High Desert Cowboy- How far is it up north?

[High Desert Cowboy]

So in keeping with mistaken animal identity I may have found a closer option for a dorper ram. My friend who has Lambert the ram picked up some more bottle lambs Friday night and as he was driving home he got a call from the bottle lamb supplier saying he had swapped two lambs and given him the wrong one. He had a little dorper mixed with the wool lambs! He turned around and traded it back but now I’ve got contact information to talk about getting a ram from him sometime in the future. Funny how that worked out.

 

[Baymule]

I thought I wanted Dorpers to start with. I changed my mind to Katahdins. The rams are a lot calmer is my #1 reason. Then is the range of colors and not having to dock tails. It may sound silly, but I don't like docked tails. I can see the reasons for a wooled sheep, but it is stupid to dock the tails of a hair sheep. That's my opinion and I'm sticking to it. LOL

I am happy for you that you now have a contact for a Dorper ram. Dorpers have a lot of meat on them and a good ram will give you better lambs.

 

[Ridgetop]

So I apparently can’t tell which animals are mine.

I had a Weimaraner that was showing with the breeder. She had me meet her after the show and transferred my dog from her car to the crate in the back of my SUV. When I got home I opened the crate and called the dog to come inside the house with me but instead he ran up to the neighbors. I went up and got him, brought him in the house and he was really acting funny. He didn't look quite right and I realized he was not my dog! No wonder he wouldn't come when we called him! It was not his name! I called the breeder and asked if she was sure she gave me the right dog. There was a moment of silence while she looked back and checked the crate then I heard "OMG!" She had a helper that day that put the dogs in the wrong crates to bring them home. They were littermates, but you could tell the difference when you looked closely. My dog was thrilled to get home, and I thought her dog was going to jump through the car window to get to her! LOL
I was also stewarding at a large rabbit show once when rabbits got mixed up. Hard to tell 2 good all white rabbits of the same, size, age, and breed from one another, That is why they have ear tattoos. And sheep have tags. LOL

I thought I wanted Dorpers to start with. I changed my mind to Katahdins. The rams are a lot calmer is my #1 reason. Then is the range of colors and not having to dock tails. It may sound silly, but I don't like docked tails. I can see the reasons for a wooled sheep, but it is stupid to dock the tails of a hair sheep.

I think calmness depends on the bloodline, or how the sheep may have been raised. But I have white Dorpers, not black headed Dorpers. The breeder that I got the ewes from told me that the black headed Dorpers were not nice like the white variety. She said the black headed Dorpers were flighty and mean, but white Dorpers had sweet personalities. It is certainly true of ours. Even our rams are calm. We don't treat them as pets so they don't come up like bottle babies, but 2 of the ewes do come up to be petted on the field and in the pens. We are just used to docking tails since we always have. California is hot and if their manure gets sticky you can get fly strike. Also, I like to have a clear look at If we were selling commercially by the lb. I probably wouldn't dock. It certainly would be one less sheep chore to do.

 

[Ridgetop]

Also, I like to have a clear look at If we were selling commercially by the lb. I probably wouldn't dock.

I meant to say I like to have clear look at the vulva and udder when breeding and lambing season come around.

 

[Baymule]

 

[High Desert Cowboy]

I’m still very much interested in Katahdins but my current problem is there are not any available close by. But talking to this gentleman some people are starting to swap to dorper because they don’t want to shear but they still want a meatier lamb. My goal has always been have something I can train my dogs with and keep them happy while they pay for their own feed and upkeep. Shaun was a small miracle out of left field, I’m not sure where he came from and the gentleman I got him from died from a tractor accident shortly after. My goal today is to have two herds, Shaun with Heart, Dotty, and Bellwether to create replacement breeding ewes. Those replacement ewes (like Twilight Sparkle and Pinkie Pie) would be terminally crossed with Lambert with all lambs going to market to pay for feed, upkeep, replacement breeding stock like a new ram. Maybe the first will be a dorper, and he’ll be my terminal male as I try to track a replacement Katahdin, who knows?
On a sad note my boy learned a hard lesson yesterday. My mom brought some new chickens when they came to visit for Easter, they’re trying to get things lined out to move to Oklahoma so they’re getting rid of their current flock. Every night his job is to count the chickens and lock them up for the night. He didn’t count and one of those chickens was hiding out under the coop or in the sagebrush or somewhere. A raccoon got ahold of her in the night and left what bits he didn’t want in the chicken yard. I hope he’ll always remember to count now. And now I’ve gotta trap a raccoon. Last night was a failure, I sometimes really hate cats!

 

[Ridgetop]

Sad for him, but a valuable lesson in livestock keeping. Always count your animals. Missing a ewe - is she lambing somewhere? Missing a horse - is the fence down? The old west cowboys used to keep a little tally book when they counted their herds and they would be correct within a couple of head. Missing stock means missing $$$.

Our youngest daughter did the same. She was in charge of bringing the ewes in at night and was going on a date so didn't bother to count. One stayed out to lamb and 2 days later one of the dogs brought a leg up to the patio. Since we trusted her to take care of the sheep, and she didn't bother to count heads, we were down a ewe and her lamb. Big trouble for her, and we did not trust her to be responsible for the sheep anymore. She cried over it, but as we told her "Sorry and tears won't replace a big dollar item like the ewe and lamb".

It is a hard lesson, even if it was just a chicken. Next time he will count. Farm children learn these lessons and they will stand them in good stead later in life. Just like learning to work hard on the farm - it gives them a good work ethic and they learn not to half do a job. He is just a child but he is learning.

 

[greybeard]

The old west cowboys used to keep a little tally book when they counted their herds and they would be correct within a couple of head. Missing stock means missing $$$.

Open range, they got counted once/year here..at roundup. (this was in the 50s and early 60s)

Down in Chambers and East Galveston County in saw grass country, there are momma cows that have never seen a human until the cows are loaded to go to sale.

 

[Ridgetop]

Does the Dorper contact you found have White Dorpers or regular black headed Dorpers? there are 2 different Dorper breeds. Both have all the same attributes, and are made up of the same genetics - Black Headed Persian sheep and Dorset sheep. White Dorpers have nicer temperaments than the black headed Dorpers. Black headed Dorpers are flightier and meaner than the White Dorpers. With you small kids, hopefully, the Dorpers you have found are White Dorpers. Probably are since no one mistakes a black headed Dorper for any other type of sheep. White Dorpers look like a very thick, meaty, white sheep. Similar to the dorset which is one of the sheep used to make up that breed.

 

[greybeard]

The old west cowboys used to keep a little tally book when they counted their herds and they would be correct within a couple of head. Missing stock means missing $$$.

one or two?