We have alot of new lambs on the ground!
Because of the breeding cycles, we will have 2 crops of lambs this year. We had finished the first crop the end of February. They all seem to be lively as ever.
The first crop was born in the midst of very cold weather. That didn't limit their ability to get up and get going... though the temperature difference for a lamb inside born to below freezing weather, I am sure was quite a shock on the system.
I've always wondered how with all that hair that they can dry off in the midst of winter. They really don't dry off, but rather the mother tries to lick off as much wetness as they are able. The wetness then appears to freeze, although, the lamb appears dried off and soft. Over time that freezing moisture is able to thaw close to the warmth of the lamb and eventually evaporate, even in such cold weather. The thickness of the hair seems to hold in warmth, even if the hair has freezing moisture in it. The moisture does not appear to be a hindrance to the lambs in the freezing cold weather.
Our first crop of lambs will all be ready to go by mid to late April.
Tuesday, March 18, 2008
Thursday, December 27, 2007
SCRAPIE check
December 27th, 2007
We had our annual SCRAPIE check done on our flock. This is where they send someone out with our list of animals and they come look at each animal one by one and check their tags, one by one to see that the information is correct and on the correct animal.
By doing this check, the state is able to maintain records of the sheep and see that the producer is following the protocol for tagging the animals. They also are able to look at the sheep and determine the general health of the flock as well.
We just got a letter from Iowa State stating that there has been around 24 cases of SCRAPIE found in Iowa alone. We are glad that we are not among them. The tagging makes it possible to track SCRAPIE from the sale barn to the actual farm where it was raised and where there are possibly more cases of SCRAPIE. Once a flock is found to have SCRAPIE in it, the owner must follow protocols to clean up the flock and the barnyard. This tracking and cleanup has reduced the number of animals found with SCRAPIE in Iowa this past year by quite a bit. Hopefully this will keep the market meat more safe for those eating the lamb.
We had our annual SCRAPIE check done on our flock. This is where they send someone out with our list of animals and they come look at each animal one by one and check their tags, one by one to see that the information is correct and on the correct animal.
By doing this check, the state is able to maintain records of the sheep and see that the producer is following the protocol for tagging the animals. They also are able to look at the sheep and determine the general health of the flock as well.
We just got a letter from Iowa State stating that there has been around 24 cases of SCRAPIE found in Iowa alone. We are glad that we are not among them. The tagging makes it possible to track SCRAPIE from the sale barn to the actual farm where it was raised and where there are possibly more cases of SCRAPIE. Once a flock is found to have SCRAPIE in it, the owner must follow protocols to clean up the flock and the barnyard. This tracking and cleanup has reduced the number of animals found with SCRAPIE in Iowa this past year by quite a bit. Hopefully this will keep the market meat more safe for those eating the lamb.
Tuesday, November 6, 2007
About Katahdin Hair Sheep
Katahdins are hair sheep... they do not grow wool, or rather not good quality wool. They may grow a wooly looking coat in the winter, but in the spring to early summer it sheds off. Good for making birds nests out of, not much else. We have a friend who raises wool sheep and she says our sheep look like goats... well, their coat is very similar, but they look like a sheep.
Katahdins are a mid-sized sheep raised mostly for meat production. Since their energy does not go into making wool, you can produce meat cheaper than with wool sheep... (If feeding out hay, grain, that you have bought). A benefit to having no wool, is there is no need to find someone to come sheer the sheep, nor to pay them, nor to try and sell the wool if you sheer yourself. Wool does not bring good prices and often the sheering can put you deeper in debt, the sheerer taking the wool as well as a fee for doing the cutting. The medium size does not affect much as far as selling market lambs... they are very comparable and get to 100-120 pounds if grown up in the pasture during the summer.
Not only are Katahdins good for meat, they are a nice size for handling. Not too big, not too small. We have found them to be friendly sheep and most small flocks will attest to this. If put out to pasture and not handled often, they can get more wild, but we often can go out to the field and call "Sheep" and they all come running up and follow us around. A little corn and you can hand pick them without gating them. But as we introduce other sheep, it does take some time for them to get friendly to do this.
They are also more parasite resistant than many other sheep breeds. Continuous cycles of worming and vaccinations is not necessarily needed. This reduces cost and also makes the meat more healthy as there is not all the extra medications being put into the lambs. We do worm right after lambing, however, as this tends to be a time when dormant worms will awaken and feast on the mother lamb... dh took a class on checking for physical signs of parasites (noticing different stages of anemia found in color of eyelids, gums, etc, and changes in stool characteristics). He watched the sheep and noticed that we simply do not need to worm as frequently as what is often recommended for sheep in general. As for vaccinations, we have found little need to vaccinate. One vaccination in particular can be warded of by just using stricter management with the sheep.
