Which breed to get?

[Maralynn]

We lost our nice 6 y/o Corridale ram this past fall due to illness. That leaves us just a merino ram who is getting up in years.

 

So I'm looking into finding a replacement this spring. The ewes are mostly rambouillets, corridales and crosses of the two. I want to find one that will produce decent market lambs and a nice fleece and start turning the wool into quilt batts and yarn and marketing it. Or I've also thought about getting away from the wool aspect (major time saver with no shearing) and looking for a hair sheep breed and seeing how I like it.

 

Some breeds I've been considering have been Corridale, Dorset, Polypay, Targhee and Katahdin.

 

Any thoughts or suggestions? Anything you really like or can't stand about those breeds?

[Bill Fosher]

Corriedale -- nice wool, okay but not spectacular market lambs.

 

Dorset -- so-so wool (nice and white but short and coarse) decent market lambs, but probably better as a sire of ewe lambs. Breeds well out of season. Unless you get the show Dorsets (also known as Dorlumbias). Then they have medium wool, but still fairly short.

 

Polypay -- Get out the grain bucket -- these are high producing sheep that need lots of input. Breeds well out of season, lots of multiple lambs. Heavy Finnsheep influence reduces carcass quality. Wool quality is usually compromised by nutritional demands of high lamb production. One of the most common problems that people have when starting with Polypays is that they underfeed them and end up with a 225 percent lamb crop of which 25 percent are neonatal morts or bottle lambs.

 

Targhee -- Big framed finewool sheep. If you have the climate for finewools (they like it dry) these might represent a good compromise between high quality wool and good meatiness. If you don't have the climate for finewools, you'll spend a lot of time working on feet and treating pneumonia.

 

Katahdin -- Like the Dorset but without wool and with a poorer carcass conformation. You will be shearing until all your ewes are at least 7/8 Katahdin, and maybe even a few of them. Using a Katahdin ram does not end shearing.

 

If you're looking for a ram that can serve as both a flock sire and a terminal sire, the Dorset is probably the best bet, or the Targhee if you are in an arid or semi-arid climate.

[Maralynn]

Targhee -- Big framed finewool sheep. If you have the climate for finewools (they like it dry) these might represent a good compromise between high quality wool and good meatiness. If you don't have the climate for finewools, you'll spend a lot of time working on feet and treating pneumonia.

 

Hmm, I should look into Targhees a bit. It's not exactly arid here (SW Michigan)but not really damp either and the Rambouillets have done well. The only foot problems I've had have not been weather/moisture related.

 

Katahdin -- Like the Dorset but without wool and with a poorer carcass conformation. You will be shearing until all your ewes are at least 7/8 Katahdin, and maybe even a few of them. Using a Katahdin ram does not end shearing.

 

The reason I was considering this one is to see how I like the breed in general. I've thought about getting a few Katahdin ewes just to see how they do. I'm the shearer around here, and hair sheep always seem very appealing after shearing time!

 

Thanks for the quick run down on those breeds!

[stockdogranch]

Hi. I've had Katahdins for a long time, and they are certainly hearty. Easy keepers, lots of lambs, good mothers. But they do not have much of a carcass, as Bill mentions. If you are looking into getting away from wool, I REALLY like my Dorpers. They seem pretty hearty, too, and the lambs are nice. The rams start their job quite young, and mine is just as nice, temperament- wise, as he can be. They are also pretty nice for the dogs,

A

[jdarling]

I started with Katahdin / Dorper crosses, but like Anna said, they are good producers and good mommas, but they don't do as well at market. So I started adding in more Dorpers, and just recently bought a small flock of purebred Dorpers. They have a much nicer build than the katahdins, and are nice, sturdy sheep to work the dogs on. If you look at the thread about lambs, I've posted pictures of the Katahdin / Dorper babies ... and one purebred Dorper lamb. You can see how much sturdier the Dorper lamb is. The drawback with the Dorpers, I think, is that they aren't multiple producers like the Katahdins???? Is that right, Anna?

 

Jodi

[stockdogranch]

Most of mine are still crosses, but they twin regularly...I'll ask my friend that has pure dorpers, but I'm pretty sure she has lots of twins, too,

A

[Maralynn]

How well to the dorpers do on pasture? My flock right is on pasture or alfalfa mix hay and I supplement with grain as needed (flushing, a month or so pre-lambing, and while nursing lambs). Would dorpers do well in that type of setup, or do they need more grain to keep them in good condition?

