Is it normal for male ram sheep to violently headbutt the walls?

[soarwitheagles]

Perfect. If you were buying sheep to raise and put in your freezer that would be one thing, but as breeders that is just a big risk. I talked to my friend in KY that raises Katahdins and she says the same thing, buying at an auction is just too risky for breeding stock. She takes her young slaughter rams there and her cull ewe lambs, but if a sheep is worth owning then she sells it private treaty. In the long run you will so much happier.

You might look at Katahdins too, they are another fast growing hair breed that you might like. Dorpers and Katahdins make a good mix too.

Are your ABs registered?

Hi Babs,

Yes, most of the buyers at the auction were butchers and they were purchasing 20-50 at a time. And they were purchasing the sheep to butcher within the next few days, so quality of stock, disease, etc. probably wasn't a major issue for them. One man I met at the auction was purchasing lambs with the express intention of grain feeding for 4-6 weeks, then selling and making a handsome profit. I watched him purchase a flock of 20 lambs for $55 per head. I thought that was a very nice deal. But he wasn't breeding or anything like that...it was all about butchering...

The AB's we purchased are not registered. I suspect some of them are 100% purebred [and they meet the standards for registration] while others have either Dorper and/or Katahdin mix with the AB. The rancher I purchased the AB's from is not into registering them at all. He simply raises them to sell for meat. His California Reds on the other hand are all registered.

Well, by Christmas time, our flock should have another 8-12 more lambs [some of the ewes look like they will drop their lambs in the next 30 days]. So that should put us up to 30-35 sheep. I think I could sell the entire flock and then use the proceeds to switch over to Dorpers then. The other option is to wait until Easter, and then we would probably obtain a better price for the flock, because most of our present lambs will be selling weight by then...

Dang, I so much wish I had started with Dorpers instead of the AB's now.

 

[Bossroo]

If it was me , I would sell all of the Blackbellies ASAP and let someone else feed them out / lamb them out. They will bring the same price now as later , however you will have much more labor as well as feed into them. I would also go back and Google Dorper sheep and read farm information on those farms that breed from imported stock as well as embrio implants and also sell at National Ram Sales to buy a high quality RAM to build you sheep band on. You have a few purebred Dorper farms fairly close to you bo select your ewe lambs from.

 

[Baymule]

Bossroo is right as usual. Have you thought about the idea of selling lambs to people wanting breeding stock? You could bet a better price for breeding stock, then sell culls for meat. You sell enough breeding stock quality lambs, your initial purchase will pay for itself.

You would be better off to buy fewer, better quality ewes and a ram, then build your own flock of high quality sheep.

 

[babsbag]

My friend sent me a list of Dorper breeders that you might want to look at.

www.dorper.org/PDF-FindBreeder/SW.pdf

 

[soarwitheagles]

If it was me , I would sell all of the Blackbellies ASAP and let someone else feed them out / lamb them out. They will bring the same price now as later , however you will have much more labor as well as feed into them. I would also go back and Google Dorper sheep and read farm information on those farms that breed from imported stock as well as embrio implants and also sell at National Ram Sales to buy a high quality RAM to build you sheep band on. You have a few purebred Dorper farms fairly close to you bo select your ewe lambs from.

Not quite. Right now, I only have offers of $75 for the AB lambs, but come Christmas and Easter, I can easily obtain $150 per lamb because most will be at selling weight by then. So that is double the money. I am not interested in registered or show sheep at all. I simply am looking for healthy Dorper sheep that will give birth to healthy Dorper lambs. Several of the local Dorper ranchers are asking astronomical prices...as in $250-$400 per sheep! In my mind, that is far too high of a price to pay for a Dorper. I kind of wish I had purchased the 20 Dorper ewe lambs in April from a well known rancher up near Redding. He was asking $125 per lamb. By now, those little lambs would be well on their way to 150 lbs and soon to be ready to breed. I suppose I will begin to look for a local rancher that has healthy pregnant Dorper ewes for a reasonable price. The most well known local rancher offered me excellent stock Dorper lambs for $150 each but nearly all of them had the tape worm hanging out their rear end. They told me their pasture was "infected".

People keep telling me the auction is asking for disaster. Well, I see disasters in higher priced sheep that are not from the auction. And the two Dorpers I purchased at the auction are thriving.

Not wanting to be argumentative, but I cannot justify paying outrageous prices for sheep.

Here is a good example of what I consider local lamb price insanity:

http://wsdorpers.com/sheep_for_sale

Notice the prices: $500, $500, $400 and the "super" deal at ONLY $475. So sorry, and not meaning to offend anybody, but to pay that amount for a lamb in my mind is a form of insanity!

I will either find a local rancher with healthy Dorpers or take my chances at the auction, quarantine and treat them for 60 days, and start from there.

Last, I hope to purchase the fecal testing kits so I can test on sight before purchasing sheep from local ranchers.

Bossroo, thank you for sharing your insights and advice. I have learned very much from you. But some of your information was not accurate. I recently watched my friend sell his AB lambs that were only a few months older than mine, and he was getting $175 per head, and he would not drop the price even one penny, and he sold every lamb he had...as in over 100 of them. Several of the buyers were trying to haggle him down, and he would not budge. He got his asking price, even when people purchased 5 or more at a time. Mine were simply too small at the time. Give my lambs another 3-5 months, and they should be ready.

Bossroo is right as usual. Have you thought about the idea of selling lambs to people wanting breeding stock? You could bet a better price for breeding stock, then sell culls for meat. You sell enough breeding stock quality lambs, your initial purchase will pay for itself.

You would be better off to buy fewer, better quality ewes and a ram, then build your own flock of high quality sheep.

Great ideas again Baymule. I never considered raising breeding stock. I think it is possible that there is too much competition in my area. I will have to look into it a little more deeply.

