Neopolitan Acres is the hobby farm owned and operated by Robert and Angela Rountree. We moved to the rolling hills of the Missouri Ozarks in the summer of 2006 and settled into life on our small acreage. We decided our land was well suited to sheep, and so the adventure began...

I had fond childhood memories of our farm's sheep, and Robert chose to humor me. I selected Shetlands for their historical significance, small size, easy maintenance, naturally short tails and almost limitless combinations of colors and markings. I am currently breeding and culling towards my ideal Shetland: fine-boned and compact (ewes ~75lbs), with fine, silky-soft, lustrous, single to intermediate fleece of 4" to 6" staple length. I love their intelligence and personalities. I love spotted Shetlands, the flashier the better. I am enamoured of the colors mioget and emsket, and am fascinated by the gulmogets and gul-kats in any color.

We also have a tiny goat herd. We purchased a small herd of Nigerian Dwarf goats to complement our sheep, having been misinformed that sheep would only graze, and wouldn't browse on the brush and vines in our pastures. Shetland sheep can be euphemistically referred to as "excellent foragers", and don't leave any edible browse within reach of the more finicky goats. I had sold almost all the Nigies when Lilac delivered quadruplets, ranging between 1 and one-half pounds at birth, and raised all 4 without assistance. I fell in love with the tiny half-pound doeling we named Thumbelina, and we are upgrading our stock with the best herdsires available.

Today Neopolitan Acres is home to Star Grazers Shetlands, Knee Deep Nigerians and in transition to a new, larger homestead near New London, Missouri. We will be adding livestock protection dogs to our farm in the very near future. In addition to our cats, dogs, sheep and goats, we are considering heritage poultry, Dexter cattle and fallow deer. Please peruse our website and enjoy our animals along with us.