Teresa & Mike CHS - Our journal

[Mike CHS]

We added another new to us farm to our reserve list for our next bunch of lambs making four farms as of now. We won't be adding any more since we only have 16 breeders with the ram right now and with 12 ewe lambs on reserve it will be our luck to have a bumper crop of ram lambs this time.

In between rain today we brought Pete and the ewe lambs up so we can check weights and pull a few fecals tomorrow. This bunch of 9 lambs are all fairly close to 5 months old and have not been wormed up to this point and based on appearance and condition, they hopefully won't need any but we'll confirm that.

 

[Mike CHS]

I wanted to add to the last post. Two of the reserve buyers are folks who were impressed with Percy that is a Ringo Ram.

 

[Baymule]

I have spoken to Howard Covington in Livington,Tx about buying a couple of registered ewe lambs from him. We haven’t been able to get a date when both of us are not busy, so far. Last week we had our granddaughters, the next couple of days are bad weather followed by a couple of days that a neighbor boy is going to be working with us. Hopefully we can go Friday or Saturday. Ringo has registered young ladies on the way soon.

 

[Ridgetop]

YAY! Starting your registered flock! Did you find out if the Katahdin registry allows for registration of "percentages" or "gardes" out of registered rams?

I asked the judge at the Reno show his opinion on Katahdins. He is from central Texas. He said if someone could blend the Katahdins and Dorpers you would have the best meat breed around! Parasite resistance of Katahdins (Barber Pole) and meat from Dorpers, with the excellent mothering, milking, and productivity of both breeds - it would be a Super Sheep!

Once we are in Texas, I am considering adding a couple Katahdin ewes to the flock to play around with the cross breeding potential. Just considering at this point. Not sure if I want to cross breed. Really like my meaty little White Dorpers. Calmer than the black headed Dorpers too.

 

[farmerjan]

Many people in this area that have goats use Boers on whatever goats they have to increase the meat/muscling of the kids. I imagine it would be the same in the sheep using a Dorper over Katahdin ewes, or a few dorper ewes with a good Katahdin male. Sometimes one cross will do better than crossing the other way. Might be interesting to see if you using a Dorper over Katahdin, and @Baymule using a Katahdin over a couple of Dorpers....... HMMMM Joint venture experiments....

 

[Ridgetop]

Talked to a Howard Covington (KHSI director) about this idea and he said that White Dorpers (what I have) make better crosses for some reason on Katahdins than the black headed Dorpers. He also said that Barber Pole is a huge killer and worm resistance was a huge priority for Katahdin breeders. He referred me to Dan Turner of KHSI who is doing substantial work up in Pennsylvania on parasite resistance and also NSIP work with emphasis on parasite resistance. My experience with Dorpers in the NSIP program is that they focus more on meat and carcass aspects along with production scores than parasite resistance. Maybe because Dorpers are traditionally located in drier areas with less Barber Pole. Another person he referred me to doing work on this subject and on genomes is Nathan Kruger. I have a call in to him as well.

If we are going to Texas (home of the feared Barber Pole) I need to start now on parasite resistance and finding ut about these programs. I a also going to check in the Dorper Society and see what parasite resistance programs they may have going.

I haven't wormed this flock since last year but it has been very dry and they are not on pasture - there is NO pasture this year. If I worm at all, I worm right after they lamb. One dose. Probably don't need that.

Will be interested to hear what these 2 gentlemen have to tell me about these programs.

 

[Mike CHS]

KHSI does let you record percentages. Our first sheep were a Katahdin/Dorper cross but they are all gone now. Our Katahdins are heavier than the average Katahdin but that's one of the main "keeper" criteria for us. That and parasite resistance is at the top. Each of the rams that we have used (including Ringo) came out of the Lamb Ram Test Program ran by Virginia Tech. Only the top performers are sold and it has worked for us.

 

[Baymule]

I have a ram from Ringo that I’m pretty taken with. He is the biggest of all the lambs, calm, comes to me for scratches, with a wide build. I just couldn’t take him to auction. He is black and white, his name is Snip. I have a couple of ewes I may breed to him just because.

Ringo does pass on his personality.

I’m keeping 7 ewe lambs from him as replacements.

@Ridgetop parasite resistance will be of paramount importance in east Texas.

 

[Ridgetop]

Received a call back from Nathan Kruger in Centerville, TX. He told me about a program in Pennsylvania? or another state that is doing more research into parasite resistance in the Katahdins.

Since we have little or no parasite problems here on our property (no grass pasture = no worms LOL) I wanted to talk to him about parasite resistance and whether I should consider cross breeding. However I hate the thought of cross breeding because I really love my registered White Dorpers and their fast gain and meaty carcasses. Although Mike and Teresa have heavier Katahdins, most of the ones I have seen here are very light and not meaty at all. Those might not have been good specimens since some of the Dorpers I have seen have not been very good either. Even at the West Coast Dorper show in reno there were some pretty weedy specimens.

His suggestion was wait and see how resistant my Dorpers are. The climate really influences the worm population. He said that the west Texas Dorper flocks have less parasite problems simply because it is so hot and dry there. Also pasture rotation (which I have always planned on doing since reading "The Grass is Greener" about pasture health and rotation years ago) is key. According to Mr. Kruger, rotating pastures to have 60 days fallow between regrazing cuts off the worm life cycles, resulting in lower parasite loads. Also as Mike, Teresa, and Baymule have discussed, heavy culling is also the main key in establishing parasite resistant flocks.

But I am still thinking about bringing in a couple good Katahdin ewes just for fun . Trying cross breeding would be enjoyable even though the lambs could not be registered except as percentages.

 

[Baymule]

Sheep are fun. I enjoy the heck out of my sheep. When I feed Sentry and Sheba, I always sit in their pasture while they eat and give them some special attention. The 2 ram lambs I'm keeping just for the heck of it are in that pasture and they both come to me for their share of scratches.

@Ridgetop get a couple of Katahdin ewes and play with cross breeding them. Why? Just because, and it's enjoyable to play with our sheep.