# What kind of sheep are these?



## Kyleesowner (May 27, 2013)

I was offered a trade for some baby goats for banded sheep. They are said to be 3 months old, but they do not know what kind they are. The person admitted to buying them from the auction they they were a few weeks old, and they have been bottle feeding them. Do they look healthy? Would they be good sheep for a first time sheep owner? Though I have had goats about 10 yrs. 


Pics in next post


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## Kyleesowner (May 27, 2013)




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## SuburbanFarmChic (May 27, 2013)

The pictures are very small, do you have larger ones?


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## Kyleesowner (May 27, 2013)

Just got a few from the seller just uploading them. Please look here in a minute or two.  Thank you.


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## Kyleesowner (May 27, 2013)

Hopefully these are bigger


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## BrownSheep (May 27, 2013)

I would say khatahdin or some mix there of.


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## SuburbanFarmChic (May 27, 2013)

x2. They are def hair sheep.   Unless you need them as lawn mowers, their destiny is the freezer.


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## Kyleesowner (May 27, 2013)

SuburbanFarmChic said:
			
		

> x2. They are def hair sheep.   Unless you need them as lawn mowers, their destiny is the freezer.


I dont freezer anything our goats are dairy and our pets. 

Do they look heathy? They are supposed to be 3 months.


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## woodsie (May 27, 2013)

In my limited knowledge I would say Katahdin cross too...I have some dorper crosses that look similar to the black and white one, but my purebred Katadin ram as that same black and white holstein look too. I am assuming that these are older pics and not them at 3 months old - they would be small for 3 month old sheep, especially the b&w one.


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## SuburbanFarmChic (May 27, 2013)

And that's fine. Just saying that castrated boy hair sheep have 2 uses.  1) Lawn mowing pets 2) meat.  That's about it.  If you are fine with them as pets, then get them as pets. Not everybody does meat animals, I just wanted to be sure you weren't after them for fiber, because they won't have any.   


 It's hard to tell health from a photo. I am always leery of anything that comes from a sale barn. At 3 months old the won't test accurately for either CL or CAE or much else.  Those don't really show up until 6 months or so. Can't see anything but you'll have to decide for yourself.  I'd keep them in quarantine for 45 days at least if you get them and watch for coughs, parasites, hoof issues, etc.  

Worm the snot out of them and really disinfect their feet. IMO


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## Kyleesowner (May 27, 2013)

woodsie said:
			
		

> In my limited knowledge I would say Katahdin cross too...I have some dorper crosses that look similar to the black and white one, but my purebred Katadin ram as that same black and white holstein look too. I am assuming that these are older pics and not them at 3 months old - they would be small for 3 month old sheep, especially the b&w one.


I think they are current


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## SuburbanFarmChic (May 27, 2013)

As bottle babies they are prob on target.  The times we've had to bottle sheep they were always smaller than dam raised.  They're also sale barn culls so my guess is they pulled the smallest of twins,trips etc and dumped them.  They don't look thin so I wouldn't worry overly about height, especially if they are pets.


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## bcnewe2 (May 27, 2013)

The blk and wht one looks wormy. 
My sheep look Luke that, mine are dorper and katahdin crosses.
Those pics look like 2 month old sheep to me.


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## Kyleesowner (May 27, 2013)

Now they are saying the age was a guess. 

I agree with whats being said on worms and stuff.


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## Kyleesowner (May 27, 2013)

SuburbanFarmChic said:
			
		

> As bottle babies they are prob on target.  The times we've had to bottle sheep they were always smaller than dam raised.  They're also sale barn culls so my guess is they pulled the smallest of twins,trips etc and dumped them.  They don't look thin so I wouldn't worry overly about height, especially if they are pets.


Goats are the same way. I prefer dam raised. I think your right on this. They will only be pets but I still want a heathly pet that will do well.


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## woodsie (May 27, 2013)

If all you want is pets/lawnmowers they will probably do fine for you....they have healthy alert looking eyes and they are not skinny. Worm them, vaccinate them and if they are a good deal go for it. They certainly are cute enough to keep as pets!

Size is definitely an issue when you are breeding/raising for meat but if you want them for a pet you might want smaller sheep anyhow. Bottle babies definitely have more problems but I would think by 2 to 3 months you should be over the worst of the issues and bottle babies will definitely be more friendly...my dam-raised lambs don't come near me even at 2 weeks old, even though I would love to hold them as they are soooo stinkin cute!


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## SheepGirl (May 28, 2013)

The blk/wht one looks Dorper x Katahdin and the cream one looks Katahdin x St. Croix. Then again they could just be pure Katahdins. But definitely hair sheep (which means they don't produce wool). They look pretty small for 2 mos. though. I would say they are probably 5-7 wks old. Definitely older than one month, but they look younger than two.


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## BrownSheep (May 29, 2013)

For bottle babies they don't look that far off to me. I have two bottle baby weathers that are three months that aabounds bit bigger than the white guy .Not being on moms milk does take a huge toll on growth. More so on the boys than the girls in my exprience.


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## Kyleesowner (May 29, 2013)

Thank you all for your opinions/information. I have decided not to take the trade. I think id rather start my sheep ownership with some dam raised babies, or at least some Im a bit more sure about. Just not sure about these guys. And id like the person Im getting them from to be sure of their info and not change how old they are a few times.


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## bcnewe2 (May 29, 2013)

I'm not fond of bottle babies but if I wanted to start a flock and had a few it wouldn't bother their lambs.  Id be more worried about sale barn sheep. Ya never know what you'll bring home.
Maybe its  just me, but I always think I'll remember exactly when something was born but in a few months I don't remember! So I understand the changing age thing.


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