Part 1: • The 9 Best Sheep Breed...
• SUBSCRIBE ► kzhead.info...
- Storey's Guide to Raising Sheep ► amzn.to/3EhO3gO
- The Backyard Sheep: An Introductory Guide to Keeping Productive Pet Sheep ► amzn.to/2Zr8fxi
- Premier1 42" Sheep/Goat Fence (double spike) ► amzn.to/3b9Z1Z4
- Premier1 35" Sheep/Goat Fence (single spike) ► amzn.to/3mbjPFT
- Premier1 Electric Netting Starter Kit ► amzn.to/2XMIqrb
- Sheep Minerals Premix (best for pregnant or overwintered sheep) ► amzn.to/3jDKM3z
5. Painted Desert
6. Icelandic
7. St. Croix
8. Royal White
9. Katahdin
--------------------------------------------------------------------
We practice REGENERATIVE agriculture on a small scale.
better soil | better plants | better animals
--------------------------------------------------------------------
• INSTAGRAM ► / highmountain_homestead
• SUBSCRIBE ► kzhead.info...
--------------------------------------------------------------------
ABOUT THE HIGH MOUNTAIN HOMESTEAD
Hi! I’m PJ, and my family loves the homesteading life! It’s something my wife and I have always wanted to do, but we grew up with ZERO HOMESTEADING EXPERIENCE!!!!!
We grew up in beautiful southern California, 15 minutes away from the beach. As amazing as that was, we both dreamed of a life closer to land and animals. After getting married and moving to Utah, our family slowly grew. We had become a family of four living in a townhome with a small backyard filled with potted plants.
In 2019 we dipped out feet into homesteading on 1 ¼ acre lot in Utah. In 18 months we were ready to do this for real. So in 2021 we packed everything up (including our sheep) and moved to North Carolina to 12 acres and we love every inch of our homestead!
We raise Dorper sheep and have big plans for:
• grass-fed lamb
• fullblood Dorper breeding stock
• meat chickens
• laying chickens and ducks
• heritage breed pork
• honey
• row crops
• perennial food forest
• and more
I hope you join us on our journey, subscribe and ring the bell if you haven’t yet.
• SUBSCRIBE ► kzhead.info...
--------------------------------------------------------------------
MUSIC CREDIT
All music from bensound.com
--------------------------------------------------------------------
DISCLAIMER: This video and description contains affiliate links, which means that if you click on one of the product links, I’ll receive a small commission. But don't worry, it doesn't cost you anything extra!
#meatsheep #raisingsheep #grassfedlamb
I'm just getting into sheep and only have a few now. Have a Painted Desert Ram for the disease resistance (and because he looks cool) with St. Croix ewes. Had never heard of the royal whites before this video. Going to do some research and maybe add some ewes as my flock grows. Awesome video! Thanks for the good info
Yes, the Painted Deserts are so cool, especially the rams. I mean, I guess that's why they were made. That sounds like a good combo with your ram and SC ewes.
Katahdin are decent milkers I'm told as well.
We've had Katahdins for 3 years and have never had to trim feet. Greg Judy says grain puts on hoof and horn so maybe we haven't had an issue because ours are on pasture.
That makes perfect sense and I believe Greg Judy (and you) about grain. Thanks for sharing!
I feel like Greg isn't Katahadin specific on the hoof trimming .Ive seen it in most breeds and other livestock species ? I don't know for certain though ..
Love seeing the variety you brought up! It gives me a good way to research more. I've been recently heavily reading up on the Icelandic because they're actually a triple threat - milk, wool and meat. That's incredibly appealing if you have small spaces! ☺️
Yes! And the fact that they are an old breed, leads me to believe that they are more docile too.
Icelandic are the best tasting for me, not just lamb but mutton. The fleece is great, never had the milk but good cheese, and thrifty tasty meat. I’ve only run into them here in the Pacific NW, not nearly as cold as their homeland. Mellow & good to work with also. I haven’t seen them in the big flocks here, but that’s because they’re not a single product sheep.
We are raising a few nigerian dwarf goats and just adopted our first sheep. She is a very loving and sweet girl. We believe she is a suffolk so thank you for the info on so many breeds. We are looking forward to learning so much more.
Congrats, sounds fun!
We have been researching sheep as a possible addition to our homestead and your videos are super helpful! Thank you!
