| The Katahdin Story The development of the breed began in the late 1950's with the importation of a small number of haired sheep from the Caribbean by Michael Piel of Maine. The Piel Farm had several thousand sheep at the time & Piel felt that "progress in selection for traits important to the production of meat would be greatly enhanced by the elimination of wool as a major factor for selection." His goal was to combine the hair coat, prolificacy, & hardiness of the Virgin Island sheep with the meat conformation & rate of growth of wooled breeds. He began to experiment with crosses between the hair sheep & various British breeds, especially Suffolk. After almost 20 years of crossing the resulting hybrids "in every conceivable combinaton" & selecting the individuals with the desired combination of traits, Piel eventually collected a flock of ewes he called Katahdins, named after Mt Katahdin in Maine. During the mid-1970's the Wiltshire Horn, a shedding breed from England, was incorporated into the flock on a limited basis to add size & improve carcass quality. A Unique Sheep Throughout history, hair sheep have been a source of both food & income in regions of the world where wool does not have a ready market & presents a handicap to environmental adaptation & productivity. The Katahdin breed was developed as an answer to the need for a hardy meat sheep wich requieres no shearing but which can meet the North American industry standards for carcass quality. Rate of growth & muscling of the Katahdin surpasses other hair sheep breeds & is comaparable to the maternal-type wooled breeds. Katahdins naturally produce a lean carcass, & meat flavor is excellent. The shedding hair coat of the Katahdin sheep provides adaptability to a wide range of environments, allowing tolerance of heat & humidity as well as very cold winter climates. Their lack of wool greatly reduces management requirements such as shearing, crutching & tail docking. In addition, heat stress is not a major factor detracting from the rapid growth of lambs & reproductive performance of ewes & rams. Like other hair sheep, long-season breeding is another advantage possessed by the Katahdin & difficult lambing is unusual. along with excellent mothering characteristics, Katahdins have proven themselves to have very good milking ability; with plentiful feed & water a ewe can easily raise her normal twins & even triplets. Their medium size is efficient to maintain but productive. Standard of Type The Standard of Type, as established by KHSI, is a general description of purebred Katahdin sheep & espouses breeding objectives. The Katahdin breed is woolless, easy-care, meat-type sheep, naturally tolerant of climactic extremes & capable of high performance in wide variety of environments. The purpose of the breed is to efficiently & economically produce meat. The covering of the Katahdin does not require shearing & is preferably completely free of permanent wooly fibers. The coat can be any color or color pattern. Pllled animals are preferred; horned & scurred individuals are recorded as such. The Katahdin is a heavy-muscled, medium-sized breed. They demonstrate adaptability by performing well in areas varying in geography, temperature & humidity, feed & forage resources, & management systems. Ewes are easy lambers & exhibit strong maternal instincts & good milking ablitlty. They possess high potential for early puberty, fertiltiy & lamb survivability. Lambs grow & mature rapidly to an acceptable market weight range & repoduce relatively lean & well-muscled carcasses with a very mild flavor. |