# What type of sheep do you keep?



## Trainwrek (Aug 23, 2014)

*Tell us your breed, why you chose them, and if you had to do it again what you would do differently.....*


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## farmerDale (Jan 8, 2011)

We run dorper/katahdin cross sheep. We like the no shear principle, because we lamb on pasture in spring, and we do not like the thought of shearing so close to lambing. With wool barely paying the shearer, we see no point in the extra handling. We do not dock tails either which is nice. These hair sheep are also more parasite resistant than most woolies, which is a plus too. And finally, the meat is so mild and wonderful. If you want a stronger lamb taste, get woolies. Personal preference is always important on this point. So far our customers are very pleased with the product we offer.

If we started over, we would not change much. We may use a purebred dorper ram to impart more muscle to the lambs.

IMO, unless you are using the wool as a means of extra value added income, it is otherwise pointless, at least for us.

Because we grain farm, sheep fit so very well with our schedule, our waste grain, and we have plans to graze stubble in the near future to take advantage of wasted resources. We run the sheep on our land which is otherwise non agriculturally productive: The woodlands, the little corners here and there. The make us money on land that can be left to nature.


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## creeksidelc (Aug 4, 2014)

I went with dorpers also. I used to raise wool sheep when I lived back east. I love the dorpers so far because the lack of shearing and they also grow fast and get big similar to wool breeds. They do not stay small like some other hair breeds therefore bring more at the market. So far parasites haven't given us much if a problem either.


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## grandma12703 (Jan 13, 2011)

Love our wool sheep. Our children showed at fairs around the country when they were young and now our grandchildren are about to get started. We have very little trouble with these sheep and enjoy working with them. Suffolk, hamp, cross, shropshire are the breeds we keep.


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## Bubba1358 (Nov 6, 2013)

Katahdin. No shearing, easy keepers, big bodied. Love em.

Doing it again, I'd get permanent fencing installed first. Moving electronet on rocky TN ground is a pain.


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## Ozarks Tom (May 27, 2011)

Barbados Black Bellys. Strictly meat sheep, parasite resistant for the most part, and just generally an easy breed to keep. They're a quite skittish breed, but you can calm them down with patience.


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## Ronney (Nov 26, 2004)

Romney and never mind the shearing. BL if I could find them up my way and again, never mind the shearing. 

My sheep are paddocked 12 months of the year so I need a breed that don't suffer from scald or foot rot and hardy enough to lamb outside, grow a good lamb and have good mothering abilities. The Romney does the job.

Trainwrek, I write this as a N.Z'er but I'm sure that parts of the State have the same climatic conditions.

Cheers,
Ronnie


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## sky61 (Feb 9, 2013)

Katahdins. After having them for over a year, they seem to be easy keepers compared to most sheep and the rest of the livestock world. My biggest concern is keeping the predators out, but of course the predators don't care what breed of sheep you have.


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## hercsmama (Jan 15, 2004)

We started with Barbados, but are in the middle of transitioning to Columbias, and Rambouillets.
We are keeping several of our Barbados Ewe's, mainly because we really do like them, and will be breeding them for production lambs.
The reason for the switch is due to the fact that I am a fiber person, I want, no, I NEED to be able to raise my own for spinning, must have more fleeces!!!


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## Maura (Jun 6, 2004)

I got Black Welsh Mountain sheep when I had sheep. They are small, have excellent mothering instinct, and never get hoof rot. Sounded pretty good. Their fleece leaves much to be desired. The rams are horrible. For these reasons, I never bred them to a BWM. I bred them to my Corriedale x Ramboilette ram. The lambs were calmer like the ram, and had real nice coal black fleece. The flavor was not extremely mild, but about midway. Very nice.


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## secuono (Sep 28, 2011)

Babydoll Southdowns.
Naturally parasite resistant, don't challenge fencing, calm, friendly, small, polled, dual purpose, easy lambing, the list goes on! 
The only negative is that I have to shear them, no one wants their wool, so it's really a waste of time and money. 
But I wouldn't go back and get a different breed, love them. I'd get them a million times over again.


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## MDKatie (Dec 13, 2010)

I've had two breeds in the last 2 years. Romney, and Southdown (American, not Babydoll). 

I loved my Romneys...good sturdy sheep, foot rot resistant, do well in the cold or heat, nice fleces, calm dispositions. Photogenic. 

I love my Southdowns too. They're calm and friendly, nice for selling lambs to 4Hers. Wool isn't worth anything though. 