Glad to hear it! Let me know if I can make any other specific videos for you!
Nice video and a friendly intro to mostly meat and hair sheep thank you. I am considering adding sheep and/or goats to my cattle farm soon. The sheep would be primarily for meet, but I am intrigued with a small dairy mostly for cheese making with extra milk from multiple species of ruminants. Primarily, my operation will be grazing pastures, with some grain supplementation for milking and for restoring body profile and health after lambing. Since this is a new direction for us, I am still very much learning. Thanks again.
That sounds like a great mindset and plan. Best of luck!
Big thing to add for icelandic. They produce amazing milk. Super high quality, just not as much. They also love leaves, sticks and some pine needles. They are very much browsers. They’re just super easy keepers in cold climates with wool, meat, milk and cheese production. Here in Montana they keep putting on weight during our winters which regularly gift us sub zero temps for weeks at a time
Very cool! Thanks for sharing!
How is the hanging weight at say 9mo. Of age?
thanks for taking the time to make this.
So, huge THANK YOU for the Greg Judy recommendation as stumbling upon him from your rec discussing St. Croix. He aligns so well with my dreams and I've gleaned a ridiculous amount of gems from his knowledge, helping to clarify my vision as I continue researching. I really enjoy how you objectively compare and hit the cliff notes, and bring your unfiltered personal opinion. Appreciate you so much!!
Thanks for the kind words. Greg Judy is really cool, so are the St. Croix sheep. Best of luck!
Nice vids man. Greg's sheep are amazing. I started out with a nucleus flock from his stock and they've been great.
Glad to hear it!
Just found your channel and it is great! I'm a few years in this homesteading game, I'm in Colorado, and on the verge of getting sheep. Your videos are informative and you seem like a cool guy too.
Hey thanks! Good luck with sheep. Let me know if there's anything you'd like covered on this channel.
@@homesteadingwithPJ how about how to keep a small flock safe from predators without guardian animals. I was planning to put them in a moveable shelter at night but it sounds like they would be yelling out in protest if I did.
@@WilburthePiggy666 That's a good idea for a video. Although it might be a short video from my perspective which is just "have really good fences." I just haven't had to deal with it yet. But I know I will one day, I'm sure I'm just tempting fate. Many in my area say a good fence is enough. But I'm sure there's more to research and produce on the subject.
We have Royal Whites and will have some breeding stock for sale in March/April. We've only had them for a year but they are are a calm, good natured sheep. They are good mothers.
They sound like amazing sheep, glad to hear that they are doing well for you.
Where are you located?
@@justtom1820 Western North Carolina.
Starting my home stead in about 3 months, and looking at the diffrent sheep options. This is certainly helpful.
Perfect! That's why I made this video! Sheep are so fun, and I'm partial to Dorpers, but there are so many excellent breeds to choose from.
Great informative video! Thank you!
As far as trimming hooves on Katahdins I’ve had between 10 and 15 for over a year now and have only trimmed one sheeps hooves once. They are on fairly steep pasture which helps
Nice!
Thanks for the great plug for St. Croix sheep!
They are awesome sheep. Would love to meet some in person one day, or maybe even raise them!
Especially for anyone in the southeast,! They are Amazing sheep!
We keep Katahdin sheep at our homestead and we have a ewe that is Katahdin dorper 50/50 mix. Her two kids are 75/25. She is a good ewe and mother. Her lambs have grown quite well and fast on just grass and her milk. If I could do one thing is get a St Croix ram and go St Croix/Katahdin mix. As I want that parasite resilience in my flock
That'd be a good mix I think!
Ok Im from the UK so we have SHEEP more sheep than people two of the best meat sheep are the Welsh mountain sheep which are a duel purpose wool and meat in fact a welsh sheep will get you more money for the carcase than any other breed and other one is the Wiltshire Horn which is hair sheep this is a big sheep , both sheep do not need grain and are hardy. You also need to look at our primitive sheep these give a different type of meat but that's more for fun as I don't think you have any of them over in the US. We do have some really different looking sheep in the UK than most country's , but I think the most pretty sheep I have ever seen has to be the Valais blacknose from Switzerland.
Sounds really cool. Primitive breeds are really interesting to me, and like you said, we don't have many of them out here.