[Rebecca, Irena Farm]

The only reason I'd cross a Dorper ram on a wool flock, frankly, is if I had a need to reduce my carcass size. There may be other reasons that are positive, but I did it for three generations and never found a really good reason to keep doing it (kept hoping, however!). I found my lambs were less hardy, also - possibly because my particular line of Dorper was a direct import from dry SA and I'm in a very humid hot region. My pure wool lambs (from all local stock) did much better than the lambs off my fancy Dorper ram, and of course I don't have problems with microscopic lambs any more.

 

I'm a big fan of Dorsets though I don't currently have any myself. If I just wanted a nice flock of all-purpose sheep, I'd probably cross Dorsets on a type that did well locally (Tunis and Border cheviot here).

[juliepoudrier]

My vote would be for production style dorsets or corriedales (i.e., not show sheep). The corriedale will likely give you nicer wool.

 

Dorpers to get bigger than katahdins, but like others have said, their carcasses won't compare to those of larger breed wool lambs. The crossbreds (dorper x katahdin) here do well pretty much on air--they stay fat as ticks, whereas my wool sheep do require more nutrition to maintain weight.

 

For working dogs, I think dorpers tend to get heavy way faster than katahdins or any wool sheep I've worked do. The crosses I have here were great for starting youngsters on because they weren't terribly reactive, but once the youngsters needed to do a bit of driving that same heaviness became problematic and we needed to switch them out for something a little lighter.

 

I hear ya on the advantage of lack of shearing, but many hair crosses don't ever quite shed that "rug" on top, and I imagine it would be even worse if they were crossed with wool sheep. Shearers hate those crosses because apparently the "wool" on the hair sheep is much harder on combs and cutters as well.

 

J.

[stockdogranch]

How well to the dorpers do on pasture?

 

My basic philosophy has always been that my stock need to survive on what we have here without much fuss. So I've never given a sheep any grain ever. When we get rain during our rainy season, I can get from 4-6 months of grazing. I generally lamb sometime during the rainy season, so expectant and nursing moms are on grass and lambs wean onto grass as well. What grows naturally in my pasture is a combination of fillaree (great feed) and foxtails (which is a lovely grass till they head out). When the grass finally runs out, I have a feeder (the buffet), that I keep filled with hay (most years alfalfa) for the sheep, calves, and the fat horse. My dorper cross ram originally came from AZ, and we are semi-arid here, so maybe that is why they do better here than yours did, Becca,

A

[stockdogranch]

I just talked with my friend with the registered dorper flock, and she said she had 95% twins this last year...

A

[Maralynn]

Thanks for all the input

 

Now off to do more research and figure out my 5 year goals for the flock...

[Marilyn T]

I am in SE michigan, and have basically a small commercial NC cheviot cross ewe flock of about 20 breeding ewes. I only have 9 acres, so that is more than what I should be carrying, but it allows enough sheep to train dogs. I tried Katahdin rams a couple of years, and the lambs didn't grow big enough to butcher for my customers until they were almost a year old or even more. I crossed a Dorper ram onto the ewes, and they look tremendous until about 3 months, then hit a brick wall, and don't seem to grow without tons of grain. I also got horns with the dorper crosses. Shipped everything with a horn. Never did get away from the wool. and the shearer HATES the dorper crosses to shear. Kills his blades. Finally, I came back to the NC rams. I have used a 3/4 NC and 1/4 Dorset for a couple of years, kept his daughters off my old stock, and will go back to a NC scottish blood for next year. I lamb in March, and have a 200% lambing, good winter survival, decent sized and lambs that finish on grass only in 9 months with carcass hanging weights of 60#. Best of all, they are almsot hands free. I work full time, and anyone that has issues will get shipped that summer. I can't afford to baby sit them. I grain the ewes while nursing, I grain lambs in a creep until weaning, then move the lambs to a friends pasture for the summer. In September I take the bulk to auction, and keep some to train on the next spring, and some for butchering.

[DeltaBluez Tess]

I used to have pure Dorpers but they got dogged quickly. Their feet did not do so well in wet climates. but they were excellent moms and good for puppy sheep.

 

I have Katahdins which stay light for dogs. I use them for training and I got a huge meaty registered Katahdin ram and his lambs are bulky and very nice

 

But my main flock is Clun Forset. Easy keepers, great to work dogs, no foot issues and very sweet sheep. I have several rams. For the first yr, the lambs are slow to mature then at 9 or so month, they fill out. I have a yuppie niche market and they hang at 50-65 lbs. But if I wanted more meat I would get a BFL or NC. But since I sell registered Clun Forest lambs, I use my Clun ram on them

 

I did experiment using a Katahdin ram, Dorper and Dorset ram on some Clun ewes. The Kat/Clun was medium range, the Dorper/Clun was a much better blend and the Clun/Dorset is good but leggy.

 

Diane