Bison can you milk them ?

[bobm]

Here is the perfect livestock for the small holder...NY, you CAN milk these!

http://pioneerthinking.com/raisinglivestock/milking-katahdin-sheep
http://www.milkingsheep.com/sheepnews/milking-katahdin-sheep
http://www.vontassenfarm.com/Katahdin-sheep/
http://www.sabinsfarm.com/Kat.htm

I've had this breed and they are my favorite livestock of all time. Gentle, sweet, docile, good mothers, big udders, easy to handle, easy lambing, fattens up like crazy on just grass and hay, naturally disease and parasite resistant(and will stay that way if you use the right methods of raising them), lots of meat on the carcass. Best of all? No shearing! Wool just peels off in big sheets at the appropriate time and you can boil it down to remove the lanolin, which is creamy and mild in smell, good for many things.

I agree with you, however, I find that the Dorper ( developed in S. Africa using the Dorset ram on Persian fat rumped ewe )has all of the Katahdin characteristics but outperforms it. Dorpers do shed it's wool, will eat shrubs just as readily as grasses of poorer pastures just like a goat . Unlike goats, the Dorper respects fences and will stay in their pastures. Will outproduce the Katahdin in pounds of lamb meat per year on less and poorer feed. They breed out of season too. There is a Sheep ranch just 5 miles from our home in Wash. that has over 200 Katahdins. 2 years ago, they bred 50 ewes to a Dorper ram. I visited their ranch last summer for their sheep dog trials and saw their just weaned younger lambs in 2 groups- one was straight Katahdins the other group were the Dorper x Katahdin crosses. The owners said that the last week's older Dorper crosses averaged at 10 pounds more on the same pastures as the older Katahdins and braught more $$s at auction the week before. They will replace their rams with Dorper rams for next breeding season.

 

[Beekissed]

LOL I like goats better

How do you know unless you've had Katahdins? You couldn't PAY me to take a goat, but I'd spend good money on Kats. There's absolutely nothing a goat can do~except cause tremendous trouble, make horrible noise, be mean as a snake, and smell like a rotten animal~that a Katahdin can't do.

 

[animalmom]

@Beekissed. ah, come on now, not all goaties are nasty brutes. My goaties are sweet, loving, curious, intelligent, quiet, well mannered and a joy to watch. I don't have the regular size goat but rather Nigerian Dwarfs and even in full rut my bucks are polite gentlemen and occasionally whiffy. If you promise to not knock goats I promise to not say how incredibly stupid sheep can be. (Notice I lumped in all sheep into the stupid category and will fully admit an occasion single sheep may exhibit some form of intelligence. )

@Nyboy, if you are looking for milk you ought to decide how much milk you want on a daily basis and then look at what milk producing animal would meet that demand. Nigerian Dwarfs are very nice goaties, small goaties, polite goaties. My smallest is 19" at the shoulder and the largest is 24". They are not as hard on fencing as standard size goats.

 

[thistlebloom]

How do you know unless you've had Katahdins? You couldn't PAY me to take a goat, but I'd spend good money on Kats. There's absolutely nothing a goat can do~except cause tremendous trouble, make horrible noise, be mean as a snake, and smell like a rotten animal~that a Katahdin can't do.

Wow. Hate goats much? Does don't stink. Goats can be trained and make good pack animals. There is a lot of diversity in the breeds, not all are noisy and fence wreckers.
They do have animated personalities and you have to think ahead of them, they are not as placid as sheep. But not boring for sure.
I've had a few sheep, and I've had goats. I like goats. But they are apples and oranges.

 

[Nyboy]

Goats have big ears I like that.

 

[seedcorn]

I like sheep-to eat. Friend of mine always said he knew two things about sheep. They get sick and they die. He didn't like sheep.

Friend of mine about got killed by sheep ram. Never showed any aggressiveness until one day, he butted him and wouldn't quit. He had to pull himself up a grain bin ladder to get away. While in hospital, his 2 sons killed the ram.

 

[Kassaundra]

We had a male goat that would have killed if given a chance. Stunningly beautiful to the eye, but truly evil to the bone, and I like goats, HATE male goats. After him we had males that were not mean, but any male (goat, sheep, deer, bull, moose, elk etc......) given the right motivation can be deadly.

There may be some goats that respect fences, but I never met one. They are smart, can think and reason like a toddler, are persistent and have A LOT more time then you do. They are loving and affectionate (the nannies and babies), they are curious beyond what you would ever imagine.

The females don't smell any worse then any other of that kind of animal, however the males STINK, urinate on themselves, almost always have their faces nose, mouths in urine, but I would suspect that is more a male thing then a goat thing (meaning other of that type of animal sheep, deer etc.. probably do the same)

Not all goats have big ears, there is a type, don't remember the breed name that has nubs for ears.

If you have shrubs or small trees that you want to keep goats will eat them. If you have oak trees, in the pasture where you keep milk goats, don't!!!! They love them, but the oak leaves make the milk undrinkably bitter. (won't hurt you but you can't drink it)

 

[Beekissed]

Nope....rams do not urinate on their own faces nor the other....uh..thing bucks do on their faces. Nor do deer, bulls, stallions, etc. Just goats.

I can't say I hate goats...there's nothing I really hate, but I sure don't like them. I like a drama free life and goats add unnecessary drama. If I had any breed of goat I'd have the Boers, merely because they are worth more per pound at our local market than most anything else and they seem less annoying than most other breeds of goat. But...even then...I'd not have them. Some things are not worth having at any price.

 

[Beekissed]

Notice I lumped in all sheep into the stupid category and will fully admit an occasion single sheep may exhibit some form of intelligence. )

Never said goats were stupid, nor do I find sheep stupid. Whoever came up with stereotype of sheep obviously never had any hair sheep. VERY intelligent animals and very hardy...if someone is routinely sickening and killing those breeds, they're doing it wrong.

 

[Kassaundra]

Nope....rams do not urinate on their own faces nor the other....uh..thing bucks do on their faces. Nor do deer, bulls, stallions, etc. Just goats.

I can't say I hate goats...there's nothing I really hate, but I sure don't like them. I like a drama free life and goats add unnecessary drama. If I had any breed of goat I'd have the Boers, merely because they are worth more per pound at our local market than most anything else and they seem less annoying than most other breeds of goat. But...even then...I'd not have them. Some things are not worth having at any price.

Good to know other males don't have that disgusting trait. If I ever have a small milk animal again (move out of town) I too would chose hair sheep, I'd chose a grazer over a browser every day.