 

[babsbag]

There are disasters waiting around every corner with livestock. But if you buy from a private party you can ask for some testing to be done and you can see their overall herd health. I am more worried about biosecurity than growth rate. You can always get better sheep and a great ram and breed up from there but if you bring disease onto your land you will be stuck with nothing for years and years. Quarantine will tell you somethings but it won't tell you about diseases that are lurking with no outward signs; some of them you need to test for. I bought my first goats with NO idea about goats and got lucky, but it could have gone south just as easily. Now that I know what I am looking at I only buy tested animals from clean herds.

If you buy the ewes for $150 and she throws twins and you sell them both she has paid for herself. I would have no "profit" the first year and healthy animals than spending the first year paying a vet or culling my flock due to illness.

Personally I would buy my breeding stock from more than one flock too, a little genetic diversity can be very nice. If you get a reputation for healthy sheep at reasonable prices you will have no reason not to be able to sell breeding stock. There are a lot of people looking for healthy animals without breaking the bank, the same as you are. 4H and FFA kids are always looking for lambs too.

 

[SheepGirl]

Any update on your flock?

By the way -- if you buy Dorpers priced at $300+, they will produce lambs that can be sold for the same. If you buy sheep that are $50 each, then you will just be producing more $50 sheep.

 

[soarwitheagles]

Any update on your flock?

By the way -- if you buy Dorpers priced at $300+, they will produce lambs that can be sold for the same. If you buy sheep that are $50 each, then you will just be producing more $50 sheep.

Thank you for asking Sheepgirl.

Well, to be honest with you, I feel as if I missed the opportunity of a lifetime. I was visiting a place and they were selling 19 pregnant Dorpers for $37.50 each. Still kicking myself in the butt for hesitating...and I missed the deal.

I know most people here are saying do not purchase unless it is a known local...but heck, I can't see how I could have gone wrong with 19 pregnant Dorpers for $37.50 each. I would have quarantined them for 60 days and then would have had a flock of 57 or more Dorpers in less than two months time...and all for the pretty price of $712. That equals $12.50 per sheep and we have all the free grass they would need for the next 6 months or so. Dang, that sure seems hard to beat. Many people here are selling 2 Dorpers for more than $712! Crazy world!

So, I have not populated with Dorpers yet. We still have the two Dorpers lambs I purchased last year at the auction...and I paid $55 or $65 per sheep then. Now they are no longer lambs...they are the largest sheep in our flock, weighing in at approximately 180lbs. They keep looking like they are pregnant, but I think they are simply pigging out on all the free grass, forbs, etc. in our back forest. They are nearly triple the weight of most of our other lambs.

Our American Blackbellies ewes are dropping lambs again. We had two sets of twins within a one week period. Healthy as can be. Have a bunch more American Blackbelly ewes that are pregnant and getting ready to drop. I am thinking within two months our nice little flock from last year will have quadrupled. It is true, these sheep lamb every 8 months or so and because we are feeding them well, they should nearly all twin or triplet.

I doubled the size of our manger to accommodate all the new arrivals. Now I am thinking about quadrupling the size of the manger...

So that is our update. Good news, but I wish I could have told everyone I purchased 19 pregnant Dorpers for $37.50 each!

BTW, in this neck of the woods, I can easily sell well fed 4-6 month old Dorpers for $150 all day long and have a line of people at our gate. 8-10 month Dorpers here easily sell for $200+, all day long, with people lined up at the gate. So perhaps the prices are different according to locale. I am not sure about that, but I do know most people here do not even ask much about the sheep before purchasing them...they simply want to butcher them and eat them.

Oh, one more strange event...

One our our American Blackbelly ewes began to limp really bad. On the second day, she wouldn't even let her left rear hoof touch the ground. Scared the heck out of me because I thought it may be foot rot because we have never trimmed any hooves here.

Well, rounded up the flock, plucked little miss limpy out of the flock, built a sheep chair, and set her down. Looked and looked again and again, but couldn't find anything wrong with her foot! Since I had purchased brand new hoof trimmers, I thought I would give it a shot...trimmed her hooves even though they didn't need it that much. Gave her a shot of penicillin just in case, and quarantined her. Not seeing any difference. So now, I am not sure what to do...

Anyone have any suggestions?

Thank you!

 

[Latestarter]

@mysunwolf @Sheepshape @norseofcourse @purplequeenvt @SheepGirl Sorry you have a limper... Hope it's nothing serious and she just twisted it or something. Sorry to hear you missed out on that sale... I'd have been kicking myself.

 

[Sheepshape]

soarwitheagles...she may just have twisted her hoof, but did you check where the hoof meets the leg? This is the area affected by CODD (contagious ovine digital dermatitis)...if this is present the area will be swollen and hot....responds well to high doses of penicillin and anti-inflammatories.

Over here the Ministry of Ag. now says that hooves should not be trimmed. A sheep which has a painful hoof will grow long hooves as they are not putting the hoof to the ground. Cutting back the hoof will expose the sore area for the sheep to walk on and increase lameness. Once the sheep is back walking normally the hoof will wear down. Government guidelines now say treat footrot with a long acting injected tetracycline and an iodine scary locally with no trimming. I've been adhering to this practice for a while and it works.I still trim very overgrown and dehiscing hooves under which dirt, stones etc can collect who the animal has no active disease (even found a fence staple in there once).

All but the very wise have missed out on some good deal or other over the years. Always console yourself with the adage "If an offer looks too good to be true, it probably is". Unless you're sure about the folk you are buying from and the flock that sheep have come from, then you could be landed with Johne's, caseating lymphadenitis or lambs where the father was either of a different breed or was way too closely related to his lambs.You'll get what you want in the end.