I've seen videos of how they have to wash the Valais Blacknose. The lambs are adorable but they seem hard to clean and groom. Here in the USA they cannot be imported from Switzerland. They are trying to develop a facsimile using artificial insemination since the semen can be shipped here. They are hoping for the shipment of zygotes as they would be implanted in ewes and would be full breed. Very expensive though. Other than their beauty, what do you think of them? I think they are too expensive to eat but maybe not. They have long wavy coats but I don't know if they are used for yarn.
Good job on this, thanks!!
My favorite is the merino
We raise East Friesian sheep, but now I want to add Royal Whites to our flock! Thank you for this video
East Friesians sound like really friendly and useful sheep. I raise Dorpers and I've thought of Royal Whites too.
Having worked on an organic farm in college we raised southdowns. They’re a little underrated and little to begin with. The meat is mild. Cross breeds of any type are great for farms.
Ok part 2 💪
Thanks. Great videos
Great video! Not sure if they're available in your country but if you like the dorper, you'll love Australian whites! For meat sheep you can't beat them. They're the Wagyu of the sheep world & extremely hardy for both hot & cold climates.
I've heard amazing things about them!
Look in to Romanov sheeps.Originaly from Russia .They very prolific ,lambs between 2 to 13 lambs one time.You can get 1.5 liters of milk daily and the can get present 2 times /year.
Great video. New subscriber. Love the channel/content! So we have registered St. Augustine hair sheep which were developed in 2000 here in Florida by Ron Taber. It is a cross between the Doper & St. Croix. They are great sheep and it is not hard to find a sweet ram! Maybe that is the reason you haven't heard of the Royal White? Maybe it's actually a St. Augustine hair sheep! Keep up the great work!
Thanks a lot! I've heard of the royal white, they are great! I just haven't personally worked with them before. St Augustine sheep look really cool. Really meaty. Looks like they handle heat and humidity well huh?
after seeing this, my plan for when i get a homestead is to combine the 4 most powerful sheep types to create my own original animal, "sheep 2"
Good video
The Meat or Wool or both are Texel , Romney, Southdown. Poll Dorsets , Hampshire down, Lleyn,Charolais, and many more really
Great videos. 👍🏼
Glad you like them!
My understanding is that the original Blackbelly is hornless, but the American Blackbelly has been bred for trophy horns.
Interesting. I believe it. Horns or no horns it's a beautiful sheep, I'd really like to see some up close one day.
Royal white was created and developed in Hermleigh Texas and wasn’t released until all the bad genes were wipe out of the breed I been raising them for years very low maintenance breed.
I have never had or really been around sheep. But I am interested in getting some as soon as I get a warm barn built. Small barn. I'm in Interior Alaska. It was -46°F ambient this evening . It was above 0° F for a day a couple weeks ago. Yup, nearly Arctic winter conditions here. So your recommendation of Icelandic sheep is great to know as I also would like to have a wool sheep. Thank you very much ! Excellent video 👍
Wow that is COLD! Best of luck with whatever you choose, sheep are pretty hardy animals, and the Icelandic would probably be a good breed to check out for your conditions.
I think he overstressed cold resilience of Icelandic sheep. Yeah, Iceland gets cold but the Gulf Stream keeps things from being crazy cold like interior Alaska. Mammals from colder, more northerly latitudes are simply BIGGER to survive. They have a larger body mass vs surface area thus more cold resilient. It's just natural selection. Just compare Texas whitetail deer to Wisconsin or Michigan. Really big difference in body mass. Iceland though is windy, hence the qualities of their fleece Personally, I'd look for a sheep variety from eastern Europe like Russian Romanov sheep. I think you need a big bodied animal ....just my 2 cents
Good video. Interesting about the Royal whites. They sound a lot like Katahdin in size. I guess that's not surprising since Katahdin were developed from St Croix and Wiltshire Horn and other wool breeds to add size/frame to the St Croix. I have had a commercial Katahdin flock for 6 years. One of the biggest differences I can see between Dorper and Katahdin is their coat. M my katahdin shed out completely every summer. Dorper and dorper crosses that I have seen have a heavier wool coat in winter and don't seem to shed out as well. So Katahdin may be better suited to the hot humid summers of the south. The Katahdin are a little lighter framed than Dorpers. My ewes run ~150# and my rams ~220#. They have a birthing rate. Last year we had an average of 2 lambs per birth. Almost every birth was twins. We get had two singles in first year ewes, but we also got two triplets. I have not had to trim hooves during the past year. Parasite resistance is pretty good. We worm as needed by FAMACHA scoring, checking before breeding and at weaning time. I would say 1/2 to 2/3 of the flock will get wormed each time. Not always the same animals. You mentioned friendliness. They certainly are. All will eat out of my hand, even our new ram who was out of a pure commercial flock with little human contact.
