Right now we are running our Katahdins behind the cattle, but will eventually have them all running together as a "flerd" (flock/herd). This will be our third flock of hair sheep. We sold out the first time when the drought was on hard, and then another time when we wanted to focus on just cattle, but found that we really miss the sheep, so we bought a third flock early this year.
We normally put the sheep right in with the cows, but this time we've added a Pyrenees dog to the sheep to help with predator control. The cattle will help keep some coyotes away, but they really don't care that much if the coyote is grabbing a baby lamb for a scooby snack, as long as it's not their calf. We ran a Jenny donkey the second time around, and that reduced the predation some, but not totally. With the dog, we haven't had any predator loss.
We move our cows every day or two and keep the sheep in the previous paddock. This gives a fence to separate them, but lets the dog be close to the cows to get accustomed to them. We've got three wire high tensile electric fence between the paddocks, and use three wire or tape gates between paddocks. We'll probably blend the sheep in with the cows in another month or two once they are fully ignoring each other. Once you get them all together, it makes management very easy.
For us, the Katahdins are a low maintenance addition to cattle with very good income. When we run them together, they bond very well with the cows and keep the pastures in better condition by eating more of the weeds. They get the same minerals as the cows from the same round three compartment feeder, and drink from the same tire tanks. One compartment of the mineral feeder has loose Redmond trace mineral salt, one has Redmond mineral salt mixed 50/50 with Redmond conditioner, and the third compartment has Fertrell's graziers choice (no copper).
For our first flock, we just bought 20 cull bred ewes at the sale barn and then bought a nice purebred ram to put with them, and then turned them out with the cows. We had about six or seven ewes die the first month and then they took off and multiplied from there. We never pulled the ram, and don't wean any lambs. We leave the whole flock together year round, selling the rams when they are 90 to 120 pounds, and leaving the females in unless they don't breed. You'll be surprised at how quickly they multiply. No special care makes for a tough, surviving flock. There will be some that occasionally die, but it's really very few. They are very hardy.
Our second flock was put together from a couple different folks that were selling out. The flock we have now was bought the same way, from some folks that were selling out. We really like the Katahdins. We're located in SW Missouri, north of Joplin, and they do great here.
May 2015 - Sheep and cows on lush May grass
February 2016 - Fed the sheep hay right along with the cows.
March 2015 - Jenny and the sheep on hay with the cows
