Hi Jason, it is always nice to see the animals moving to a new Paddock for grazing. They all look happy with all the new growth to feed on. The Sheep laying down in the pasture towards the end looked like the couldn't be happier. I think that the St Croix Sheep have worked out fantastic for you. It is amazing that the mother's with triplets can usually feed all three lambs without having to use Milk replacer. Other farmers that I see usually have to bottle feed some of their lambs because the mother cannot produce enough milk. I think the larger sheep would be hard to handle and care for so if you can get more output with the St Croix that sounds like a winner.
Your farm and animals look great! August has been great on our farm as well. Also running St. Croix sire hair sheep and South Poll Cattle. We started doing some TH-cam videos as well, mainly for friends and family to check out. Cheers!
When I was researching breeds to raise on small acreage in North Texas, I spoke to a breeder here. She said you HAVE to deworm dorpers, even with rotationally grazing. I asked her how often she has to assist in lambing and she said 30% assist rate with her ewes. I then spoke to my uncle. He also referred to dorpers as "Angus of the sheep" but not in a positive manner. Said they have been "beefed up like Angus" and if he wasn't around during lambing, he would lose many ewes and lambs as they struggle to lamb without assistance. He ultimately sold all of his dorpers because they required constant deworming in addition to having to frequently pull lambs. We ended up with Katahdins as they are easier to come by than St. Croix in our area.
That sounds like heave... my romanov mostly have triplets and quads, and i am close to 90%+ lambing asistance... lambing is hard.. but 300% lambing rate is good
I’ve raised dorpers and Dorper/Katahdin crosses in NewMexico . Very low maintenance, no deworming. Moved to De. OMG! Game Changer! Raising St. Croix. Lost my first lamb to parasites! The parasite environment in grass pastures vs arid desert raised sheep is very different. No comparison. Dorpers are Bred for Dry Arid conditions. I wanted a Dorper flock, I’m not so sure now because of the parasite resistance.
New subscriber here. Love your video. Hit all the important points. Agree with you on avoiding chemical dewormers if you can. Appreciate your transparency. Looking forward to watching your older videos. We’re in western NC recovering from overgrazed clay soils. Almost zero topsoil. We have 6 katahdin ewes with 11 lambs that we move daily. Mostly for personal consumption. Our 5 month old lambs averaging abt 70#. We lamb 1/year and let the ewes wean the lambs.
Pastures are looking great Jason! We have had great rain up here this year - definitely our best year yet in terms of grass growth. It almost feels as if we have been in a non-stop spring flush this year. God is great indeed! Hopefully the faired the recent storms well. They completely missed us, but further North got hit pretty hard.
Jason, this information is profound. I am still trying to wrap my head around what it is you have presented here. I do NOT doubt what you are saying, I have just been programmed to farming beef so I was floored when you say that sheep is better for profit. That is news to me.😊
I was a bit stunned the first time I heard Jim Gerrish say, “The most profitable kind of small cow is a sheep!” Shorter gestation and more offspring per birth make them an enormous advantage over cattle in a grass system.
Check out The Shepherdess. She's been raising dorpers in NE Texas for several years, no shots, no wormer. She's been able to build some strong genetics.
Nah, she pins em up and deworms once a month. Sacrifice area where she keeps the toxic poo. She seems like a great person, and I’m not speaking against her. I just want sheep that I don’t have to doctor.
Yeah, that's what I'd want too. I thought she didn't use it, but I can't argue. There are other sellers that don't use wormer on her site. Several sell Dorpers, but they're crossed. So it looks like you're on to something. A local here in central TX only uses wormer when he sees issues. He said that he'll just pour Ivermectin over some feed for them and it clears it up. But I'm with you. I'd rather not hassle with it at all. I want resilient animals.
Yea A mix of both. Dorper do much Better out west with how much dryer it is. Many out in Utah Idaho Wyoming where I am at run a Kathadin Doper Mix. like anything its about Context. St. Croix fit his context/location very Well.
Def a better pick than Dorper, but my struggle with Kathadin has always been breed uniformity. What am I actually paying for? So much variation with the mixing of breeds, and again I’ve got you by a hair on productivity per acre on grass with lower weights (no pun intended).
Dorpers were originally bred for drier desert type conditions to put more meat on fat tailed type sheep. Here in South-Africa other types of sheep are preferred in wetter areas...all about the environment.
We have every hair breed except painted desert. This will be our first year breeding all of them with multiple programs so i am very interested to see how they compare!
@birchfieldfarming so far my favourite has been St. Croix and this year will be my first year breeding pure St. Croix too. Katahdin is a good second place though. I'm like you and not a fan of the lack of uniformity with katahdins but I gotta admit, so far they have been just as prolific as my St. Croix and they grow bigger faster. We will have to see over more than one year though to be sure.
