Heritage Large Fowl - Phase II

[RedRidge]

 
Next year I plan on having both of them kid around March. Last year all my dates got screwed up since she was refusing to take. I also have Nigerians, so they cycle year round. No meat goats here! LOL 35-40 pounds is full grown for them! I might get a wether to butcher this year, but I have a lot of chicken stuff to do. Don't know if he will fit in the plans this year. Might have to wait until next year.

I never took weight a young lambs/goats for slaughter but they seem to look like 30-40 lbs, but looks can be deceiving.. Still looking for a nice young lamb for Easter, to many people already pre-sold there nice young stock so hoping to find one before Easter. You can make some good money on lambs and goats if there Jan-Feb birth to sell to the south eastern Europeans or Middle Eastern people.  Sometimes old school Italians will eat goat/lamb.  Once a lamb or goat go into heat they taste like garbage.

Yes, I have a whole trailer load going to New Holland PA from here in TN the week before Easter.
For good growth on lambs you want then to be 55 lbs at 60 days old.... 100-120 lbs by 4-5 months. I don't want them on my quality pasture for longer than 5 months. .. That grass is for the ewes and replacement ewe lambs.

 

[capayvalleychick]

I would love to raise a few sheep but I'm looking at the Barbados as I wouldn't have to cut wool and I think they would do well in a desert climate. Know anything about these?

Sorry in advance for this off topic answer, but I want everyone to know that there is a super easy breed of hair sheep that needs breeders. Listed as Threatened on the LC conservation priority list.

I raise St. Croix Hair Sheep... probably the most trouble free breed of sheep out there. I don't like sheep because they are so high maintenance, but I love my St. Croix.

No shearing because they are hair sheep - they shed. Perfect for hot climates, they are native to the Virgin Islands. Breeders in cold climates also have success with them. They are super hardy. I've never had any illness in my flock. Only my newborn lambs are vaccinated and wormed, not the adults.

No worming needed because they are naturally parasite resistant. All other breeds of sheep are having a horrible time with parasites.

Year round breeding and fast breed back. I get two crops of lambs in just over a year. One ewe gave me triplets and quads last year. She raised them all completely on her own - no supplements or bottle feeding were needed. These are awesome mothers! I've never had to assist with birth. I only had to bottle feed one lamb after her dam injured her udder, and that ewe continued to care for the bottle baby.
My sheep are grass fed only and the lactating ewes get alfalfa. No grain ever. When not lactating, they all do quite well on wild grass & poor forage like dry grass in the summer.

Excellent temperament. They are much less flighty than Barbs and other breeds. Mine actually are cooperative and will follow feed anywhere or go where I direct them. They have good flocking instinct. The rams are easy to manage not very aggressive. Very easy to halter train. Friendly when handled, easily tamed. Will cooperate with a strong herding dog - mine will chase off a dog who is unsure.
They respect fences - even low ones that other sheep would jump. Very easily contained, they seem to be content to stay where they are put.
I tried Barbs & Katahdin sheep and could not tolerate their flighty, unfriendly dispositions. They were much harder to manage.

Hair sheep have always been raised & selected for meat - not wool. The result is higher quality, better tasting meat. The lanolin in wool breeds affects the flavor and that is one reason why so many people don't like the flavor of lamb. I never liked lamb until I had hair sheep lamb. It's much milder, almost like mild beef.

The reason that commercial producers don't like St. Croix is because they are slower maturing than modern production breeds. That doesn't necessarily mean much more feed because they don't require the amount or quality of forage that other breeds do. I get about 50-60 pounds of lamb at 7 months.
For a family or homesteader that wants a hardy, easy way to produce some lamb, this breed can be an excellent choice.

One last note about the registry. The original St. Croix sheep that were brought to the US were selected to be all white and polled. This was in the original US Standard for the breed. Last year, some Board members decided to change the Standard (against the majority of the members' wishes) to allow color and scurs. So the registry split. I recommend http://www.stcroixhairsheep.org/ because it maintains the original Standard and allows input from the membership.

I'll shut up now. Just had to let you all know, since this is a wonderful breed that is worth stewardship.

 

[3riverschick]

maybe we should change the name of this list. Baa, Baa.

 

[Lacy Blues]

capayvalleychick, I'll be sending you a PM a little later today. Too much off topic. Don't want to make everybody mad at me.

 

[3riverschick]

capayvalleychick, I'll be sending you a PM a little later today. Too much off topic. Don't want to make everybody mad at me.

I'm not mad, just it's the chick season and is there anyone out there
looking for a Heritage Breed who needs help finding it? Just saying.
Karen

 

[gjensen]

If I was to get into sheep, St Croix and Barbados would be what I would get. I like low input, and I am not going into the business. They are better suited for the humid and hot southeast.

Why you keep and where you keep is a reasonable consideration concerning breeds of livestock.

 

[Beekissed]

I've had the St. Croix and SC/Katahdin cross but I really love the pure Katahdins the very best. They put on such good meat, are very milky, not as flighty as the St. Croix to work with, are such moochy, sweet sheep and they tend to shed in large sheets instead of having all the rag tags that last forever. Surprisingly enough, their wool isn't a bad quality either.

I also wouldn't mind trying the Soay and Painted Desert sheep, just to see what they are like.

 

[Zanna]

I've had the St. Croix and SC/Katahdin cross but I really love the pure Katahdins the very best. They put on such good meat, are very milky, not as flighty as the St. Croix to work with, are such moochy, sweet sheep and they tend to shed in large sheets instead of having all the rag tags that last forever. Surprisingly enough, their wool isn't a bad quality either.

I also wouldn't mind trying the Soay and Painted Desert sheep, just to see what they are like.

Getting a few Soay early summer when the younguns are ready

 

[HaikuHeritageFarm]

I'm trying to track down someone with the Bob Blosl line of Mohawk RIR bantams! So bummed that I didn't get them last year when I had the chance. He told me previously that he had two very good breeders that had the line, and had also just got a novice breeder in Missouri set up with some birds. (I think this was in 2011.)

Anyway, any leads would be appreciated. I feel really compelled to try to find some of these birds. He loved them so much.

 

[3riverschick]

I'm trying to track down someone with the Bob Blosl line of Mohawk RIR bantams! So bummed that I didn't get them last year when I had the chance. He told me previously that he had two very good breeders that had the line, and had also just got a novice breeder in Missouri set up with some birds. (I think this was in 2011.)

Anyway, any leads would be appreciated. I feel really compelled to try to find some of these birds. He loved them so much.

If anyone knows, it is probably Steven Gribble. He and Bob were very close friends.
Here's his profile page:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/u/58559/sgribble