I have 2 Romney/Southdown ewes and they are freaking amazing. Stay fat on grass, lamb with 2 and 3 lambs, great mothers, nice fleeces, parasite resistant. LOVE them. 

I am thinking of either going back towards Romneys, or possibly going with Lincolns.  I saw them at the Sheep & Wool festival and I fell in love with them.....nice big sheep, and gorgeous fleeces! I wish I had more space....


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## bergere (May 11, 2002)

Started with Jacobs..... hardy but goodness they never shut up. They didn't get grain either.
A lot of lines are wild and they can be hard to handle.

Then Blk Welsh Mountain, but at the time, before Oogie and some of the other breeders brought in Semen, it was a genetically dead breed. 
My DS was very young then and he showed them in 4-H. He was the only one to show a non commercial breed of sheep.
Ended up selling the pure breds. 
Did keep a couple of Blk WM/cheviot crosses, they were wonderful.

Had some Babydoll's from Mock, but they were very fragile during lambing time.
Ewes were super sweet though. 
Rams how ever.... I could not find one that wasn't super aggressive... in the area I lived at the time. That was a no go for me too.

I settled on Brecknock Hill Cheviots... through research.. which people didn't like... 
Found out They were really the original sized Border/Southern Cheviots that the Hudson Bay company brought into the NW. There were still pockets of purebreds... through out the NW. 
Now they are called Mini Cheviots. Though that isn't really true either. Ah well.
They were easy to tame, gentle, very hardy... easy to lamb. Both Ewes and Rams were mellow.
Won a number of shows with their fleece. Fleece is a medium quality... not next to the skin soft though.
They were also small and no horns to worry about.
My favorite breed.

Fast forward to now.... 
Just have a couple of pure bred Katahdins, a Katahdin/Dorper/St Croix mix (he is huge... taller than one of my miniature horses) and one Finn ewe.
Finn ewe was easy to halter train... super sweet and gentle.
IF I ever got back into breeding, would be with Finn's. Her lines only have 2 and 3 lambs...
Some lines can have 6 to 8 lambs at a time... too much work for me.
Her fleece is super soft, next to the skin wearable.


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## lexierowsell (Dec 10, 2013)

I have a flock of Rambouillet sheep. I love them, they love me somewhat less. They're wild, but all were purchased as completely unhandled 9 mo - 2 yr olds. The Rambo lambs I've raised are lovely-- personable and sweet. 

Their fleeces are amazing, they're large framed and nicely fleshed on grass alone. Parasites are minimal, however Barber Pole is a problem in my area.

My Rambo ram is ~300lb. His personality is the best I could possibly ask for. He comes for treats (watermelon!!), but does not want to be a pet. When I have to handle him, even when cornered or trapped, he has never turned on me or acted aggressively. 

Flavor is mild, meat is astounding- tender, pretty. 

I also have a small flock of dairy sheep. They are high percentage East Friesian crossed with Blue Faced Leicester. These sheep are impervious to parasites it seems, thrifty as the day is long, on my grass pastures and heavy milkers. Two of the ewes were purchased in milk, 4 and 6 months into lactation. One milked well over a quart at a time, twice daily, the other about 3 pints twice daily. Both were in very poor body condition, and with proper groceries held that level of production and gained respectable condition. Both are dry now, and rebred to my EF x ram. 

The dairy ram, Thomas, is a true joy to own. He is sweet to handle if you seek him out, but does not push for attention. He's sweet and kind with the girls. 

The fleeces from the ewes were a little poor due to nutrition issues before I got them, but their new fleeces are coming in famously. The two dry ewes had fair fleeces, next to skin soft, 5" staple, beautiful pearly shine to them. VERY excited to see their new fleeces this year. 

The ram's lamb fleece is the nicest fiber I've had my hands on. It's pearly-shiney, off white, soft soft soft...

If I started all over, I would probably try to start with tame sheep. Same breeds likely, but at least a couple that I could touch and lead, that maybe didn't think me the harbinger of doom. 

I, like those above have already mentioned, don't mind shearing at all. It's part of having the sheep I like seeing in my field.


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## farmmaid (Jan 13, 2003)

Started with Katahdins, no problems. Bought a Dorper ram and breed the cross. I have Nubian goats so added East Friesian to the flock. EF ewes bred to the 100% Dorper.......fantastic meat lambs raised on that wonderful rich milk.
Not one thing would I change!


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## Awnry Abe (Mar 21, 2012)

Started with Katahdins because they were free. Someone hit their limit of bottle feeders and called the school's FFA teacher. He sent a note home with DD because we raise goats. We ended up with 14 freebies. Then we bought a ready-to-butcher wether from them.