That's cool to hear, you shared so much info, thank you for sharing! I love hearing about all of these experiences from folks other than me.
Excelent video. Please talk about west african. They are great resistant sheeps, they could compete whith katadihn
I do talk about some east African breeds in my hair sheep video.
The original Black belly sheep doesn’t have horns they are pole and i raise pure black belly sheep also and all my rams are poled no horms.
I would have loved to see Jacob sheep on your list but maybe I'm just biased lol thanks for your videos! They're easy to understand for people just getting into it
From what I understand, Jacob sheep are incredibly hardy, but don't have a great hanging weight. Also I would imagine that their meat tastes, more, lamby... haha. But some people want that in their lamb meat. My consumers seem to prefer a milder taste that a hair sheep gives.
@@homesteadingwithPJ that's totally fair! We are only just getting into this and ended up with Jacobs because that's what the farm up the road had to sell to us lmao mostly they are lawn mowers for us to be honest but who knows where we will go with it! Sounds like they are pretty multipurpose though from everything I've seen.
Thanks for all the info! I got interested in horn sheep from a guy I bought a bull from. He has horned type Corsican sheep that that are parasite resistant and best of all his rams kill coyotes. He needs no guard dogs. I like that trait very much. Question is to send them further out can I use 4 to 5 strand electric wire (I want to rotational grazing) will the rams tear down the fencing, our will keeping them happy will prevent that? Will putting an elated stand holding tire for them to beat on take that exceeds energy away from the perimeter fencing?
Totally depends on your rams. I never have problems with rams and electric fencing, but mine don't have horns. So maybe a horn would insulate the shock and promote them butting it... Best of luck!
Nice video, what are you thoughts on Dorset I notice they didn’t make the list.
Good sheep. Its genetics have gone into creating breeds like the Dorper, Royal White, Australian white, all great meat sheep.
One of the few sheep that can breed outside the usual autumn/early winter tupping season. Good choice as to flavor too
The Dorper/Painted Desert cross sounds perfect. Any idea how vocal they are?
Well I know Dorper can sure be really loud! In my experience sheep are loud when they are needy, so either they are spoiled by their humans (which was my case) or they actually are stressed.
They seem like great animals otherwise - I'll start with a few and see if they're worth the racket. Thanks for the reply.
Kindly share a video on heat tolerant sheep breeds and link of farmers or exporters Thanks 💜
Thanks for the info i maybe looking to buy Royal White sheep
They look like a great sheep, good luck!
Do you have a video about rankings of breeds based on disease/parasite resistance? Thanks.
Not yet, but I should make one!
Hi, was wondering if you have looked in Australian white sheep. All of the aspects of dorper then optimized for meat quality and production rate
I have not looked into them as much as I would have liked, they look like cool sheep.
Can you do a video on texel sheep I've read quite a bit of good stuff on them would love to hear your opinion of them
They look so interesting, like the offspring between a sheep and a pig! I've heard of them, but they seem like a very European sheep. If I do another video like this, I'll add them in.
I'm on a traditional beef farm with a fair bit of land. We grow our own hay and grain. Near lake Huron in ontario. Throw an idea at me on what you think would work well as far as starting a herd. Lots of coyotes here. Raise a puppy guard dog with the first dozen of????
Wow, what a cool set up! I don't have any guardian animals, so I'm probably not the best person to give advice there. But as far as getting started, find a breed you want. Look for good breeders near you, visit them, and then buy a few ewes. Easiest is buying ewes that are already covered so you don't need a ram your first season.
I’ve watch a few Greg Judy sheep video. He mentioned the amount of rainfall in his region and parasite load differ because of that. How would you pick for northeast vs Arizona for exemple?
North east I'd go for something with HIGH resistance, like a St. Croix or Blackbelly. Arizona, something like a Doper or a Royal White.
