I started raising hair sheep for many reasons. The biggest reason is easy care.
Easy Care ? Is that just a thingumajig for better sales ?
A friend introduced easy care tomentum sheep to me . He was frantic to secern me about them .
I listened closely as he explain the construct of the well-off care whisker sheep .
Here ’s what I see :
They will lamb on their own successfully .
Hair sheep will be excellent and doting mother to their counterpart and trinity .
These sheep will need minimal shelter as their thick and fuzzy woolen / tomentum combo will keep them warm all Winter retentive .
Wow , go easy ! This stock of hair sheep may be too good to be unfeigned .
What are Easy Care Hair Sheep?
All novel hybrid breeds start with honest-to-god radix breed .
The easy upkeep sheep are a three mode crown of thorns between Dorper , Katahdin , and Romanov .
The idea of hybridisation breed different stock is designed to take the best qualities from each breed and queer them together to make a good , more durable breed of sheep .
You could call them “ GMO Sheep ” . But , we wo n’t get into that right now .
Like I read , the well-off tutelage breed part with three base breed .
Each base breed has it ’s own reward , make this cross a very indestructible one .
Here they are:
DorperTheDorperis the fastest grow , heaviest - muscle hair sheep breed in the U.S.
Dorperscan be spawn for maternal purposes , but they are mostly eff for being a terminal market creature .
The chief intellect for theDorpersin the Easy Care cross is for carcass quality and muscling .
They lack leech resistance of other hair sheep stock . The moreDorperthe beast has , the more parasites it may persuade .
This has became evident when condition for leech when 1/3 of the ewes in my herd were showing slight cases of some Barber Pole Worm issues .
But , for the bulk to be clean of parasites , still telling .
KatahdinThis stock is used for the cover , as it is a hair / wool cross . This covering is what keep the Easy Care sheep warm in the wintertime time .
A maternal breed , Katahdinewes multiply well with theDorperrams to produce a meaty but womanly lamb .
Parasite resistance and reproductive efficiency is very eminent , making theKatahdina valued breed in the hair sheep industry .
RomanovTheRomanovbreed may not be as popular as theKatahdinandDorper , but it holds a very of import note value in this cross .
This strain is well known for it ’s high-pitched level of reproduction . Romanovewes are extremely fertile .
A ewe can impart many sister , nurture the lambs successfully , and then change state around and breed again .
TheRomanovalso get a warm fleece cover , but is still classified as a hair sheep because the colour and guard hair’s-breadth are unsuitable for the commercial-grade woolen market .
The fleece quality does n’t really weigh much to me as a meat lamb producer , but it does seem to keep the ewes warm in extremely cold temperatures .
How Easy is Easy Care?
well-heeled forethought is pretty easy .
The sheep keep to themselves regularly . They do not wish to be societal to us in any way .
They are very efficient and productive animate being when it come to skimming .
The lactating ewes are fed feed and brome hay to secure proper aliment before lambing .
Finally , parasite ascendence is easy . While they are not immune to parasites , they are pretty resistive as a whole .
How resistant?
After pasture a pasture all summer the first class , 1/3 of the ewes had restrained insect load . Less than 1 % of our herd was in the toilsome class .
So , 2/3 of the ruck had scant worm loads , making them fairly resistant .
I like this number but I live there ’s no such matter as underground . Any creditworthy livestock producer knows this .
I will continue to be proactive and do routine cheque with my ewe each class . Pasture revolution is an important part of my grazing operation and will continue to be utilized for best production direction .
How do Easy Care Hair Sheep Compare to Goats?
Hair sheep keep to themselves while goats desire to socialize more with people .
I enjoy start the sheep because they do n’t run me over at the feed fly the coop like the Goat do . They step aside and let me do my thing , which I appreciate .
Nutritionally , goats postulate copper at levels that will vote down sheep . We have to keep this in judgement when feed trace mineral .
We make certain the stooge and sheep are freestanding when we bung any form of mineral or auction block with copper . The sheep are fed a mineral label for sheep only .
sponger still need to be checked regularly with these hair sheep . Multi species grazinghelps with the control of parasites , but sometimes it just is n’t enough .
It ’s crucial to take in goats and sheep both and check their parasite levels regularly .
I enjoy my Easy Care hair’s-breadth sheep ! I have much to learn and share with you as this journeying continue .
What questions do you have about Easy Care pilus sheep ?