YUM YUM YUM YUM YUM. That is 5 reasons why we are selling the goats and giving their space and time to the sheep....

I would have banded the boys earlier. I missed the boat on 4 of them and had to just separate them (4 months old) because they have huge parts and my bander isn't gonna git er done. Other than that goof, I wouldn't change anything. I sure like the flock.


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## Dreamfarm (Dec 10, 2011)

Started with 2 Finn and 2 east friesian meat x bottle babies. Two months later picked up four 1/2 Cotswold 1/4 Shetland crosses. ( the other 1/4 varies between Shetland , blue faced leister and targhee). 

The finnsheep were very frail and weak and they as well as the other two bottle babies did not develope as rapidly as the other four which are the same age. 

I got a purebred Icelandic ram lamb which I plan to breed to my girls except the Finn ewe. She is very underdeveloped The other Finn bottle baby is a ram so I plan to breed them if I ever feel she is ready. If not she will be our pet. 

The Finn sheep are the friendliest and so sweet. But to do it all again I would be interested in hair sheep at least until I get control of my thistle problem. Dorper Rambouillet cross or targhee perhaps. Definitely not Finns 

My next plan of action is to breed a purebred hair sheep to my current ewes next year. I will still have plenty of very nice wool for hand spinning with my current sheep. But I want meat lambs to eat and market


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## Callieslamb (Feb 27, 2007)

I bought sheep so I could have their fleeces. I started with finns. Love them. But, they aren't big enough to be attractive to meat buyers no matter what you tell them about the flavor of the meat. I loved that they have triplets and more BUT they need to lamb early to big big enough to sell in the fall. Lambing early means they need to be watched closely in Michigan. After last winter, I decided I didn't need the worry. I love them but switched to Blue-Faced Leicester X CVM's. I love those fleeces too. I also have a romney ewe that I'll cross with the CVM ram. Her last year's lambs fleeces were fabulous. I don't like trying to sell. With the larger sheep,hopefully, I'll have larger lambs to sell. The plan is to sell any extras at the sale barn and not worry with local or personal sales.


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## ErikaMay (Feb 28, 2013)

ALL OF THEM. I KEEP THEM ALL. eep:


(goes out to barn to cuddle with massive ram flock)


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## dlskidmore (Apr 18, 2012)

Cotswolds - I wanted to support a rare breed, so I started by referencing local ads against the Livestock Conservancy list. I like long wools for no good reason, the size, hardiness, and ability to thrive without grain guided my choice.

If I did it again, I'd not accept the free half bred ram.

If I had unlimited space and proper handling equipment, I'd like to have a second flock of the Black Welsh Mountain sheep.


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## birchtreefarm (Jul 22, 2007)

Icelandics - easy lambing, good mothers, dual coat fleece in many colors/patterns, tasty tasty meat. Do not need to castrate the ram lambs if you are going to butcher them in the fall. Seasonal breeders (for the most part). Naturally short tails - don't have to decide whether to dock. Can choose whether you want polled or horned. They browse like goats as well as graze, so they help clear overgrown pastures.

Biggest issue - barberpole worm. You have to keep an eye on their eyelid membranes, and be willing to cull the ones that have trouble, and breed only the ones that have resistance. Any lamb that needed worming more than twice its first summer went on the cull list. I rarely have to worm adults past two years of age.

Other thing about Icelandics - they need copper. Standard sheep minerals don't contain it, and often add extra molybdenum to bind any "accidental" copper the sheep ingests. I buy goat mineral and mix it 1:3 or 1:4 with sheep mineral. I use Red Cell (horse supplement) when I worm, as a tonic and to provide extra copper and other minerals, and vitamins. They also need plenty of selenium. I mix SelPlex into their minerals, and also give Sel-E gel (labeled for goats) anytime anyone seems stressed. Vit ADEB12 gel is also very useful.

Yes, I'd do it again. I probably wouldn't try to raise them as a business, but instead just keep a small flock for our own use, which is what we are doing now. Not because Icelandics can't be profitable, but we didn't have the setup here to really make it work - not enough land/grazing, and I'm not good enough at marketing either. Plus, we're in an economically somewhat-depressed area - finding customers for meat lambs and fleece was not easy.


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## reneedarley (Jun 11, 2014)

bergere said:


> I settled on Brecknock Hill Cheviots... through research.. which people didn't like...
> Found out They were really the original sized Border/Southern Cheviots that the Hudson Bay company brought into the NW. There were still pockets of purebreds... through out the NW.
> Now they are called Mini Cheviots. Though that isn't really true either. Ah well.
> They were easy to tame, gentle, very hardy... easy to lamb. Both Ewes and Rams were mellow.
> ...