I just brought a katahdin home for my freezer today. It's a ram lamb. Question, do they have to be castrated before butchering? I haven't heard you speak about that, although I'm new to your channel. I don't want to raise sheep, I mainly raise cattle and chickens on my Homestead in North Carolina. I just wanted variety in my freezer. He's a cute little guy and the people that I got him from take very good care of their sheep. I couldn't find Dorper so I settled for a Katahdin. I hope I made the right decision but my biggest question is about castrating them before they get butchered, and also is there a difference in the taste of meat between a ram lamb and a ewe? Thanks and I really enjoy your channel and hearing you talk about sheep. Maybe one day I'll have my own herd.
If you are raising a ram out for meat and you process him at a year or younger, I wouldn't worry about whether he is castrated or not. I haven't noticed a difference in taste, and we leave all our rams intact. In fact, an intact ram will usually finish out faster, and if they turn out to be a good ram, you can always make more selling them for breeding stock.
What about polled and horned Dorsets? They when sold at market bring more money cause they finish quick, they are duel purpose, they are amazing mothers, amazing rams. I raised polled and love them. I also raise Tunis, which would be a great homesteading breed, unique color, great mother great meat! Those would be my two favorite breeds by far. I’m personally not a fan of hair breeds but that’s just me
I've heard great things about the Tunis, and of course Dorsets are great sheep as well. Great meaty sheep, good for crossing for a faster finishing sheep, just like you say.
My favorite are Dorpers Indeed but we are in Florida and I am not sure if Dorper will do okay with this humidity 😅
We just relocated to North Carolina and took the sheep with us. They are from South Africa so I'd imagine they can take it. We'll see!
@@homesteadingwithPJ thanks for your response. Please keep on making Dorpers videos I am learning a lot from your channel.
My Flock are Your # 9 Kadian as we call them Are The Best For FLORIDA , Low Pests,Easy To Keep, Eat Out Of Your Hands, Grow Huge my 2 yr old Males run Between 150lbs and 200 lbs But I Feed A Combo of Sweet feed Cracked corn And Oats, Plus They Are On Green Grass Pasture and Get Coastal Hay Rolls.....I Started with 3 Breed Females and The Herd Grew Fast to 13 heads...But The 2 Large Males Got Aggressive So I Sold Them And Kept The Nice Male That Loves Me like a Pet Dog..He Is A Wonderful Breeder and Is About 150 Lbs..We Have never Trimmed The Hooves or had to Shear Them. My Anatolian Shepard's Love Our Sheep And We Have Free Range Chickens keeping our Pest Problems to None. Everyone who Sees our Sheep All Want Them, But They Are Our Pets and Are Extremely Well Fed and Handled daily.
That's awesome!
Dude - you totally missed America's first sheep the Navajo-Churro. These sheep excel in dry hot summers with brush and scrub. Easy lambers, great Moms, decent milk producers (the yogurt is out of this world). And very very hearty. And meat is excellent. I agree with you about hair sheep meat but the N-C meat with their extremely low lanolin is exceptional. Navajo shepherds turn their flocks out on desert scrub and brush for the ewes to forage over miles before returning home for the night. Extremely efficient animals - the kind that will allow you to homestead land without prolific irrigation (that will be increasingly unavailable in the future).
I had a flock of sheep for 5 years in TN of katahdin mixed with a little dorper and even a barbados. I loved the katahdin breed because they shed more easily, are more parasite resistant and have a higher lambing ratio than dorpers, but I understand and appreciatethe benefits of cross breeding them. Now we had to move to northern PA and I'm concerned about the increased amounts of snow in the winter. It was a little colder this past winter, but only about 10-20 degrees on average. Would the katahdins do ok up here or do I need to switch. Also, a sheep raising family up here told me the wool breeds they use up here are more popular with the multi ethnic market up here for marketing although they dont have a good wool market. They are raised for meat.
I'd imagine Katahdins would do just fine in the winter there. I can see why wool meats do better for ethnic communities, they taste more gamey, whereas the hair breeds have less lanolin oil, which makes for a tame taste.
According to Greg Judy video I saw , St Croix came from Katahadin ? I've seen so many videos id hate to have to watch them all again to be specific. Maybe keep that in mind and commen here if you find im wrong . I love that Katahadin × Dorper myself. Parasite tolerance is mostly keep the grass a certain height for all breeds some more so than other ..
Thanks for your perspective!
