Baymule
Herd Master
Apple harvest. I want an apple tree! (that would survive our heat) I have a pear, apricot, loquat, and two peach trees, not bearing yet. Hay is in short supply here locally, been in drought. Hope you find some hay soon!
Wolfemomma - Our Homestead Journey
- Thread starter WolfeMomma
- Start date
- Thread starter
- #132
WolfeMomma
True BYH Addict
Finally got some rounds last night. one of them weighed so much we had to use our big truck to get it in the pasture.....yup we officially need a tractor lol
In other news, me and the hubby have had some long discussions in regards to our sheep. Our two Katahdin ewes that we have right now will stay with us, and we will use them and their lambs for meat....has nothing to do with the fact that i love them and they are my pets lol
But, I would like to start to get more in to the world of registered Katahdins and showing, so that once my eldest son is old enough to show them I will have some what of an idea of what is expected lol So i have been trying to do some research in regards to breeders, and blood lines. Oh my gosh its confusing! I want to make sure I start with a good solid group of Ewes, Ill deal with a ram later. My question is, do I go with Ewe lambs that have not yet matured or proven them selves? do I go with yearling bred ewes? I have a farm near me with some nice ones for sale. Or do I look for older mature Ewes that are not new showing or being handled ect? I don't mind training as we trained our girls and toddlers can lead them around they are so tame.
I come from the horse world so I know which blood lines to avoid and which ones are sought after, With sheep ....i don't know much in regards to that
Please say one of you wonderful people that follow my ranting on here beed katahdins too?
In other news, me and the hubby have had some long discussions in regards to our sheep. Our two Katahdin ewes that we have right now will stay with us, and we will use them and their lambs for meat....has nothing to do with the fact that i love them and they are my pets lol
But, I would like to start to get more in to the world of registered Katahdins and showing, so that once my eldest son is old enough to show them I will have some what of an idea of what is expected lol So i have been trying to do some research in regards to breeders, and blood lines. Oh my gosh its confusing! I want to make sure I start with a good solid group of Ewes, Ill deal with a ram later. My question is, do I go with Ewe lambs that have not yet matured or proven them selves? do I go with yearling bred ewes? I have a farm near me with some nice ones for sale. Or do I look for older mature Ewes that are not new showing or being handled ect? I don't mind training as we trained our girls and toddlers can lead them around they are so tame.
I come from the horse world so I know which blood lines to avoid and which ones are sought after, With sheep ....i don't know much in regards to that
Please say one of you wonderful people that follow my ranting on here beed katahdins too?
Mike CHS
Herd Master
I heard back from folks that I asked about breeder references in your area and struck out.
Most (but not all) of the breeders that I have met have quality stock but they also do not register every lamb that is born. The folks I just bought 4 ewe lambs from only kept 8 out of 28 lambs born. The others they 'culled' from their flock but sold as commercial breeders since they were still excellent quality. One thing that we have found pretty much universally is that we haven't met a sheep person yet that minded talking about their sheep.
If the farm near you has some excellent looking stock I would make contact and introduce yourself. Tell them what you are wanting to do and go from there. Bear in mind that is sort of like asking a plumber if you should change a faucet since you are now going to be buying a faucet. They want to make sales but like any business, they want repeat sales and I would bet that they will walk you through condition scoring and what a quality (not just show since that is what the judges are looking for) Katahdin should look like. Fortunately for us the show world hasn't tried to change the direction that the Katahdin breed is going and so far at least, they just keep getting better.
The blood lines that are sought after are going for silly $. Last year at the stud ram sale in Sedalia, one ram sold for a little over $8000. My commercial lamb crop looks as good if not better than many fully registered flocks but we will be supporting the local kids that want to show so we are switching to about half commercial and half registered. That way we can provide a quality commercial ewe that they can show but not spend $500 - $700 for a 3-4 month old lamb and also have that $700 lamb for the kids that want registered. They have classes for both.
We are only in our third generation of our line and the difference in handling ease between lambs that were born here has been twice as easy as the mature ewes we first bought is night and day. That being said, three of my tamest ewes are from the first ones. If I was in your shoes, I would think about getting a bred young ewe and hopefully one that has been handled. They are fairly easy to train and once they trust you it's all downhill from there. The lambs that we recently bought can be handled easily now and that has been done just by my sitting with them at the feed trough with a bit of feed.
You will be handling yours more which makes the progress even faster. I have been writing a lot of books recently.
Most (but not all) of the breeders that I have met have quality stock but they also do not register every lamb that is born. The folks I just bought 4 ewe lambs from only kept 8 out of 28 lambs born. The others they 'culled' from their flock but sold as commercial breeders since they were still excellent quality. One thing that we have found pretty much universally is that we haven't met a sheep person yet that minded talking about their sheep.
If the farm near you has some excellent looking stock I would make contact and introduce yourself. Tell them what you are wanting to do and go from there. Bear in mind that is sort of like asking a plumber if you should change a faucet since you are now going to be buying a faucet.
