Sheepfarmer22 ~ My Sheep and I

[Sheepfarmer22]

@4-Hgirl do you show chickens?

 

[4-Hgirl]

@4-Hgirl do you show chickens?

i love showing chickens! I have gotten Grand Champion Poultry at county fair in 2022 and 2023 this year I am going to show anywhere from 12-20 chickens and I have 40 chickens in my flock that is both bantam and standard. I have 23 standards and the rest are bantams

 

[Baymule]

If you join KHSI, then you will get the magazine 4 times a year, you may find breeders near you. If you are going to move to registered Katahdins, you can use the ewes you have and breed to a registered ram.

 

[Sheepfarmer22]

I will probably join KHSI as I get bigger into the sheep. Soon.

 

[Sheepfarmer22]

I just figured out day-before-yesterday... Laney (the ewe I got on the deal) is a mix! She is 50% Katahdin and 50% Dorper!! That explains why the lamb born in March looks much better than both parents, because it is 25% Dorper, 25% Katahdin, and 50% Barbados, a three-way cross!!!

 

[Sheepfarmer22]

It's raining right now..
The sheep have houses but some seem to be enjoying running around in the rain and mud. I just gave them a bath too!!
We make Pallet-Palaces with wooden pallets, and the other day the sheep knocked the back wall down by shedding on it.. We fixed it yesterday.
Laney and Noel are with the ram right now. Put them several weeks ago. Expecting a Christmas lamb!! However, some sources are telling me that rams are sterile during hot months of June/July and sometimes August. What are you opinions and experience, shepherds?

 

[Baymule]

It’s a toss up. The summer solstice has happened, days are starting to shorten which turns on reproductive activity in our sheep. Some rams may have a little difficulty with the heat, some don’t. Just make sure there is shade and plenty of fresh cool water.

I realized this one summer when my ewes night pen was next to my ram. They shamelessly flung themselves at the cow panel between them. I had the good sense to put a half cow panel gate in the middle of the divider, so opened it and shoved the ewes through. Poor ram’s tongue was hanging out, but he bred every one of them, daily! One day he had two who were clamoring for his attention. I thought he was gonna die. He didn’t, and he was fertile. Don’t ask me how, it was scorching July and August in Texas heat. Go figure.

 

[Sheepfarmer22]

Funny story for everybody's coffee this morning:
A couple of months ago, while I was feeding the sheep, the stampede was running to me! Then, I quickly had to drop the feed bucket by the troft to do something somewheres, I forgot what.. When I returned, I was observing Petunia, a Katahdin that was only 3 months old at the time, was stumbling around looking for more food. She looked over the feed bucket that I had left and had a good thought.. Now take note that our feed buckets are gallon milk jugs with the top cut off. She was sure there was more food in there! So she slipped her perfectly sized head in the bucket as she smelled the food crumbs... She got the food alright! Before I could say "Look!", she was running around with that bucket stuck on her head, bumping and stumbling on everything! The other sheep kinda looked at her dumbfounded and curious, tilting their heads. Petunia was just walking all over them blind! Now ofcourse she was fine and I could get the bucket off her head effortlessly (after she got tired of running). The point is: Seeing (or in this case smelling!) isn't everything!

 

[Baymule]

That there is funny!

 

[Sheepfarmer22]

I raise Katahdins, I love them! I am enrolled in their breed up program. I had some nice ewes, bred them to a registered ram. First generation is recorded as 50%. Breed first generation to a registered ram and that offspring can be recorded as 75%. Breed the second generation to a registered ram and that offspring is 87.5% and is eligible for full registration at 1 year old, providing it passes the hair coat inspection. That requires for that sheep to shed out naturally, no helping by pulling off winter wool. I have a ewe that was a year old last year, but the baby fuzz stubbornly hung on! I recorded her as 87,5% but could not register her. So this year she is shedding out beautifully plus has a ewe lamb. So once i get Beauty registered, I can register her lamb and I'll have 2 registered ewes! I'm excited about that. I have two other 75% ewes that had ewe lambs, so excited to watch those lambs grow up!

KHSI, Katahdin Hair Sheep International.
www.katahdins.org

Hey everyone! Sorry I haven't been active in my journal recently.. I had made 1st place in record keeping in my Parish and am hustling to work on it and get it in for State Contest! Also working with deworming and helping my mom with hogs.. Trying to make things fit

Thanks for educating me about registering >3rd generation lambs! Today, I picked up two ewes in Church Point, Louisiana that are first generation registered. The sire to these ewes is a registered Katahdin Ram. The ewe lambs were born March 9th and March 11th. Their names are Salt and Pepper and they have some amazing relative history!

The grandfather to these ewes was reserve champion for the State Championship (Louisiana) in a recent year (I forgot). The great grand father *drumroll* was the 2014 North American International Livestock Exposition Grand Champion Ram! His name was Red Haute.

I am pretty confident in Salt and Pepper and will be looking for a registered ram to get 2nd and then another ram to get 3rd generation. Am also getting deeper into KHSI. It will take time but I think it's worth it! Anyways, thanks Baymule for letting me know, otherwise I would have 0 clue on what to do with these ewes. I would be thinking "Woo hoo I got some lambs from ONLY the registered ram and not a ewe and they make as much chance of registered offspring as much as the other ones! Now I am ready!!!