anyone have experience with Katahdin hair sheep?

[bibliophile birds]

there is a herd of Katahdin hair sheep for sale near me, but i don't know much about them. does anyone have them? how do they rank in milk production? what about butterfat content? from what i'm reading, they sound like a really nice breed, but i haven't found ANY information on their milking abilities.

thanks!

 

[big brown horse]

Bee and I have kats.

They are an awesome breed of sheep, very parasite resistant and for a meat breed, very "milky". I'll be milking mine this time next year. You probably wont be getting the amount of milk as you would from a fancy dairy sheep...but they produce a fair amount of good milk from what I've read and from what Bee tells me. (Thanks Bee, by the way.)

They are supposed to be fantastic meat breeds and the offspring is usually easy to sell...at least over here in the PNW they are.

 

[Farmfresh]

I toured a Katahdin farm this spring. Very meaty, very friendly, according to the farmer very good lambers and great milkers as well. I am hoping to buy a couple in the near future.

 

[bibliophile birds]

I am hoping to buy a couple in the near future.

how near? this sale is 1 ram and 29 ewes (aged 9 months to 4 years) plus 10 lambs for $3500. it sounds like a really great price to me @ ~$88/sheep, but i seriously don't need 40 sheep right now. the seller is only interested in selling them as a mob, though, so i'd need to sell some on.

Missouri isn't so far away from E TN, right?

 

[Beekissed]

That's a great price at $88 per, unless the bulk of the herd are the 4 yr. olds....even yet, still a good price, considering what they go for here.

I don't think you will find any info on them as a milking sheep, as they are typically a meat breed. As far as dual-purpose, I guess they would be as good as any meat breed....I'll let you know when my Mo springs a lamb here soon if they bag up nice.

The farmer who I purchased my sheep from had a huge lamb crop of twins and triplets this year....said it was the best lamb year he has ever had. I think he had 90 + lambs and only had to bottle feed 3 that were trips. One of these ewes had a dud teat, but the rest of the sheep fed their triplets just fine.

I am very pleased with the Kats I have...very sweet, very pretty, easy livestock to have. I fed 2 sheep and a calf all winter on about 15 bales of hay and they came out of the winter fat and sassy.

I haven't had to worm them since I got them last June...just used soap, garlic, pumpkins, etc. as natural de-wormers.

If you would like to see pics of mine, you can see them on BYH on my sheep journal.

BBH, they WERE a good choice, weren't they?

 

[Farmfresh]

Unfortunately not THAT near. I still have a lot of variables to work out ... like pasture for instance. I just can't pitch them out in my tiny backyard.

 

[bibliophile birds]

Unfortunately not THAT near. I still have a lot of variables to work out ... like pasture for instance. I just can't pitch them out in my tiny backyard.

hmmm, maybe i could board them for you for a small fee.........

i seriously don't think i'll be able to get these anyway. even with selling some on, it's a big investment straight off the bat. i was thinking i'd start with 4 and go from there... so 40 is a bit of a leap. the deal just sounded so good that i hate to pass it up.

 

[kcsunshine]

Maybe he'd be more amiable to selling you about 4 if he has problems selling them as a lot. I'd keep in touch with him.

 

[bibliophile birds]

maybe... that's a good idea. you wouldn't want to go in with me on a mob of sheep now would your Karen? i'll keep them at my place, which will give you lots of excuses to come visit Ricky and Lucy...

eta: or you could put a couple in your yard! i bet the neighbors wouldn't even notice!

 

[Farmfresh]

OR you could look up a local animal auction and sell off the spares there. Or even just a Craigslist ad. It would be nice to turn a little profit on a deal like that, but you would have to have a place to keep the lot for a while.