# Dorper Vs Katahdins



## Silvercreek Farmer

How do they compare? Around here most people have Katahdins...


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## PNP Katahdins

They both compare very favorably against wool sheep unless you need great wool. Lots more Katahdins than Dorpers around here, too.

Peg


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## SLD Farm

I have dorper X and I love them. I have hardly touched them all summer. Very hardy, easy lambing, no parasite or foot issues. Plus they are rare in this area and that helps keep the breeding stock prices up.


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## Bearfootfarm

Dorpers tend to be a little larger, and Katahdins are excellent mothers, so a Dorper /Kathadin cross is nearly perfect.

There are lots of Dorper breeders in NC also, as well as "commercial" crossbreeds:


You can search this site by States to find Scrapie-free certified breeders of sheep and goats:

http://scrapietag.aphis.usda.gov/reports/sisstate.php


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## farmmaid

I bought two Katahdin ewes last fall and was blessed with a fine ewe lamb from one of them. I got a Dorper bummer lamb this spring also. The Katahdin were such loving mothers. I also like the Dorpers so we bought the best Dorper ram lamb I could afford and he is turning out to be a beauty. I took the two origional Katahdins back to the breeder I bought them from to be re-bred to her black Katahdin ram hoping, of course, for ewe lambs to increase my herd. I bred this years Katahdin ewe lamb to the Dorper and holding over the bummer ewe.
The cross should be amazing, I so enjoy the ewes, very friendly and sweet. Dorper ram lamb is friendly, keeping him just friendly enough to come to grain and that is all.......poor boy!
Hoping for a great crop of lambs in the spring, should be interesting, color wise too.


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## Bearfootfarm

> Hoping for a great crop of lambs in the spring, should be interesting, color wise too.


With mine, the colors are always a surprise:

The black one and the red one are twins from a black mother and a white ram with a black head:









Once in a while I end up with a redhead:


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## SilverFlame819

Now I want hair sheep again! Sometimes pictures should be outlawed! 

TOO cute! How on earth did you end up with... appaloosas? *lol*... out of a pure black and a black-headed white??


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## KSALguy

we had Barbados for a long time, then got a Painted dessert ram later and he added lots of new color to the herd. love the big show off horns on the Rams


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## Bearfootfarm

> How on earth did you end up with... appaloosas? *lol*... out of a pure black and a black-headed white??


LOL
I have no idea
I never can predict how they will look


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## 7thswan

Bearfoot, they are Beautiful! Asked my neighbor if he wanted to keep some of his Dorpers in my old sheep pasture. I used to have wool sheep, but my back can't shear them anymore. Had never heard of Dorpers before, but they were very nice to handle and sure were beefy, but they were just white, yours have got me thinking!


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## Looking4ewes

I like both breeds and have both. Both breeds do very well with the grass-based, pasture lambing system I use. Meat is very mild, too, though I've only eaten the cull adults, not lambs. ;-)


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## sherekin1261

Oh wow! Colored sheep you dont have to sheer?

I will pass the info on to my son 

THanks

Shere


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## Bearfootfarm

> but they were just white


All the colors are coming from the Katahdin genetics.

Full blooded Dorpers are white with black heads, or all white

Sam the Ram is 75% Dorper, and my ewes are at least 50%:


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## PNP Katahdins

Katahdins have a wide variety of colors and patterns, like Shetlands and Icelandics but without the hard-to-remember names. Red is just called red, red and white is just red and white. 

Shere, there are lots of Katahdins in New York! Good breeders may be sold out of ewe lambs this time of year but you can make inquiries for next year now.

Peg


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## sherekin1261

there are lots of Katahdins in New York! Good breeders may be sold out of ewe lambs this time of year but you can make inquiries for next year now.
Peg[/QUOTE said:


> Really? Can you suggest some names? We love color here  And Connor has pretty much decided he wants meat lambs not for wool so if we dont have to shear even better.
> 
> Thanks again
> 
> Shere


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## PNP Katahdins

For the Katahdin Hair Sheep International membership list, go to http://www.katahdins.org/ and select KHSI Directory on the left menu. That will bring up a map and you can select NY on there. Contact those closest to you, or in nearby states. Say up front you are looking for colored ones since about half the Kat breeders (more or less) only have white sheep. They probably still know someone with colored sheep though.

There are also quite a few good breeders that aren't KHSI members all over North America. 

It's a nice breed and I'm glad we added these hair sheep to our commercial wool flock. Ours are all raised for meat, even though some go to herding or pet homes.

The Katahdin was developed in Maine from Caribbean shedding hair sheep mixed with English wool breeds to combine shedding, prolificacy (multiple lambs in one birth), good mothering, parasite resistance, and low feed requirements. Some lines are pretty small and some are huge, plus our type of in-between ones. Something for everyone, who doesn't want wool anyway. Ours usually raise triplets without help.

Peg


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