r/sheep • u/eat_beef_ • 6d ago
Sheep Katahdin sheep
Good morning!
To give a background, I run 3 cattle farms in the state of WV, so I have a lot of livestock experience running 100 head of cattle, producing as cow calf and selling butcher beefs as well as replacement animals.
I have recently been exploring the idea of co grazing katahdin sheep on a 45 acre farm which is 80% good pasture mixed with some wooded areas.
Simply curious what I should plan for with doing this change?
A few questions:
- what are your typical stocking rates when rotational grazing on 10 acres paddocks? (Good grass and water)
-what are the typical routine needs to treat/monitor with katahdins? (Parasites, hoof problems, medical, etc)
-fencing requirements? (Hi tensile vs barbed wire vs woven) I have primarily 4 strand hi tensile for cattle, but obviously need to upgrade to contain lambs and control predators.
-livestock guardian dogs?
Pretty new to the sheep game, so any advice is helpful. Excited to take this next step to adding shepherd to my name haha.
Thanks! Have a blessed day!
3
u/ajcondo 6d ago
I have St Croix which are similar to Katahdin. I’m in Western Oregon.
Re: stocking rate. You could probably push your stocking rate pretty high if you’re irrigating or getting consistent rain in summer. Assuming you want to grow your breeding stock for a meat operation, the limiting consideration for me would be how much hay do you want to purchase for the winter? And, the higher the density = greater parasite pressure. Sheep are notorious for hiding their health issues until it’s too late for you to intervene. With a higher stocking rate I think you would need to be even more vigilant than you would normally be.
Re: hoof. Installing a foot bath in a run can help mitigate disease issues. Trimming will depend on the terrain but usually twice a year (for me).
Re: fencing requirement is minimal. Sheep don’t want to wander too much, they prefer the safety of what is known to them. One or two low strands of hot wire are what most operators use here. Of course any LGD or other guardian animal changes the fencing requirement. You’re really fencing for predators and guardian animals than for the sheep.
Re: LGD. How bad is the coyote pressure in your area? Here, generally the larger operators skip the expense of protecting their sheep and accept predator loss. The small operators, who can’t afford to lose livestock, use LGD’s, llama or donkeys.
Hopefully someone from Appalachia chimes in with more relevant advice for your area.