Author: fourfarmdogs

Offered for sale as a purebred, registered Katahdin ewe, $350

Pretty, slick-coated white ewe with a brown neck spot and black freckles. Solid growth and milk and very strong prolificacy EBVs. Pedigree is a mix of my own local stock plus Birch Cove (David Coplen, Missouri), Lynn Fahrmeier (Missouri) and Carl Ginapp (Iowa, now retired from sheep). A very strong NSIP pedigree.

Photo taken May 2023. EBVs from 2023 lamb crop WWT data.  She is NSIP genotyped. She has a white ram lamb at side, and can go with him for an extra fee now, or by herself when he is weaned July/Aug timeframe.

Offered for sale as a purebred, registered Katahdin ewe, $325

Framey, balanced white ewe with black dots. Strong EBVs across the board. Sire is one of the top NSIP rams in the country with lots of data and accuracy behind is EBVs, out of Birch Cove (David Coplen, Missouri). Dam is from Misty River Farm (Mary Bakko, Moses Lake, now retired) and traces back to KRK stock (Karen Kenagay, Oregon). She is both NSIP Maternal and Stud Certified.

Photo taken September 2023. EBVs from 2023 lamb crop WWT data.  She is NSIP genotyped. She has twin lambs at side that will be weaned mid August.

Offered for sale as a purebred, registered Katahdin ewe, $300

White ewe with red dots/spotting. Modest on growth and milk but very strong prolificacy, this is a maternal ewe that comes from a very strong maternal pedigree. Her sire is a USDA ram we were lucky to borrow on the west coast in 2020. Her dam was a long-lived and very productive girl at my place. Those genetics trace back to some White Post Farm (East Coast, now retired), On the Lamb Farm (Sarah Jo Gahm, Arlington) and Bert Martineau, one of the early Katahdin breeders in the state, also now retired.

Photo taken September 2023. EBVs from 2023 lamb crop WWT data.  She is NSIP genotyped. She had twins this year, a ewe and a ram. The ram lamb was behind on 60 day growth as compared to his much bigger sib, so I early-weaned him to let him catch up. This may signal that this mama has some udder damage from subclinical mastitis, so I’m discounting her knowing that she may need to be watched in subsequent years. This isn’t normally a dealbreaker for me, as I can easily orphan rear lambs and sell them early, or supplement when needed. And often these ewes do just fine in smaller flocks where the feed is really good. I’m only dropping her because her growth and milk scores are right on the edge of my keeper list, and I need to shrink my adult population a little bit.  Her lambs are weaned and she is ready to go to a new home today.

Offered for sale as a registered Katahdin ewe $275

Classic white ewe. She is part of a trio I bought at the 2014 KHSI Expo in Lincoln, NE from David Copen (Birch Cove Farm in Missouri). I’m finally retiring all three gals this year, as they’ve given me nine years of lambs, including many keeper daughters; and I’ve used sons out of all of them. This pedigree has a ram from North Dakota State University, some Kendra Messmer (Montana), Carl Ginapp (Iowa, now retired from sheep) and Lynn Fahrmeier (Missouri) in addition to Birch Cove. This girl is in good shape and should have several more years of lambing ahead of her, a good chance to capture some strong out-of-state NSIP genetics. Lambing record starting as a yearling: 1/1, 2/2, 2/2, 2/2, 2/2, 2/2, 1/1, 0/0, 1/1.

EBVs from the 2023 lamb crop WWT data. Photo taken May 2023. She has a white ram lamb at side born late Feb that could go with her, or he can be weaned and she can go to a new home any time.

Offered for sale as a registerable Katahdin yearling ewe with ram lamb at side $450

Cute dilute blue/fawn ewe with a brockle face. She’s got really strong EBVs across the board. Her pedigree is mostly Birch Cove (David Coplen, Missouri) with some Lynn Fahrmeier and Carl Ginapp genetics as well. Very strong NSIP pedigree all the way back. Bring some diverse out of state genetics to your flock as well as some genetic improvement with these good EBVS.

EBVs from 2024 lamb crop birth data. Photo taken May 2023. She is NSIP Maternal and Stud Certified. She has a beefy chocolate colored ram lamb at side who can go with her, intact, as a commercial ram lamb or used as a grower. He is the result of an accidental breeding when she was with a large group of rams. I’ll DNA test this ram, and if sire is identified, his registration information can be purchased for an added fee (likely $125-175 more, depending on EBVs). I won’t know this information until likely late April, as NSIP DNA is slow.

