Virtual Farm Tour :: Katahdin Hair Sheep

Let me just say this ... our Katahdin Hair Sheep flock is really a work in progress ... but, with that in mind I do think that they will eventually become a slightly bigger part of our operation than I envisioned. Lamb and beef are two things that I only have a few times throughout the farmers market season at this point, but I would say that are at least as many or even more people that ask for lamb each week! Plus, I think they fit well with our grazing system and on our farm.

Now, why do I call them a work in progress? Well ... let me just say that they are not exactly trained to the electric fence yet (including the electric netting). This is our second year with the sheep and I can't exactly say that we have been rotationally grazing them, but I can say they cover the acres very well and do graze on different species of forage than the cows normally do. From reading other people's accounts on raising sheep I think I just need to really focus on getting them used to the hot wires.

As I mentioned the demand has been fairly high for lamb meat and we have not had any problem selling what few cuts we have. In fact I've had quite a few people interested in ordering whole lambs and that will probably be something we begin in the next year or so, but for now I like the idea of getting as many people hooked on our lamb meat as possible! The downside though is that the way we raise our lambs it is very seasonal market. With our spring born lambs and fall processing we really only have them available for a couple months each year.

One option to spread the availability out a little bit would be to have fall born lambs and winter them over on hay, but I'm not sure if I like that idea because there would be extra hay costs incurred that don't exist with spring lambing. Which makes me think that selling whole lambs and taking reservations throughout the year for the fall would be the best possible market strategy for the farm.

I am pretty sure that there will be sheep and lambs on the farm for years to come (as long as we get all the wrinkles ironed out), but there are a few things I would like to try/explore. As I mentioned I may try some different breeding schedules, but I would also like to look more closely into the St. Croix breed if I can find some. I will also admit that I need to learn quite a bit more about the different cuts and how to prepare them! All in all though I'm pleased with the sheep.

Comeback Farms :: Chapters 15-16 Book Report

In chapter fifteen Greg Judy writes about the flock of hair sheep he began with and how he suggests going about beginning your own herd. On his farm they started out with purebred St. Croix hair sheep from a small herd that had never been wormed. The gentleman that Mr. Judy purchased his sheep from had been building his parasite resistant flock for some time and had already gone through the struggle of severe culling and loss of sheep to build the genetics he needed. I've got to admit that I think that is a great way to go ... especially if you are going to start out with a small flock like I would like to.

The small flock of St. Croix's was not all that Mr. Judy wanted for his farm. In fact he mentioned that he would like to have a flock of 500 ewes. After searching all over for more St. Croix hair sheep he found that they were hard to come by ... or as much as $500 for ewe lambs. As you might guess that would be a bit too much to pay if you wanted to build a large production flock, so he moved on to "Plan B". That plan involved buying a flock of Barbados hair sheep. What they are doing now on his farm is using the St. Croix rams to breed to the Barbados ewes in hopes of building up their parasite resistant flock. It sounds like a good idea ...

Along with parasite resistance Mr. Judy has a few other goals for the type of sheep that are part of his flock. His goal, "is to build a flock that needs no wormer, no lambing assistance, no feed, no hay, no shelter. They must have extreme flocking instinct, lamb on pasture, get no shots of any kind, wean their own lambs, shed off every spring, lamb every year, require no hoof trimming, and have good mothering instincts." As you can see that is a pretty lofty goal, but once it is reached they will have a flock that fits perfectly into their system and that uses very few inputs!

Chapter sixteen deals with developing the parasite-resistant flock. I can sum it up pretty quickly. Cull ruthlessly ... get sheep from your area ... find sheep being raised the way you want to raise them ... and ... cull ruthlessly! Of course he adds a bit more, but I think that's a good summery.

Comeback Farms :: Chapters 13-14 Book Report

What has been going on since I blogged last? Rain, a bit of rain, rain, wind, heat, sun, rain, a little more rain, hail (and damage to the roof), and more rain. It has been bleh ... needless to say I've been out slogging through the mud and trying to tie up other loose ends as the farmer's market season draws near. But, I have also been finishing up "Comeback Farms" by Greg Judy and thinking about putting some of those thoughts into practice on the farm. These two chapters deal with multi-species grazing ... specifically sheep ... specifically hair sheep!

