Opinion on the age of this katahdin sheep?

[MMGardens]

My friend got a supposed katahdin, but maybe mixed ewe who was supposed to be a year or more old when she got her on Feb 14 2024


I ended up with this sheep in April


She seemed really small to me so I measured and weighed her and she was 45 lbs and 20 inches at the shoulders


By June she was up to 65 lbs which seemed to be quite a big jump in weight to me for a sheep that old, so I spoke with the vet and they thought either she had a high parasite load (which she didn’t per her fecal) or she wasn’t being fed well in her previous homes


I also had the vet come look at her in June and give me his opinion on wether or not she could be safely bred being so small, and he said essentially not unless I wanted c sections


It’s now Nov 2024 and I just measured her again, 86 lbs and 23.5 inches at the shoulders


I’m wondering now if maybe she was likely just younger and still growing a lot? Is it usual for ewes to grow so much at this age?


I was inclined to believe she was Probably not a younger lamb because she came to me with a full winter coat that she shed and my December 2023 born hair sheep still had his baby coat even this year in August


Her size now and comparing her to my other girls also doesn’t seem inappropriate for breeding now, especially to a fine boned ram in my opinion, but the vet did say it would be better if she had twins so the babies would be smaller


Opinions? Is it likely she was younger than they said, or was she maybe stunted? Or is this much growth just normal?


Pics of ewe in question below
First one is before she was mine
Second one she’s the one on the far left with the green collar

 

[Ridgetop]

Check her teeth. There are charts online which can help you determine if she is a lamb, young ewe, or an older one. As sheep age their teeth space out a bit. I don't think I would breed her. Even though she seems to be growing and putting on weight, you are taking a chance.

 

[MMGardens]

Check her teeth. There are charts online which can help you determine if she is a lamb, young ewe, or an older one. As sheep age their teeth space out a bit. I don't think I would breed her. Even though she seems to be growing and putting on weight, you are taking a chance.

Thank you, I didn’t even realize that was an option, that was super helpful

She only has one adult incisor and it isn’t even fully in yet, seems like she was actually just really young and the other people lied. (They sold her as 1 - 1 & 1/2 and possible bred)


Going off this info, do you still think I shouldn’t breed her? That would mean the vet assessed her at a much younger age than what I told him she was

 

[farmerjan]

First off, congrats on getting and properly taking care of and feeding the sheep. She looked severely malnourished in the first picture.
Yes, teeth are the best way to get a "handle" on ages... although some areas they may wear more quickly due to type of grasses etc.... if anything, you will think they are older than they might be. We see that with cattle that have rough coarse hay and grazing... and also in places where there is alot of sand and such that wears their teeth down.
I would reassess the breeding due to her growth and age. It may be that she will be able to successfully carry and deliver a lamb. However... understand that the poor early nutrition may have affected her skeletal growth so she may still have some problems. But... looking at the picture in comparison, she may have been able to grow out well once she was on a decent nutritional program.
You can lose them from birthing problems, even when they are raised perfectly. She looks to have been able to overcome the poor start. Unless you want to keep her strictly as a pet, I would say to go on and try her.

 

[MMGardens]

First off, congrats on getting and properly taking care of and feeding the sheep. She looked severely malnourished in the first picture.
Yes, teeth are the best way to get a "handle" on ages... although some areas they may wear more quickly due to type of grasses etc.... if anything, you will think they are older than they might be. We see that with cattle that have rough coarse hay and grazing... and also in places where there is alot of sand and such that wears their teeth down.
I would reassess the breeding due to her growth and age. It may be that she will be able to successfully carry and deliver a lamb. However... understand that the poor early nutrition may have affected her skeletal growth so she may still have some problems. But... looking at the picture in comparison, she may have been able to grow out well once she was on a decent nutritional program.
You can lose them from birthing problems, even when they are raised perfectly. She looks to have been able to overcome the poor start. Unless you want to keep her strictly as a pet, I would say to go on and try her.

Thank you, I’ve worked really hard to try to learn and provide the best I can for them. My goal is to have good healthy, parasite resistant sheep that are good mamas and have lots of milk.


I took a picture of her teeth, let me know if I’m just looking at it wrong, but I thought the one singular large tooth would be the one adult tooth she has so far

Here’s a better pic of her now too, she looks much healthier. She’s very tame and I’m definitely willing to keep her as just a pet, but my vet also cautioned against having a ram on my property at all if I didn’t want her bred, and that kinda throws a wrench in my plans for my other girls. I was hoping to select a ram of a smaller more fine boned breed and feed her really well right before breeding and cross my fingers and toes she gets pregnant with multiples, and then I’d also have a good due date estimate for her so I could monitor really closely for delivery complications.

 

[farmerjan]

Compare her teeth to the other ewes you have... That will give you a good idea of what different mouths look like. The one big tooth seems alot bigger than the others... the thing is, if she gets another one right next to it then she is definitely younger than anyone thought.

 

[SageHill]

She looks a lot better in these last pics, and bigger as well. Definitely compare her teeth to your other ewes. I'd hold off on breeding her at least for now. Mostly because I wouldn't want complications during the birth. I have a really cute ewe lamb, 10 mos old, colorful but she's smaller than others I've decided not to breed her when it comes time for that reason. She had a good start so that's different than your situation.

 

[Baymule]

You have made a big difference for this ewe. It’s hard for us to evaluate her without actually seeing her. I would take her back to the vet for final acessment .

 

[MMGardens]

Compare her teeth to the other ewes you have... That will give you a good idea of what different mouths look like. The one big tooth seems alot bigger than the others... the thing is, if she gets another one right next to it then she is definitely younger than anyone thought.

I did look at my ewe closest in age to her, don’t know her exact age but I can tell this is her first baby so I’m assuming a yearling, and she does have the two central incisors like she’s supposed to. My others are all unknown age but def older, the previous owner had bought them at a stockyard and he had them two years after that.

Down lower in her gums it looks like another tooth is making its way up, I’ll keep an eye on it

 

[MMGardens]

She looks a lot better in these last pics, and bigger as well. Definitely compare her teeth to your other ewes. I'd hold off on breeding her at least for now. Mostly because I wouldn't want complications during the birth. I have a really cute ewe lamb, 10 mos old, colorful but she's smaller than others I've decided not to breed her when it comes time for that reason. She had a good start so that's different than your situation.

Thanks, I think she looks so so much better and the sweetest girl

I don’t have a ram anyways, wouldn’t be even thinking about breeding anybody until around June/ July 2025 and I’ll have the vet out to see everybody before then and see what he thinks of her size now and maybe have a ram picked out and see if the vet thinks it would be an appropriate match for her. After that, I intend on penning a ram separate with a buddy for him and not letting him run with everybody else, so she should be good either way