Offered for sale as a registered Katahdin ewe $275

Fun badger colored girl with white blaze and socks, 9 years old. This is a really laid back, good mama with great EBVs. I’m only selling her because she’s hitting the end of the line milk-wise in being able to raise more than one lamb. This often happens when they get older, despite strong milk scores; over time, subclinical mastitis and use/abuse starts to scar up the udder and they just can’t feed as many lambs.  So she could be retired out as a pet, or if someone wanted to breed her to capture some of these diverse genetics and fun color genetics, just be ready to supplement her lambs. This ewe brings in diverse genetics from Missouri, Iowa and some other great Midwest NSIP flocks. Lambing record starting as a yearling: 2/2, 2/2, 2/2, 3/3, 3/2, 1/1, 2/2, 2/0, 3/2 (in 2022 lost both lambs to clostridium which was not her fault, and in 2023 I chose to orphan rear one and early-wean a second one).

EBVs from the 2023 lamb crop WWT data. Photo taken May 2023. She has one pretty dilute blueish fawn ewelamb (#22037) at side that could go with her for an extra $325, or she can go solo once her lamb is weaned late June.

Offered for sale as a registered Katahdin ewe (pet) $275

Pretty white 8-year-old ewe with a modest frame size. She is a really mellow girl and a very dedicated mama who loves her babies. She has modest growth and survival EBVs, but is very strong in prolificacy and milk. But as she’s gotten older, her milk supply has dwindled, probably due to damage from subclinical mastitis in past years. This year she had twins and I let her raise a single, but even that one didn’t grow very well.  So she could be retired out as a pet, or if someone wanted to breed her to capture some of these diverse genetics, just be ready to supplement her lambs. This ewe is out of the now-retired Misty River flock and John Bare’s Thistle Grove Farm in Iowa, both dedicated NSIP flocks. Lambing record starting as a two year old: 1/1, 2/2, 2/2, 2/1, 2/2, 2/2, 2/1.

EBVs from the 2023 lamb crop WWT data. Photo taken May 2023. This ewe’s lambs are weaned and she can go to a new home today.

Offered for sale as a commercial/pet Katahdin ewe $275

This pretty 2-year old mahogany girl with a brockle face is a good mama with a really high milk score who raises beefy lambs. I’ve decided to sell her because her growth, prolificacy and index EBVs are on the lower end of my spread. She has also had vaginal prolapse two years in a row. This is not always a dealbreaker for me, I usually catch it right when it presents itself, it takes 10 minutes to get a spoon and harness on them, and they are usually fine and lamb normally. But prolapse is lowly heritable and can recur, so I won’t be selling her with her registration papers. She can go to a pet home, or to a vigilant home who can manage her properly in subsequent breedings (careful nutrition and being ready to harness if needed). She can go to a new home late June when her lamb is weaned, or with her white ram lamb sooner for an extra fee.

Offered for sale as a purebred, register-able Katahdin ram lamb, $450

Classic white ram. This is one of the higher indexing rams here this year, really nice EBVs across the board. A mix of local, Birch Cove (David Coplen, Missouri), and a USDA ram from the Booneville facility that we got to borrow in 2021.

This guy’s dam died tragically from sepsis as a two year old, leaving 60 day old, very well-fed ram lambs behind. This guy is weaned and eating well on creep and alfalfa and can go to a new home today and breed late summer/early fall. He should stay on creep feed at least until July before being turned out on grass alone, to allow his rumen to fully develop. Photo taken July 2023. EBVs from WWT data.

Offered for sale as a purebred, register-able Katahdin ewelamb, $325

Flashy mahogany and white ewelamb with a big blaze, white bib and back half, front socks and four black feet! She’s got good growth, survival and milk scores, but low on prolificacy for those who like to steer clear of a lot of multi births in their replacement ewes. A mix of Birch Cove (David Coplen, Missouri), Misty River Farm (Mary Bakko, Moses Lake, now retired) and my own flock genetics.

Photo taken August 2024 with her ewelamb at side (left). EBVs from 2024 WWT data. She has a ewelamb at side that will be weaned mid August.