages, which include ewe lambs, ram lambs, and occasionally adult ewes.
Finally, our previous website provider was taken by aliens, leaving us without access to the website we established in 2008. On short notice, we launched our current website to provide available photos of our 2024 lambs. We consider our website to be “under construction,” which is how it will be for a while. We will “spruce up” our website with time.
Gary retired as Distinguished Professor from a career of research and teaching at the University of California, Davis. Dianne retired as Associate Director of Service, Veterinary Genetics Laboratory, at the University of California, Davis. Our careers inspire our interests in and dedication to preservation of Jacob Sheep, a heritage breed. Little did we know when we decided in the early 1990s to raise Jacob sheep that their hardiness, strong maternal instincts, and vigorous lambs would fit so well with our busy careers.
Rams and ewes in our flock are registered through the Jacob Sheep Breeders Association. We believe that recording pedigrees contributes to preservation of this rare breed. We emphasize good fleece quality in our breeding and selection programs and garner positive responses from fiber artists who use our fleeces in their artistry.
Each year, our ewes are bred in November to lamb in April; their lambs are available to go to new homes during the summer. We economically price our lambs to reduce obstacles to joining the community of Jacob breeders and becoming a conservator of the Jacob breed. Our lambs are of high quality but not high price! Please contact us ([email protected]) for further information.
Please check the links to photos on our sale pages, which include ewe lambs, ram lambs, and occasionally adult ewes.
Finally, our previous website provider was taken by aliens, leaving us without access to the website we established in 2008. On short notice, we launched our current website to provide available photos of our 2024 lambs. We consider our website to be “under construction,” which is how it will be for a while. We will “spruce up” our website with time.