My dad always swore by Cheviots though the North Country type.
What a lot of breeds I am not acquainted with ;-)
I have 1 texel ram, 1 Gothland, Gute, Spelsau, Wensleydale, Jacobs and,Finull (Finn). About a 100 animals.


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## dlskidmore (Apr 18, 2012)

birchtreefarm said:


> Not because Icelandics can't be profitable, but we didn't have the setup here to really make it work - not enough land/grazing, and I'm not good enough at marketing either.


We have the scale problem too. We're big enough we have to sell to keep things running, but not big enough to actually make a living. If I did it again I'd tough it out another year or two in the hood, or start with a smaller farm for learning and upgrade to a larger scale when we could afford it, instead of just getting the biggest place we could afford at the time.


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## AlienChick (Feb 13, 2012)

We've been raising Katahdins for the past several years. I am new to sheep and have no idea how to shear, so I was limited on selecting from the hair breeds. I like the Katahdins because of their dual purpose and fantastic mothering skills (plus the benefit of parasite resistance). They're also a friendly breed, and I like to cuddle and pet my sheep. My sheep are raised on pasture, so that cuts the cost down a whole lot.

I'm a sheep lover and I absolutely LOVE going to the sheep shows and drooling over all the beautiful breeds of sheep!


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## purplequeenvt (Mar 3, 2013)

Main purebred breed: Border Leicester, Secondary purebred breed: Shetland

We started our flock 14 years ago with a couple Romneys and added Border Leicesters and BL crosses within a few weeks. We eventually sold the Romneys in favor of the BL. Too many issues with the Romneys. 

The Shetland flock was added 4 years ago. We keep a very small flock of them since our main focus is the BLs and we need to find a way to make some money off the Shetlands in order to justify keeping more of them. 

Currently we have about 12 purebred BL breeding ewes, 2 crossbred (1 BL/Romney, 1 BL/Dorper/Friesian/Shetland) ewes, 3 registered Southdown (bred to a registered Southdown) ewes and 7 Shetland ewes. We did a hard cull this year.

Things I'd like to change/do differently: infrastructure! I want better barns and fences. We rotational graze, which is great, but I spend so much time moving fences. I want more permanantly fenced fields.


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## reneedarley (Jun 11, 2014)

Oh I feel with you Same problem here.


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## FMO3 (Nov 22, 2009)

Romney or RomneyXCoopworth here, started out years ago with Cheviot and Dorset both left over from dad's 4H days back in the late 1950's. Bought 14 Romney ewes in 1992 at a steal of a price...was just going to lamb them out as commercial ewes...did that till 1995 when it finally clicked that they were the best mothers. Bred everything to Romney since, and will continue to do so. Shearing is just one day of the year, I will take shearing over not having to worm the older ewes at all. Lamb last of March first of April all on pasture, have 4 lambing jugs for over 800 ewes.

What would do over again...started to breed Romneys 40 years before we did. Start culling harder, as that has been our biggest improvement...they are here to make money, not be our friend.


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## Pony (Jan 6, 2003)

Katahdins, because I don't have to sheer them. 

They're lovely, and I'm learning. Yes, I'd do it over again, in a heartbeat.


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## Fowler (Jul 8, 2008)

Babydolls!!!!!!!:bouncy: I cant resist their cuteness!!


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## bergere (May 11, 2002)

Good to see you here again Fowler.


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## Fowler (Jul 8, 2008)

You too!!....Working a fulltime job and raising sheep alone has kept me super busy!!
I am pretty sure my stalls are cleaner than my house...LOL!!

I have way too many sheep now I still have wethers from last year, and a baby ewe I decided to keep from my stock, so keeping everyone seperated from my rams and ewes has become my new adventure!!....LOL At least they're not goats, I couldnt imagine the drama.....LOL Just kidding goatie people, I hope to have a couple someday when I cant pay my cable bill anymore....LOL Free entertainment!!...LOL


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## greenmulberry (Nov 28, 2006)

I have Icelandics. I love their fleece and the wide variety of colors they come in. We have them for the fleece, meat for us, and to eat our grass so we don't have to mow so much. I think their horns look really cool, they have such an appealing appearance. 

