How many are currently raising hair breeds of sheep?

[EllieMay]

This is a very informative thread.

I hope others who raise hair sheep will chime in and share their stories.

There are a lot of us out here who are still in the investigative stage and are contemplating getting Katahdins (or another hair breed).

I, personally have decided to get some Katahdins next Spring. I would like to have them for meat, lawn mowing, and breeding/selling.

I read the posts here to gleen nformation and tips from people who are or have raised hair sheep.

Okay . . . 'nuf said.

Back to reading . . .

 

[bigshawn]

I too am very interested in hair sheep, I too have settled on Katahdins to start with seems the best way to go for a newbe like myself, easy care meat sheep............

 

[Beekissed]

Here are a few articles you may be interested in:

http://www.farmingmagazine.com/print-1160.aspx

http://www.grownlocalok.com/news/grown-local-ok-history-of-katahdin-sheep-hair-and-meat-sheep

http://www.painteddesertsheepsociety.com/

http://www.ansi.okstate.edu/breeds/sheep/royalwhite/index.htm

http://www.ansi.okstate.edu/breeds/sheep/stcroix/index.htm

http://www.ansi.okstate.edu/breeds/sheep/dorper/index.htm

http://www.blackbellysheep.org/

Anyone own any other hair breeds and want to share info about them, please feel free to do so!

 

[bigshawn]

Here are a few articles you may be interested in:

http://www.farmingmagazine.com/print-1160.aspx

http://www.grownlocalok.com/news/grown-local-ok-history-of-katahdin-sheep-hair-and-meat-sheep

http://www.painteddesertsheepsociety.com/

http://www.ansi.okstate.edu/breeds/sheep/royalwhite/index.htm

http://www.ansi.okstate.edu/breeds/sheep/stcroix/index.htm

http://www.ansi.okstate.edu/breeds/sheep/dorper/index.htm

http://www.blackbellysheep.org/

Anyone own any other hair breeds and want to share info about them, please feel free to do so!

Thank you so much I'm on them right now.............

 

[carolinagirl]

I got hair sheep because I did not want goats again and did not want to deal with wool. I originally chose Barbados Blackbelly sheep. They are gorgeous animals, VERY hardy (I have not dewormed them yet) and the meat is very lean. On the downside, they are slow to grow and are very flighty. I have 6 ewes and a ram, and also a little baby ram lamb who will be my replacement ram next year. I decided I'd also like a breed of sheep that matured faster and larger so I got Katahdins. I have a ram and 6 ewes. I'll be breeding all of my ewes in December. Katahdins are very hardy (especially as compared to goats) but not as hardy as the blackbelly sheep. They are also very easy to handle. All of these sheep are a breeze to care for! I give them a little supplemental feed in the evening to get them to come into the paddock (the feed is half all-stock and half alfalfa pellets)and hay only.

 

[boykin2010]

I chose hair sheep because i am lazy and didnt want to shear the wool. It also doesnt sell for very much in my area.
I had a field that was being wasted and i decided to put sheep on it. I also eat the meat and sell lambs locally. So they are lawnmowers and meat sheep
I will have been raising them one year in January.
I have never raised another breed but I LOVE my sheep. Great mothers, meaty, friendly, productive, and great lawn mowers

I cant imagine not having sheep now. I think i will have them for the rest of my life

 

[boothcreek]

I currently have a flock of American Black Bellies(3 rams, 3 ewes), Painted Desert(1 ram, 1 ewe), European Mouflon(1 ram, 1 ewe) and a ABBXKatahdinXDorper ewe lamb destined for the freezer.

I love love love these Sheep! Never knew there was hair sheep until a friend of mine got into breeding Kats and Dorpers(4 yrs ago now), we like lamb but didn't want the wool so hair sheep seemed like an awesome Idea.
Kats and Dorpers are nice, esspecially being larger but I find their character too dependant I suppose. I am a big Fan of wild sheep or basically any of the more "primitive(we call them "wilds" here on the farm)" type of farm animal that has retained their instincts and are very independant. At least thats how I would put it, I seem to have a much easier time handling and bonding with the more wild-instinct driven types.