They want to make sales but like any business, they want repeat sales and I would bet that they will walk you through condition scoring and what a quality (not just show since that is what the judges are looking for) Katahdin should look like. Fortunately for us the show world hasn't tried to change the direction that the Katahdin breed is going and so far at least, they just keep getting better.The blood lines that are sought after are going for silly $. Last year at the stud ram sale in Sedalia, one ram sold for a little over $8000. My commercial lamb crop looks as good if not better than many fully registered flocks but we will be supporting the local kids that want to show so we are switching to about half commercial and half registered. That way we can provide a quality commercial ewe that they can show but not spend $500 - $700 for a 3-4 month old lamb and also have that $700 lamb for the kids that want registered. They have classes for both.
We are only in our third generation of our line and the difference in handling ease between lambs that were born here has been twice as easy as the mature ewes we first bought is night and day. That being said, three of my tamest ewes are from the first ones. If I was in your shoes, I would think about getting a bred young ewe and hopefully one that has been handled. They are fairly easy to train and once they trust you it's all downhill from there. The lambs that we recently bought can be handled easily now and that has been done just by my sitting with them at the feed trough with a bit of feed.
You will be handling yours more which makes the progress even faster. I have been writing a lot of books recently.
- Thread starter
- #134
WolfeMomma
True BYH Addict
@Mike CHS can you show unregistered ewes? Our commercial ones are not registered but their sire is and they have pretty good confirmation in my opinion but I would love to see how they stack up against others.
Mike CHS
Herd Master
It depends on the sponsor. In 4H here they have both classes but we have quite a few sheep farms around us including a couple of cattle operations that switched to sheep. Teresa has been looking into it on the KHSI site because we have several that look great.
Edited to delete incorrect information
Edited to delete incorrect information
Mike CHS
Herd Master
I asked her and I was incorrect. The lamb has to be born on your farm to a commercial Katahdin that you own and with a registered sire.
Mini Horses
Herd Master
Thanks GB -- I now NEED to buy animals
So did you ever get a Jersey cow?
Still have sheep, I see -- and you need to do just as with horses. Check the shows, check the registries, find sheep magazines, who is winning?? LOOK at the pics. Talk to the breeders. That research will give you the background to start.
- Thread starter
- #138
WolfeMomma
True BYH Addict
@Mini Horses We have decided to put the jersey on hold for now. I am going to revisit it once my children are a bit older. I definitely still want to go that route eventually, I just want it to be the right time!
@Mike CHS ah ok well guess im out of luck. Thats ok though, we are just going to use these two unregistered ones for breeding meat Lambs. They are sweethearts that i LOVE to death and I will keep them around as long as I can afford to!
I have been in contact with some breeders about show quality ewes so im quite excited to start looking and learning how this process works. I did quite well showing my horse so i am looking forward to this!
@Mike CHS ah ok well guess im out of luck. Thats ok though, we are just going to use these two unregistered ones for breeding meat Lambs. They are sweethearts that i LOVE to death and I will keep them around as long as I can afford to!
I have been in contact with some breeders about show quality ewes so im quite excited to start looking and learning how this process works. I did quite well showing my horse so i am looking forward to this!
RollingAcres
Herd Master
Glad to hear you finally got some round bales.
farmerjan
Herd Master
- Joined
- Aug 16, 2016
- Messages
- 11,450
- Reaction score
- 45,060
- Points
- 758
- Location
- Shenandoah Valley Virginia
I don't know about showing sheep, BUT Mike gave you an answer that would make showing some lambs out of your commercial ewes possible. That would reflect back to how good they are. So a registered ram is the first step. How about a ram lamb that would be ready to breed them for your next set of lambs? Plus, if the Katahdin assoc has some sort of breed up program, then if they are ewe lambs, you might be able to get into the show sheep and breeding sooner. If they have ram lambs, you are going to use them for meat anyway, so a registered ram is probably the first step.
I think Mike gave you good advice, to get in contact with the people who have the sheep for sale. Maybe they have a ram that they are going to cull, to use a younger one or another bloodline, that would be "affordable" to use for a year or two on your ewes. Yeah, that 8,000 is ALOT to pay. Shoot, the last bull I bought this spring at a reg limousin and reg angus sale only cost 3500. The most we ever paid for a bull is maybe 5500. But the male is half of your flock(herd) so get a good one.
I would want to buy the bred ewes, get them on your place and lamb them out so that the lambs would qualify for showing. Get the rules, regs, and membership info from the Katahdin Assoc. so you know what you need to do.
You are too far away from Mike to get any of his probably, but if you PM him I am sure he would help you and give you whatever advice he can. Plus with the distance you are not going to compete with him for the markets he has developed, so he can be a little more forthright about any advice, without stabbing himself in the foot.
I think Mike gave you good advice, to get in contact with the people who have the sheep for sale. Maybe they have a ram that they are going to cull, to use a younger one or another bloodline, that would be "affordable" to use for a year or two on your ewes. Yeah, that 8,000 is ALOT to pay. Shoot, the last bull I bought this spring at a reg limousin and reg angus sale only cost 3500. The most we ever paid for a bull is maybe 5500. But the male is half of your flock(herd) so get a good one.
I would want to buy the bred ewes, get them on your place and lamb them out so that the lambs would qualify for showing. Get the rules, regs, and membership info from the Katahdin Assoc. so you know what you need to do.
You are too far away from Mike to get any of his probably, but if you PM him I am sure he would help you and give you whatever advice he can. Plus with the distance you are not going to compete with him for the markets he has developed, so he can be a little more forthright about any advice, without stabbing himself in the foot.