I am researching to start a small cheap operation I'm going to be doing it in small pens approximately 100x60 ft and feeding hay cuz I don't have that much grass I'm thinking of one with the St Croix I would like to hear some more about the St Croix appreciate your input I am new to this but I like raising animals and I have picked St Croix sheep as my project I need some help with some advice thank you
Interesting. You should check out Greg Judy's channel. He does St. Croix sheep on a large scale and had a lot of good things to say about them.
Glad to hear that you're in North Carolina now so am I been here since 1972 when I was in the army what part of North Carolina are you in must be close to the mountains
Our Katahdin are like overly annoyingly friendly dogs. We have not wormed or trimmed ours. They are good but I want to add either Royal White or Easycare sheep for a meatier animal.
Haha, annoyingly friendly dogs. There's something to be said for an animal that tales care of itself like a Katahdin. Royal Whites are incredible sheep. Would like to explore those one day.
@@homesteadingwithPJ have you heard of Easycare? I think Texas A&M developed them. They are a cross of Dorper, Katahdin and Romanov.
@@247rug Only recently. They sound like awesome sheep!
I would like to see a video on Texel Sheep
I'll probably add the breed to the next meat sheep video I do.
Hi what are the best sheep for beginners there low input
Probably St. Croix or Katahdins
We just switched from wool sheep to St Croix. We have 3 ewes and are getting our ram next week. Excited to start breeding and eventually processing our lambs for meat. Can you share the average age sheep are typically processed? I've read less that 1 year is ideal.
Your videos are great by the way - very informative!
From my experience, I usually process intact Dorper rams between 10 and 14 months.
Are anywhere in Europe St. Croix for sale? I am thinking about those animals in my farm.
How many acres does your farm contain? Your animals are beautiful and thanks for this video.
When I filmed this video I had only 1 acre, but now I'm in North Carolina with 11 acres.
Nice! How much of that is grass land?
9:49 What about a sheep called loubon what qualities does it excel
I'm not sure, I haven't heard of that one.
How does the Painted Desert sheep taste?
I wish I knew. They are hair sheep, so I imagine they taste similar to a Katahdin, less like a wool variety like a Merino of Suffolk.
If you want wool, meat and milk. Should you do a breed that can do all or have different breeds seperated?
I would pick which one will be your priority, because no sheep does each of these the best. There are some dual breeds, but there's no true triple threat sheep I've heard of. If you got two or three separate breeds, realize that dairy animals are different from meat. So if you have a flock of meat and dairy sheep roaming together, you'll need to figure out a way to get the dairy sheep in once or twice a day while dealing with the rest of the flock.
@@homesteadingwithPJ Thanks for useful advice.
Do you know anything about awassi and if there is anyone in the US raises them?
I don't know much about that breed. I'm not even sure if they've made it over to the US yet! They are pretty though.
@@homesteadingwithPJ thank you for the reply.
I raise Navajo Churro there great wool and meat sheep. Low maintenance, parasite free, very hardy sheep for the SW desert.
I've heard really great things about the Churro. They are a smaller sheep right?
@@homesteadingwithPJ yes
Searching for hair sheep miniatures for small property. Which is best
Hmm, I don't know much about miniature breeds.
No, you can't get a purebred Katahdin by breeding a any ewe to a registered ram, it takes 4 generations, and you end up with a 7/8th Katahdin, (It will never be purebred) but only after the lambs are inspected. So it would be of benefit if the ewe you choose is a hair sheep Part of the inspection is how well the lamb sheds it's wool. The Katahdin Hair Sheep International does have an open stud/ flock book.
Are there full blood katahdin sheep? In Dorper a 7/8 Dorper is a purebred and full blood is one you can trace full Dorper genetics back to south Africa. What you're saying makes sense, I've just heard otherwise from a couple of people. But I'm inclined to believe what you've laid out here. Thanks for sharing!
What is the meat fain or waight gain percentage per weerk or per day?
I haven't measured that. There's a lot of factors.
I have katadhin rams that were born in January and right now are going on 125 and 150 pounds right now. If you have good forage even on grass you can get to a good processing weight in 6-7 months with very low cost.
@@chickenranchhomestead what kind of hanging weight do you get?
@@justtom1820 we sold a small lamb that weighted in at 80 lbs and small legs. And the purchaser decide to butcher himself and got only 13 lbs of meat. I think he messed up bad. I believe the bearded butchers do a meat lamb and loose about 60-65% of live weight. But with prices close to $17-19 a lbs on chops it still is a ok amount to loose.