Also, I really miss having horses, but right now I really only want animals that contribute substantially to the household, so I thought sheep might fulfill some of my longing for a grazing animal. And they do!! Although not as cuddly as some horses I have had, I really enjoy sitting in the pasture after a stressful day at the office with them lazily cropping grass, it just sets me at ease immediately.

They are reputed to be very hardy if you can get a handle on the extra mineral supplementation they need. This is my first year with them, I bought them in February and although I knew they needed extra copper and a few other things, I wish I had researched that even more before getting them. My lambs had a lot of parasite problems this summer and I am sure now that it was because of lack of copper. They have improved greatly with administrations of Red Cell and selenium E gel.


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## rosalind (Oct 6, 2014)

Border Leicester and Romney are my favorites so far. 

I love the B.L. wool (very work-able, beautiful) and their temperament (calm, proud).

The Romneys are super soft-wooled, friendly, hardy, easy keepers.

I also have a California Red (beautiful gal, not real friendly, coarse wool that would be nice for rope or carpet with pretty red kemp fibers) an Icelandic (high quality wool, med-soft, fast growing wool, but she is skittish and I like them friendlier), and a Shetland (coarse wool, a pretty silver and black color, easy to separate colors for different uses, but she cries/whines all the time wanting to be with you - too friendly?)


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## lonelyfarmgirl (Feb 6, 2005)

My first 2 sheep were a pair of Icelandic sisters. I still have them. They are rotten, loud and escape often, but their babies hit the ground running in the worst weather and they don't die. I rarely have to worm the two adults. Their babies are huge and grow fast. I like the twice a year shear. They grow an inch or more a month.

My second round was 2 pair of finns. One ram came from Callieslamb and she picked me up a second on the way to meet me (the black earless thing Callie, remember?) I still have them both and they are huge and wonderful and super tame. Callie had awesome finns. The 2 rams stay for life. I have several finn ewes that I am phasing out. The finns are great, have really nice medium-fine wool and have lots of babies, I had trips and quads this year, but the babies are small and often need help. They dont grow well without grain. 

I had a finn/icelandic cross baby this year and was very impressed with the wool, so the 2 finn rams will be used for crossing from this point on.

Early this spring, I happened upon a couple ewes that brought tears to my eyes. CVM/Corriedale and CVM/Australian Bond. O...M....G.... THE WOOL. They are like huge squishy teddy bears that have the most amazing wool Ive ever felt. I am picking up my purebred Romeldale ram to match them in a few weeks. Talk about excited!

I would love to have Romney at some point as I love Romney wool, but not this year.


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## Ketoriverfarm (Aug 8, 2014)

I have had Icelandics for the past seven years. Love the breed. Very hardy, easy birthing, lambs gain almost a pound a day on mothers milk. 

This year we have reduced our herd size in half. From 32 this spring down to 14. And I am only breeding 4 ewes. We just want to reduce our work load. Age is catching up with us. 

Susan


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## Pony (Jan 6, 2003)

greenmulberry said:


> They are reputed to be very hardy if you can get a handle on the extra mineral supplementation they need. This is my first year with them, I bought them in February and although I knew they needed extra copper and a few other things, I wish I had researched that even more before getting them. My lambs had a lot of parasite problems this summer and I am sure now that it was because of lack of copper. They have improved greatly with administrations of Red Cell and selenium E gel.


May I ask how much copper you're using? 

We're in a selenium/copper deficient area, and I bolus my goats 2-3x a year. But, of course, there's the fear of copper toxicity in sheep. Seems no one can agree on how much is enough/too much.


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## bergere (May 11, 2002)

Pony said:


> May I ask how much copper you're using?
> 
> We're in a selenium/copper deficient area, and I bolus my goats 2-3x a year. But, of course, there's the fear of copper toxicity in sheep. Seems no one can agree on how much is enough/too much.


For the copper issues... really depends on the breed and where they are originally from.

Icelandics and Hebrides sheep, etc, need more copper. 
The Hebrides sheep, so I friend that has them told me,,, need a lot of kelp to stay healthy.

Other sheep,, including a number of the British breeds, need only tiny amounts of copper and a pinch too much, and you have dead sheep.

Finding the right balance in sheep that need more copper can be hard.
Blood tests can help.


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## dlskidmore (Apr 18, 2012)

My vet doesn't trust the blood tests, only liver biopsy. Liver biopsy on the living is rather invasive, but you can assess overall flock status with biopsies from slaughter animals.


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## InHisName (Jan 26, 2006)

spinners flock here- Wensleydale Gotland crosses, BFL Shetland crosses, Finn crosses- hubby says it is great to have edible pets. Hmph.


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