When I remove grass, I don't do so in order to replace it with a different cultivar of grass, I put in another flower/veggie bed/conifer bed instead. My goal is to pretty much get rid of all lawn grass - and all annual grasses (ha, wish me luck with that!) - so that the only grasses in my garden are the lovely ornamental grasses. I've been working towards this goal for about 20 years now.

So, I obviously don't know anything about sheep fescue but from what I just read it seems as if it would be a good alternative to Kentucky Bluegrass, etc. in terms of drought tolerance and hardiness. Not sure what you use this area of your yard for, but one thing to take note of is that the leaves are supposed to be rather tough and sharp, so, at least from that description, probably not the turf grass on which you would want to go barefooting! Also, it apparently isn't good for high traffic areas as it doesn't tolerate a lot of foot traffic - recommended for a naturalized area with wildflowers and such scattered through it.

Here is some info about fine fescue grasses, including sheep fescue, from the Colorado Extension Service which you might find helpful: Fine Fescue For Lawns.

Holly

I have a steambank, western wheatgrass, sheep fescue mix. I like it. It's the first yard to be green in spring, I let it brown some with minimal but deep watering in mid-summer, and then it looks great in fall again. I don't mow or water near as often as my neighbors but it doesn't look as lush (more native looking). I could probably keep it green with more water in the hot weeks. I looked at the plots at Arkansas Valley Seed. I planted in fall and it came up ok but it did better when I'd seed right before a snowstorm in spring.

Thanks for the comments! I will seed with a cabin mix (Sodar streambank, crested wheatgrass, and sheep fescue) in a month due to my last Glycophophate application. Kudos to you Rossnagle for using the western wheatgrass since it is native to the West. The salesperson at Wheatland Seed said the three grasses in cabin mix work well together.

I do have a Kentucky blue grass/perennial rye grass front yard so I will do my barefootin' there and save on water and maintenance with a dryland turf in the back!

Thank you Holly for the reference to the CO extension service article on fine fescues. I use information from Denver Water and the extension services from UT and WY and find it very helpful.