Pics of my new Katahdins

[YakLady]

We picked them up this weekend! We bought three rams from one farm. Our intent was to process two of them this week, but they need to gain a bit more. We chose the one with the biggest cajones to be the breeder, and put him in with the three girls that we picked up from another farm. They are all the same age, but the girls are in far better shape. The two farms were very different, and the girls definitely had the best situation going. We absolutely love them all-they are adorable! They're quite skittish and jumpy, but a couple of them have cautiously approached me to get a treat out of my hand. Hope it's not too late to tame them. Needless to say, I didn't take pics of the two boys who are to be processed. Here are some pics of the pets, though:

The shaggy one in front is the ram. It's cute-he's already doing his little nose wrinkle thing with the girls.

Her name is Gordita. She's the only one I've named so far. Her owner told me that she was huge at birth, and she's already bigger than her mom.

 

[YakLady]

I think this one is so pretty! It's hard to get a good pic of her, though, because she's always behind the others.

They decided to check out the chicken coop.

The next two pics are of the stall that my hubby built for them-hard to tell, though.

He cut a little doorway in the side of the garage, right next to the chicken coop.

And built the stall inside. This was taken inside, as they were going back out.

 

[ksalvagno]

Cute sheep! I like the brown and white one. It is like she has pants and a shirt on.

 

[big brown horse]

Doesn't she know NO white pants after Labor day? Gosh my mom used to tell me that...we lived in TX for goodness sake, it was so durn hot you could wear white all year long!!


Ok, those are such good looking sheep! There is something about Katahdins that remind me of llamas... Love all of the different colors, mine are just plain old white.

 

[Beekissed]

The black ones look like my Black Betty.....so pretty! She has an all white tail, a white stocking and a white star like your black ones.

If you keep feeding them treats they will definitely tame down....so much so that you will not be able to make a move without them nibbling on your clothes and hands!

I love the many colors of the Katahdin breed! I hope to get a brown one next, as both of mine are black and white.

BTW, they all look healthy, fat and sassy! Nice little flock!

 

[YakLady]

Awww, how cute, Beekissed! I named the black one with brown shag Black Betty. The little ram is Rico, the big white one is Gordita, and I haven't thought of a suitable name for the multi-colored one yet. She's the sweetest-she'll come up to me to nibble a carrot out of my hand. I think she's also the prettiest. Little Rico came up to me today to get some hay out of my hand. That's so rewarding, isn't it? It's a great feeling when they start to trust you enough to socialize. Thanks for letting me know that you think they're healthy looking, as I'm new to this sheep thing.

Hey, am I supposed to give them a selenium block? I gave them a plain white salt block, but that's it. They're just grazing, eating a little hay, and I'm giving them a bucket every day that full of a mixture of cracked corn, forage cubes, and some horse stuff that the lady at the feedstore said they would like. It's some kind of mixture of oats, molasses, and other stuff. They seem to really like it. I'm also giving them a treat or two every day out of my garden. I've got some broccoli that's gone to seed, and they seem to like the little flowers on the heads. They also like swiss chard and carrots. Other than water, of course, I'm not sure what else I'm supposed to be doing with them. They seem to really like their stall that my hubby built. I moved my baby yak out of that area, because he was getting irritated when I came in to give the sheep attention. Jealous little boy! So now my little silkie roo is hanging out with the sheep. He bunked with them last night instead of going into the chicken coop.

Anywho, let me know if there's something else I'm supposed to do. I know I need to worm them soon, too.

Thanks all!

 

[Beekissed]

I'm flying by the seat of my pants here, too! I've done some reading and decided I wanted to use sea kelp meal and coarse salt for my minerals and just use hay and graze for food.

I de-worm with a surfactant(soap) until I think something else is warranted. For now it seems to be doing an excellent job. I'll be putting unpastuerized ACV in their water this winter as an immunity booster and conditioner.

BOSS has a lot of selenium and they love it when you add it to feed.

My other Kat is called Ugly Betty. When I add another, I hope to call her Betty Boop.

My herd~ The Bettys.

Got Food?

Your sheep and mine look like they came from the same herd! I didn't realize Katahdins were so similar.

 

[YakLady]

Hehe! Too cute! You're right-they do look very similar. Wow-sounds like I have some reading to do, too. I would like to just stick with hay and grazing, as well. The grain and so forth can just be used as a special treat that way. But this is the first I've heard of using sea kelp and coarse salt. Where do you get that? I also haven't heard of surfactant. I wonder if that would work for yak, too? And what's BOSS? Sorry for all the questions.

 

[YakLady]

Oh, wow! I just found your post on alternative methods. I'll read that and see how many of my questions might be answered in there. Thanks!

 

[Beekissed]

I ordered my sea kelp from my local feed store. It's pricey, about a $1 a lb and I got a 50 lb bag. I decided on this mineral after reading Joel Salatin's~ You Can Farm and his description about the benefits of using natural mineral sources and the good results he obtained using it on his cattle.

For sheep, it is supposed to improve overall health and immune systems, increase fertility, improve wool quality, among other things.

I'm going to try the garlic juice this year and am currently growing my own patch of garlic to juice for next year to use in de-worming all my animals.

BOSS is Black Oil Sunflower Seeds and a great source of naturally occuring selenium. My sheep love them! They are getting more expensive now, so I can't afford to buy them often but will definitely use them during periods of flushing.


Here are some links to some great info:

http://www.ucsusa.org/food_and_agri...agriculture/they-eat-what-the-reality-of.html

http://www.garlicbarrier.com/sheep.html

http://www.sheepmagazine.com/issues/24/24-1/Laurie_Ball-Gisch.html

http://www.thorvin.com/feed.htm