Small Katahdin

[Aped]

I got a katahdin ewe back in May of this year. She was 3 months old at the time and one of the smaller ewes in the flock although not sickly small. By small I mean a few inches shorter and just proportionally smaller than the others. I currently keep her with my one year old nigerian dwarf buck. It's been 2 months now and they are still the exact same size. Is that unusual? I'm not sure how fast they grow but considering she is a meat breed and I'm sure she's much larger than she was as a lamb, I would expect a faster growth rate. I saw the adult flock that the ewe came from and although they were far away the ewes looked to be at least double the size of my ewe. Is she just suddenly going to have a growth spurt or is this going to be her size? She is very well fed. Not fat but she gets everything she needs and then some.

I read that katahdin ewes can weight 120 to 160 lbs. I guess she could be on the lower range of that. I'm not sure how much my nigerian buck weighs but he is also meatier than her at the moment. Can anyone tell me more about the sizes of katahdins?

 

[Beekissed]

It took my Kats a long time to get as big as they are now at just over a year old. From what I've learned, it takes the hair breeds a longer time to reach their adult size and I'm starting to believe it.

I think, if one were to treat them like market sheep and feed a lot of grains that they would grow accordingly...but I'm not sure. I'm a grass feeder, so I expected slow growth from mine. The breeder I got mine from said they won't stop growing until they are about 2 years old.

I do know that the Kats I've seen are not ever going to be as big as some of the Hampshires or other woolly meat breeds I've seen around here.

 

[Aped]

Okay that's good to know. I don't have her for meat so I'm not worried about that but I would like to breed her eventually and I don't want her to be so small that she would have a problem delivering.

 

[Beekissed]

I bought a ewe in June that was supposed to deliver in that month. She was also turning 1 yr. old that month and she was smallish, had been bred at 7 months of age~which would have made her considerably smaller, I'm sure.

She delivered well and only required minimal assistance....probably wouldn't have needed that either but I was a little impatient.

Here are pics of my gals at 4 mo:

At about 7 mo.:

Now, at 17 mo. and the new ewe is in the middle, at 11 mo. old(that fence is a little over four feet tall):

Here she is with her newborn male lamb:

I would say she will continue to grow and I can see how much she has grown just since I got her.

 

[aggieterpkatie]

If she truly hasn't grown at all since you've had her, that's not normal. Are you sure you're not just so used to seeing her you don't notice a difference? What are you feeding them?

 

[Beekissed]

I was wondering why they weaned her that young...could have something to do with the poor growth? Maybe she needs wormed? Maybe needs some probiotics to get her rumen going and to allow her to absorb her nutrients better.

The smaller lamb in the first pic was a triplet and had been bottle fed~hence the potbelly and poor look to her~and she was thrown in as a companion lamb at a much reduced price.

I soon had her looking sleek and she is only slightly smaller than her friend now....but she seemed to need more care at first to get her growing well.

 

[aggieterpkatie]

Three months isn't too young to wean. In fact, most sheep people wean at 8 weeks. I wean at 8 weeks and have no growth issues. By that time the lambs' rumens are fully developed and they're grazing and eating hay and grain with no problems.

 

[Beekissed]

Huh! Didn't know that...the fellow that I buy my sheep from doesn't wean until 4 months! Even then he feels its too early.....

I'm currently waiting upon a ram lamb that he hasn't weaned yet at 4 months and is just starting to wean so that I can bring him home.

Aggie, in dealing with sheep, are there reasons to wean earlier than the sheep would wean naturally? Other than the rams breeding their mamas, of course.

 

[aggieterpkatie]

Aggie, in dealing with sheep, are there reasons to wean earlier than the sheep would wean naturally? Other than the rams breeding their mamas, of course.

Well, it's more cost effective to wean the lambs off the ewes so the ewes can go back to "maintenance" feed, which is cheaper than "lactating" feed. I think most lambs would nurse for as long as possible (meaning, never truly wean) if they were left with their mothers.

 

[Beekissed]

Well, that explains my farmer guy....he doesn't really supplement feed except for right after the lamb is born. His sheep are mostly pasture raised.

He found out that he was spending over $5000 a year on feed, feeding hair sheep that thrive better on pasture. So now he feeds about $1000 worth of grains only for flushing and his herd produced more lambs, had better health, kept in better condition if he fed less feeds.

So, now he saves money and has bigger and more lambs, maybe the lambs are bigger from getting that rich milk for a longer period?