@@chickenranchhomestead thank you!
Well icelandic are born in spring and become meat in fall so born in may and slaughter in sept is common use for icelandic , sure they are also sold older for meat but sold as lamb meat is most common, average is 1,8 lamb per year and its from 1-3 lamb per sheep as first year is mostly 1 lamb and after that you can get 1-3 , become ready for breeding in 6 months and usually ready in november (breed in desember so kids come on average 143 day after mating) , rams are 80-100 kg (176-220 lbs) and ewe 60-70 kg (132-154 lbs) so very close to dorper in weight , I am Icelandic and grew up on sheep farm , they can both be poll and horned and have few colors or four main such as white , red/brown , black , yellow but they are really 6 colors mix so you can get grey even. we call them a landrace animal. how ever its very hard to get pure icelandic sheeps as we dont import nor export animals to keep sickness away from country but semen has been transported from iceland sperm banks but you are getting older and more inbred stock if you are in uk or usa/canada as decades ago they got exported just few so yeah close lineage.
There are many other good South African breeds such dormer, Donne merino, meat merino, meat master.
You're right. I made another video specific to hair sheep and the meat master made it onto that video. Honestly one of the most handsome adult sheep I've ever seen. I'm a big fan!
not even an honorable mention for the australian white
I've only recently learned more about the Australian White. Seems like a great sheep, when I make an updated video, I'm sure they will make the list. Do you raise them? What do you like about them as a meat breed?
@@homesteadingwithPJ for now i can only wish i had them.. once they are more available i will probably only have a few cows and dedicate everything to them.. i think they are amazing .. sheep are great and i think they really are the future for sheep
I meant sheep
Where is the Meatmaster. And the Damara.
Great sheep, but not too common in the U.S., at least not near me. Believe me, if I could get my hands on a Meatmaster, I would!
Why did you not choose Navajo Churro sheep. I hear they are CV unlike all other sheep I 2 things. 1- their organs are all bunched in middle together making them able to take the extreme temp changes in 24hour of many high deserts. 2- I am told that the older sheep meat has no mutton taste. That they never get the mutton taste. So if that is true it would be a plus.
I had a friend once tell me that he ate mutton from a Navajo Churro and in his words it was, "inedible." Now I don't know how true that is, I've never raised them. But the Churro is more of a dual purpose breed, for both meat and wool. They seem like really cool sheep, I did not know about their organs.
My katahdin is more calm than dorper, dorper will knock you down when trying to catch if you get in there way, dorper also bad rate for producing only 1 lamb many times.
Katahdin are smarter than a dorper
The Icelandic looks like a goat rather than a sheep
Hi I'm from Australia, I'm looking at a breed called " Australian White Sheep ' if you are interested in researching it look for ' Tattykeel ' on KZhead
They made it into my "10 Best Hair Sheep" video. They look like good sheep!
dreaming of blacknose sheep
Pretty sure the subject of your 'dreams' is illegal in 48 or 49 states. California and Massachusetts promote 'that' kind of stuff
@@willbass2869 ....what? Blacknose is a breed of sheep you loon 😂😂😂
@@justinjeffries1554 yeah, you can't do that kind of stuff with loons or any other birds either. Get help
Interesting that you ignored great sheep from West Africa. Maybe you should investigate more on this, at least for the multicultural community the world is today.
I'll do a video like this again in the future. Any suggestions?
@@homesteadingwithPJ Thanks for replying. Please look at these three breeds, you may find them interesting. Ladoum (a large breed) Uda (average breed) Balami (average breed)
What a silly thing to say. First priority is to select livestock that match the environment. West African sheep like blackbelly sheep would do poorly in northern 2/3 of US compared to other available breeds. Stop injecting racial politics ("multiculturalism") into something like viable agricultural projects. Raising W. African sheep on any scale in northern 2/3 of US is like old Soviet Lysenkoism. It fails.
Am I the only one who sees a green screen at the beginning of all your videos?
Oh man I haven't heard that yet.
You missed so many meat breeds tho here in your Video. Out of breeds you talked about only 4 are Worth having really. The dorper , the St croix and the katahin and Suffolk. But in the UK Suffolk Sheep are not grain Feed they are grass feed only. ITS you Americans who grain feed your Sheep really.
?
??