The KatXDorperXbarbados got her moms character(katXdorper) and I can't stand the thing(always had kat or droper crosses but none with ABB in them, I hoped it would improve the character a bit-NOT-). She is flighty, which the ABBs and Moufs are too, but they always are aware and watch and learn even when they spook and recover themselfs quick and evaluate if that reaction was appropriate or not and go from there, this ewe lamb is like all the other more domestic varieties I had so far. Non-thinking! If she spooks she runs blindly and if she gets herself in trouble she doesn't learn from it at all........

Even my mother who doesn't like the sheep much in any case says "stop getting those domestic crosses, stick with the -wilds-". No offense to any of you who keep kats and dorpers etc. I love them and when I see them at other breeders I want them every time, thats why I always end up with 1 or 2 in my flock but for how I handle and keep my sheep their temperament just doesn't fit here(oddly enough those I can never get tame or even remotely calm, but my "wilds" will mug me for attention). Just something how they react to situations compared to my other breeds is down right infuriating at times.
I don't mind the slower growth of the breeds I keep, and the smaller carcass doesn't bother us either.
They are easy going and a breeze to keep(free-range in our case). I don't worm or vaccinate unless I introduce new animals in the flock. And every couple weeks I call them in the barn for foot inspection and over all closer looks(or like right now to seperate the due-any-day girls in the stall to birth).

 

[Beekissed]

I found the same thing to be true with the St. Croix/Kat cross ewes I had....they seemed more SC than Kat, were more wild and smarter than the pure Kat I had. She was more docile and easy to work with but the SC crosses were like deer in the way they interacted with their environment. Flighty but with real purpose for it and not just running willy-nilly for no reason.

My SC crosses also developed a game with my dog wherein they would chase him and he would chase them back but the Kat never really got into the game like the wilder SC ewes.

I think the BBS are very beautiful and have noticed they make good mothers, not to mention are extremely hardy.

 

[abbylane35]

My husband and I have Katahdins. I had Dorsets when I was younger and in 4-H. I have always loved the sheep...they have such a great personality. My husband's boss has a Katahdin flock, and many of the mama's were not nursing their babies last spring, so I ended up taking 8 bottle babies to raise. He ended up taking three of them back when they were weaned, and we kept the rest. Four ewes and one ram. We sold the ram due to it being related to some of our ewes.

We are raising them mainly because we like the idea of having animals around ( I grew up on a dairy farm, and have raised sheep, chickens, ducks, ponies, and miniature horses) and we had the land to put them on. We aren't going to use our original flock for meat, but may use the offspring. We recently purchased a red Katahdin ram for breeding purposes.

I like the idea of having hair sheep because the one thing I dreaded every year with the Dorsets was the shearing.

We have had our Katahdins for a year and a half. They are easy to raise. They are babies...we often let them out of their pasture to roam around our lawn...they don't go far, and come back into their pen with a jingle of our keys...

Honestly I didn't even realize that there were hair sheep until I met my husband's boss and went to see his flock. I thought my husband was joking when he said that the sheep's hair falls off instead of needing to be sheared. They are a very docile breed, and remind me a lot of my Dorsets, minus the shearing! We haven't had any problems with our Katahdins. They have been absolutely wonderful for us so far! Hopefully we will have some babies in the spring!

However, one thing that my husband's boss has said is that some of them are GREAT mothers, and some immediately disown their babies when they are born. I know this can be true of all animals and breeds, but this is one thing that he always talks about. He has a pretty large operation (well, compared to my five) of, at times, nearly 300 sheep. I don't even know if the man sleeps during lambing season...

We even have a Rottweiler, who is about the same age as the lambs, that often roams around with them...I don't know if the dog thinks he is a sheep, or if the sheep thing they are a herd of dogs...they don't seem to mind him at all.

 

[EllieMay]

Thank you for sharing. Sounds wonderful.

We recently drove out to meet a guy who raises Katahdin sheep and we've decided to buy some from him in the Spring.

We'll get 6 ewes and a ram.

I CAN'T WAIT!