Katahdins are also good mothers. Lambing is not the late nights up in the barn, as the moms are mostly pasture lambed and clean off and care for their own lambs without much help from us at all. Sure there is an occasional trouble that needs attending to, but really very good moms. Our vet, not at all used to our "hair sheep" came to pull a lamb from a mom that had delivered the day before, and once out, discovered the lamb alive and he jumped and said to my daughter... take care of the lamb, dry it off now... and was stunned to see us just sit there and watch the momma lamb do it all. We were lucky she took it beings she lambed two the day before and this was number three, but she did and all was fine. The vet just shook his head in disbelief. LOL We often do not pen our ewes and lambs unless we have a big crop all on one day and little ones are wanting to wander away... we do it mostly for small lambs, until they get their strength. Also, Katahdins tend to raise large crops of lambs... 2-3 is a common and we have not had any troubles with a healthy ewe raising triplets. We've also seen yearlings raise twins without troubles as well.
As for our flock in particular... we have run around 30-40 ewes each year for lambing... we average above a 200% lamb crop. We are a certified SCRAPIE free flock. We are in a volunteer SCRAPIE program, where we are inspected yearly to maintain our certification. We are also in the NSIP, National Sheep Improvement Program. Dh travels to Missouri each June to show sheep at the national sheep sale down there. Katahdins are known as the push/pull breed as they are not particularly good show sheep. We have 12 paddocks to which we separate our sheep into during the summer. I will try to take some time to explain the SCRAPIE certification and the NSIP better at a later time. As time goes on, you will hear about our management style.
Katahdins are a mid-sized sheep raised mostly for meat production. Since their energy does not go into making wool, you can produce meat cheaper than with wool sheep... (If feeding out hay, grain, that you have bought). A benefit to having no wool, is there is no need to find someone to come sheer the sheep, nor to pay them, nor to try and sell the wool if you sheer yourself. Wool does not bring good prices and often the sheering can put you deeper in debt, the sheerer taking the wool as well as a fee for doing the cutting. The medium size does not affect much as far as selling market lambs... they are very comparable and get to 100-120 pounds if grown up in the pasture during the summer.
Not only are Katahdins good for meat, they are a nice size for handling. Not too big, not too small. We have found them to be friendly sheep and most small flocks will attest to this. If put out to pasture and not handled often, they can get more wild, but we often can go out to the field and call "Sheep" and they all come running up and follow us around. A little corn and you can hand pick them without gating them. But as we introduce other sheep, it does take some time for them to get friendly to do this.
They are also more parasite resistant than many other sheep breeds. Continuous cycles of worming and vaccinations is not necessarily needed. This reduces cost and also makes the meat more healthy as there is not all the extra medications being put into the lambs. We do worm right after lambing, however, as this tends to be a time when dormant worms will awaken and feast on the mother lamb... dh took a class on checking for physical signs of parasites (noticing different stages of anemia found in color of eyelids, gums, etc, and changes in stool characteristics). He watched the sheep and noticed that we simply do not need to worm as frequently as what is often recommended for sheep in general. As for vaccinations, we have found little need to vaccinate. One vaccination in particular can be warded of by just using stricter management with the sheep.
Katahdins are also good mothers. Lambing is not the late nights up in the barn, as the moms are mostly pasture lambed and clean off and care for their own lambs without much help from us at all. Sure there is an occasional trouble that needs attending to, but really very good moms. Our vet, not at all used to our "hair sheep" came to pull a lamb from a mom that had delivered the day before, and once out, discovered the lamb alive and he jumped and said to my daughter... take care of the lamb, dry it off now... and was stunned to see us just sit there and watch the momma lamb do it all. We were lucky she took it beings she lambed two the day before and this was number three, but she did and all was fine. The vet just shook his head in disbelief. LOL We often do not pen our ewes and lambs unless we have a big crop all on one day and little ones are wanting to wander away... we do it mostly for small lambs, until they get their strength. Also, Katahdins tend to raise large crops of lambs... 2-3 is a common and we have not had any troubles with a healthy ewe raising triplets. We've also seen yearlings raise twins without troubles as well.
As for our flock in particular... we have run around 30-40 ewes each year for lambing... we average above a 200% lamb crop. We are a certified SCRAPIE free flock. We are in a volunteer SCRAPIE program, where we are inspected yearly to maintain our certification. We are also in the NSIP, National Sheep Improvement Program. Dh travels to Missouri each June to show sheep at the national sheep sale down there. Katahdins are known as the push/pull breed as they are not particularly good show sheep. We have 12 paddocks to which we separate our sheep into during the summer. I will try to take some time to explain the SCRAPIE certification and the NSIP better at a later time. As time goes on, you will hear about our management style.
Monday, November 5, 2007
Under Construction...
We will be adding posts shortly. Until then, please check back!
Warmly,
Red Barn Katahdins
Warmly,
Red Barn Katahdins
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