Katahdin

Piel began in 1957 with hair sheep from St. Croix and spent nearly twenty years of crossing and selection, with Wiltshire Horn blood tried in the 1970s. After his death in 1976 his widow carried the work on, and the breed society, Katahdin Hair Sheep International, formed in 1985 and started the flock book.

By 2013 the Katahdin had come off the endangered-breeds watchlist, grown from one farm's experiment into a national breed.

Rams weigh about 210 pounds and ewes about 145.

They are usually polled, and any color is acceptable.

Michael Piel selected the foundation flock for flocking instinct among other traits, and the breed's history shows how quickly that can slip. Wiltshire Horn blood added in the 1970s improved size but brought horns, lower prolificacy, weaker flocking and a flightier disposition, according to Katahdin Hair Sheep International, and selection in the early 1980s went against horns, reducing the Wiltshire influence.

The association's standard describes easy-lambing ewes with strong maternal instincts and good milk. Do not expect a fine-wool band: Susan Schoenian's Maryland Small Ruminant Page notes that hair sheep breeds lack the flocking instinct of fine-wool sheep.

Meat, exclusively; the breed was assembled to produce lamb with the wool step deleted.

Ewes are prolific, lamb easily and breed close to year round, with lambing rates around 168 percent, which supports fall-lambing and accelerated systems.

They are notably parasite resistant, a trait the breed has been selected for deliberately, and the resistance extends to some gut worms that no longer respond to drenches. They tolerate heat and humidity well.

The list of needs is mostly a list of absences: no shearer and less drenching. Ordinary fencing and feed carry them.

The Katahdin graduated from The Livestock Conservancy's Conservation Priority List in 2013, after the breed association saw more than 6,500 new registrations in 2011. The Conservancy presents it as the case for keeping rare breeds: its value arrived when the wool market declined and what producers wanted changed.

The trade is the fleece income you have given up, which for most small producers is not a real loss, and the carcass, which finishes moderate rather than large. They will not match a terminal sire cross for growth.

Katahdin Hair Sheep International keeps the registry; you must be a member to register sheep, though not to own them. Ask whether the flock has been selected for parasite resistance on records, or just assumed resistant by breed.

Recent sale prices on HoofnHorn, where there are any, are further down this page.