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For Katahdin Sheep For Sale Kentucky Is The Way To Go

By Joseph Davis


The start of the development process of Katahdin sheep was in 1950s. Michael Piel of Maine receives the credit for developing the breed. The initial development occurred on the Piel Farm, which had many thousands of sheep at the moment. Other breeders adopted the breed from Piel Farm, and today, its population in the United States keeps growing. Therefore, when in search for Katahdin sheep for sale Kentucky offers a good place to prioritize. Breeders in Kentucky are careful with their breeding practices so that they produce high-quality animals for sale. The breeders offer reasonable prices.

One factor motivated Piel into the development of the breed. Piel realized that other factors other than wool needed to be based upon when engaging in breed selection for meat. Wool breeds were after all not the best animals for meat production. Piel wanted to combine the good qualities he saw in wool breeds with those in Virgin Island sheep to produce a new breed.

Virgin Island sheep possessed hardiness, prolificacy, and hair coat that Piel wanted. So, Piel set out to combine the characteristics in Virgin Island animals with the rate of growth and meat conformation of wool breeds. The experimentation began with crossing hair breeds and other British breeds, particularly Suffolk.

For the next twenty years, Piel engaged in the development of the new breed by choosing only animals that possessed the required traits. At the end of the experiment, Piel had come up with a flock of ewes that he named Katahdins. The origin of the name is Mt. Karahdin in Maine. In 1970s, the integration of Wiltshire Horn was done as a way of enhancing size and quality of the carcass.

From the original flock, breeders have managed to expand the number of Katahdins in the entire North American continent and worldwide. This is done with careful selection for reproductive efficiency, carcass quality, and hair coat. The KHSI was formed in 1986 for the purpose of registering individual Katahdins, record performance, assist with marketing and promotion, and to encourage research and development on the breed.

Animals are registered when they attain the age of one year and have been inspected thorough to ensure that they conform to breed standards. The breeder needs to be a KNSI member in order to put in a request for inspection or to have the animal registered. There is often no need for inspection before registration of lambs with 100 percent purebred parents. Such parents should not have birthdays beyond 1/1/1998.

Katahdins have displayed certain qualities that make them superior over other breeds. For instance, according to research findings on the breed, these animals have displayed a greater level of resistance to parasites compared to other breeds. They also proved to be more heat tolerant than wool breeds.

Other qualities compared with other breeds are fertility factors, growth performance, prolificacy, meat flavor, out-of-season breeding, and carcass quality. The superior meat flavor of this breed makes it favorable to many people worldwide.




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