Baymule
Herd Master
She is a pretty silvery color. Do you do anything with her wool?
URGANT: how frequently should I give my sheep Ivermectin Sheep Drench?
- Thread starter ewe&me
- Start date
- Thread starter
- #12
ewe&me
Chillin' with the herd
We've tried, but her wool is very coarse, and matts up really bad once it reaches 3 inch staple length, so now we just throw it on the garden as mulch. East friesian wool is usually regarded as carpet wool...now i know why! Primarily we milked her, and kept the lambs for meat, but the wool was not really in the picture. We had other sheep we used for wool.
Baymule
Herd Master
I raise Katahdin hair sheep. No shearing!
Do you have other sheep?
Do you have other sheep?
- Thread starter
- #14
ewe&me
Chillin' with the herd
Aside from the ewe in the photos earlier (her name is Carmen), we don't have any other sheep. They were all rehomed, and she's the last.
We raised Icelandic sheep a few years ago for the wool. I didn't care much for their personality tho. The East Friesians and Black Welsh Mountain sheep I felt had a much more docile and friendly temperament. The Icelandics were just plain wild.
How do like the katahdins? I had someone suggest to me once that they would be a good choice for us, but I never really looked into them. What do you do with the hair?
Baymule
Herd Master
Katahdins grow in a short wool coat for the winter and shed it out in the summer. It has no value, but wads of it are good for scrubbing water buckets. LOL
I like their temperament. The ewes become pets, mugging for animal crackers and attention. The rams range from friendly to standoffish. Some turn out to “ramish” but I haven’t had one like that. I have a young ram I’m raising now for a flock sire and just bought another one. So fat, so good.
I like their temperament. The ewes become pets, mugging for animal crackers and attention. The rams range from friendly to standoffish. Some turn out to “ramish” but I haven’t had one like that. I have a young ram I’m raising now for a flock sire and just bought another one. So fat, so good.
Baymule
Herd Master
I started with 4 bred ewes, Katahdin and Dorper mixed. I thought I wanted Dorpers. We bought a ram who turned out mean. I found out the black head Dorpers are psychotic and we put him in the freezer. I switched to Katahdins .
- Thread starter
- #17
ewe&me
Chillin' with the herd
Reminds me of the East Friesians(EF); mugging for copper-free horse treats and scratchies. The Icelandics were muggers too but more aggressive. The EFs might shove my hand around with their noses and lean against me, but the Icelandics were prone to that and hoof-pawing, nibbling, butting, chewing on clothing, jumping on me, and in some cases the springy-agile lambs riding me piggy back across the field. If only there had been someone back at the barn with thier phone to snap a shot of that scene!! God forbid they (the sheep) would have known how to drive, it would have been a hit-and-run mugging, mexican-gang-style! And the Icelandic rams were nothing to triffle with. The EFs were comatose by comparison.
I crossed the two breeds once, and I liked how the Icelandic genes brought higher gain and better fleece quality into the mix, where those things were lacking with the EFs alone.
How do you like the meat from the katahdins? For as high stung and temperamental as the Icelandics were, thier meat sure was lean and sweet! It tended to be tuff though, regardless of age. But I could put up with it, just meant more stews!
Last edited:
- Thread starter
- #18
ewe&me
Chillin' with the herd
Good choice!
Ridgetop
Herd Master
Fat makes meat tender so super lean would be tougher. However, if they were very high strung, that might have been the real reason why the meat was tough. I have heard that slaughtering a high-strung animal or slaughtering an animal under stress makes the meat tough.
- Thread starter
- #20
ewe&me
Chillin' with the herd
Update on Carmen: she is doing better, but I am wondering if she doesn't need another, larger dose, sooner than 2 weeks? An old farmers tip I learned from another farmer a few years ago, is to check the color of the eyes; if you pull thier lower eyelid down and look, it should be magenta/ red for black/colored sheep, and if it is pink or white, they have a high/toxic worm load.
Her eyelids are a little darker shade of pink than before getting the dewormer; consulting the chart below, they were a blush pink, now they are somewhere between pink and ballet slipper pink. However, they should be/are normally magenta/red. She's also lethargic again. What should my next steps be?
The dosage for the Ivermectin is 3 ml per 26 lb of body weight. She is 160 lbs, so I gave her 18 ml. I was able to dig out the receipt for the dewormer, and it is much older than I thought, say 4.5 years old. Does it lose its potency?
Her eyelids are a little darker shade of pink than before getting the dewormer; consulting the chart below, they were a blush pink, now they are somewhere between pink and ballet slipper pink. However, they should be/are normally magenta/red. She's also lethargic again. What should my next steps be?
The dosage for the Ivermectin is 3 ml per 26 lb of body weight. She is 160 lbs, so I gave her 18 ml. I was able to dig out the receipt for the dewormer, and it is much older than I thought, say 4.5 years old. Does it lose its potency?