In chapter thirteen Mr. Judy talks about the benefits of multi-species grazing. He says that he had been dragging his feet for years because of all the fears he had about adding sheep or other animals. What I really appreciate is that he takes each one of the fears that he had and then shares how they worked through them on his farm. I thought I would share a few that really hit home with me from this chapter.

Extra Fencing :: He uses 5 wires of hi-tensile electric on the perimeters and then 4 wires for the interior paddock divisions. I'm pretty close to set in that regard.

Worming Sheep :: They are focused on building a 100% parasite-resistant flock of sheep on their farm, so they cull for that and have found quite a bit of success it seems.

Sheep Need Shelter :: Mr. Judy provides no shelter for his sheep on pasture and they lamb out on pasture as well.

This quote from the chapter gives a good perspective on the benefits of multi-species grazing, "What was once nuisance plants, weeds, brush, etc., become food for your animals. The cattle eat the grass and legumes. Sheep go after the broadleaf weeds, blackberry and some grass." Reading this kind of stuff (and the resolutions to the perceived problems) gets me really excited about the possibility of adding sheep!

Chapter fourteen deals specifically with building fence for sheep and goats. It is nice to have some details of what works on their farm. I especially like the description and pictures of the five strand gates he makes using polywire tape. There are two gates that are at the bottom of the pasture on the farm and this is exactly the kind of gate I was thinking about building. Now I have an idea of how to do it!

As you can tell (and will tell as I cover the next few chapters) I'm excited about the possibilities of hair sheep ... there will be more on that to come.

Sheep Shearers...

In the March, 18th issue of the "Iowa Farm Bureau Spokesman" there was a front page article titled, "For Iowa sheep producers, a good shearer is hard to find". It was a pretty interesting article that pointed out that there are only 14 sheep shearers listed on the Iowa Sheep Industry Association's website. Many sheep farmers are finding that 14 shearers just aren't quite enough for the 9th-largest sheep producing state in the country. One could even venture a guess that with some people switching to hair sheep that there are less people practicing the art of shearing wool. Nevertheless, the article made me think...

I know that people across the country are always looking for ways to stay "on the farm" or even close to agriculture and maybe sheep shearing is one of the ways to make it possible. The man that was chronicled in the article said he will shear about 800 sheep in one week and travel between 1,000 and 1,500 miles! That is a lot of sheep and a lot of driving and I think it says that if you know what you are doing you could possibly add a nice cottage business on the side to your farm.

Of course if you were to think about becoming a sheep shearer there is always this to consider, "I've heard an eight-hour shearing day can be compared to running a marathon". This may contribute to the reason why there aren't as many sheep shearers and that there are a few that have semi-retired because they just can't handle the long days and traveling anymore.

As I see it there are two things that could come out of this article. First of all, someone could learn the craft/art (that's what it is) of shearing and and another dimension to their farm (on a part time basis). Or secondly, this could just be another reason for some farmers to switch to hair sheep ... then they don't have to shear!

An Apology and Sheep...

First of all let me throw out a quick apology to all those people who have e-mailed me with encouragement or asking about pricing/pork/beef/eggs. I have a bit of a backlog in the e-mail inbox and I am slowly going through it, but I haven't had much time as I have been working roughly 7:00 AM until 10:00 PM everyday this week on the house and then on church work. It is a crazy time, but it is very fulfilling!

Secondly, I know I have talked about sheep multiple times on this blog, but while we were at the Iowa State Fair (the greatest) I picked up a brochure from the Midwest Katahdin Hair Sheep Association. They had some sheep on display in the Avenue of Breeds, so I was also able to see them in person (I may have noticed them before, but without much thought).

As I read through the brochure a few things popped out at me. I'll list those below, but if you have any experience raising Katahdin sheep or even better marketing them or other sheep I (and probably others that read the blog) would love to hear your thoughts. Here is what I found interesting:

• The bred was devolped my Michael Piel in Maine (After a little more searching it looks like he used some African stock to get started and part of his growing flock also ended up at the Heifer Project International farm.
• They have good flocking instincts and work good from Canada to the Equator (I had worried about their lack of wool in Iowa winters).
• The flavor of the meat has a "mild lamb" taste. I'm no lamb expert and I've only had it once, so could someone explain a "mild lamb" taste?
• Most are white in color, but they can be red or brown (I would like some red or brown sheep to go with my dun Dexters!).