Welcome to the Valais Blacknose Sheep Society

Established in 2017 to support the development of the American Valais Blacknose Sheep, membership is open to everyone who shares a love of this unique animal.

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We aim to provide the following services to our members:

Promotion of High Breeding & Registration Standards
Member Support and Education
Encourage Youth Participation with Junior Memberships
Working with International Industry Leaders
Access to Members Only Grassroots Registry

Confidence in Elected Board Members and Registry
Newsletter Updates
Volunteer Opportunities at Shows Across the Country
Option to Display Your Farm Ad on Our Website
Visibility on the Member Roster

Be a Part of History and Join the Valais Blacknose Sheep Society!

The VBSS is excited to announce the launch of our New Online Registry Database hosted by Grassroots Registry!

Grassroots is the premier livestock breeding registry. Established in 1997, Grassroots has 20 years of pedigree livestock breeding system accountability, making it well respected in the breeding community.

Already a VBSS Member?

Use the link below to login to your Grassroots online membership account.

Grassroots Member Login

Additional Info

Use the link below to learn more about Grassroots and how to use the software.

Learn More

Upcoming Shows & Events:

Active VBSS Members can e-mail vbssinfo@gmail.com if interested in volunteering!

History of the Valais Blacknose Sheep

The Valais Blacknose sheep originate in the Valais region of Switzerland. They are a dual-purpose breed, raised for meat and wool. They are unique to the Upper Valais and are well adapted to the harsh mountain conditions, being extremely hardy, prolific and frugal.

The black on its nose, eyes, ears, knees, hocks and feet and otherwise light woolly coats make them quite unmistakeable. They have large helical or spiral shaped horns .They are good at grazing steep, rocky slopes. Both sexes are horned.

The earliest mention of the breed dates back to 1400 A.D., but they were first recognized as a separate breed in 1962.

Today, the Swiss herdbooks include almost 13,700 animals. The breed was exclusively raised in Switzerland until imported to the British Isles in 2013 and 2014 by several interested breeders. Importation to the US is being pursued through an upgrading program using semen collected from purebred Valais Blacknose Sheep beginning in fall of 2016.

The VBSS respectfully acknowledges the generations of work that have gone in to developing the Valais Blacknose Sheep in Switzerland and has adopted the Standard of Type from the Swiss time tested standards of selection.