What are your thoughts on Katahdins? Seems like a middle of the road between the two breeds you are speaking about. I agree Dorper is just not a great fit if you don’t like deworming. Thanks
Katahdins can be a great breed for a regenerative system. Generally speaking, larger carcass size vs St Croix but less parasite resistance. In the cattle world, it has become well known that the smaller framed breeds are more profitable on grass. No different with sheep. I can run more head of ewes with smaller frames and actually produce more meat per acre vs larger framed sheep. Katahdin can be good though coming from the right grass-genetic farm.👍
As with everything, you have to use the right tool for the job. So many variables to consider. Dorpers do better in hotter drier climates, St Croix does better in wetter environments as they are more parasite resistant. Both are great animals that can fulfill your goals
I rotational graze black headed dorpers on a small scale, I have 6 ewes and a ram on 5 acres. Grass and hay is all my animals eat. I have them on a 3 day rotation and still have some parasite issues with my lambs every year. I lamb end of march/ early April. We get our lambs butchered in December my weight gains on all grass aren’t much different then your weights on ST croix. I think dorpers are stockier no doubt but you don’t get those big gains without supplementing with grain.
@@birchfieldfarming I love the look of my dorpers on pasture, that and carcasses size being a big part in my original decision in picking the breed. But definitely don’t think it’s a trade off for parasite resistance. It doesn’t matter how much bigger they grow if they die due to parasites… I am located in kinsman Ohio (the complete opposite side of the state from you) here in the coming years I wouldn’t mind adding some of your stock to my program!
I've started with sheep in the last year so take my opinion with a grain of salt. If I'm not mistaken, St. Croix are better suited to an accelerated lambing program than Dorper which would add to the cumulative affect. Also it seems when looking at market reports that the lighter lambs bring more $'s per pound. Personally, I'm running one group of 3/4 Dorper 1/4 Katahdin and another group with a St. Croix ram and a couple St. Croix ewes and a few of the 3/4 dorper 1/4 Katahdin ewes. I'm planning to try different percentages to see what works best with the heat and humidity and all the worms that entails where I am(N MS). We'll see how these future 1/2 St Croix 3/8 Dorper 1/8 Katahdin lambs perform. I'll have pure St Croix and 3/4 Dorper 1/4 Katahdins to compare. Enjoy your channel alot. Thanks Jason.
I’m running St. Croix/Khatadin crosses here in upstate SC. No way would I run any other sheep here and NOT use chemical dewormers. Since I’m not ever going to deworm and wreck my pastures, we went the St. Croix route and couldn’t be happier. Forage/Minerals/Clean water and ruthlessly culling animals that can’t make it inside those parameters. Stating odd with Greg Judy genetics really gave me a head start.
Do you have any 90 or 120 day weights you can share? Would love to see what those Katahdin’s are adding weight-wise! Just had a straight St Croix ram that was 63.5 lbs at 112 days old, no grain, which is actually decent for St Croix.
@@birchfieldfarming I just snagged a weight on one of our ram lambs, currently 141 days old. He clocked in at 83.6lbs, he was a single born lamb though. This September I’m going to only allow my bigger of my two rams in to breed. See if I can size up the carcass from within the flock as opposed to bringing in dorper and losing that parasite resistance. One of my rams is about 15% larger than the other, and he was like that even as a lamb, so hopefully I can select for some carcass size on the margins. It also helps that he likes to be pet and walks up to me every day lol. Not even a bottle lamb, just a friendly ram.
I raise Dorpers. I also live in Arizona. I have never dewarmed and have only lost 1 sheep to worms. I think your argument about the animal pressure of a smaller sheep to larger sheep isnt that comparable like it is when it comes to cattle because dorper are know to put on a lot of weight with little as possible inputs. They are amazing grazers and will eat lower quality weeds etc. I know you addressed this in your video too about the animal kill cost. Butchers charge per animal charge, so thats is a big disavtage of going a smaller sheep route as well. It would be interesting to see a comparison of dorper vs Katadin and st croix sheep feed to live animal weight. Got bless!
When it comes to St. Croix vs Dorper, you also need to consider the market you are catering to. St. Croix work for those who want to raise their own healthy meat, not necessarily those who are supplying lamb for grocery stores. Also, a smaller sheep is easier to butcher if you are going to do it yourself. Much like a deer and works best for homesteader types.
Don’t disagree with any of that, it’s just that the grocery store is only as good as the uneducated, hurried consumer buying there. Perhaps, I’m asking the question what does it look like as consumer sentiment towards the industrial food system continues to fade. Those moving away from industrial gluten and dairy are not just trendy but doing it to successfully combat things like rising rates of auto-immune conditions. Rising input costs are highlighting those breeds best suited for the times ahead.
Your downside with carcass yield Is in your butcher/slaughter costs. With Dorper your going to have more meat to spread that cost over, vs st croix slaughter cost spread over less lbs of meat.
Hi Jason, it is always nice to see the animals moving to a new Paddock for grazing. They all look happy with all the new growth to feed on. The Sheep laying down in the pasture towards the end looked like the couldn't be happier.
I think that the St Croix Sheep have worked out fantastic for you. It is amazing that the mother's with triplets can usually feed all three lambs without having to use Milk replacer. Other farmers that I see usually have to bottle feed some of their lambs because the mother cannot produce enough milk.
I think the larger sheep would be hard to handle and care for so if you can get more output with the St Croix that sounds like a winner.
Our mammas have done well, and yes everyone seems to be content now. Hope things are well up your way, Ben!
Your farm and animals look great! August has been great on our farm as well. Also running St. Croix sire hair sheep and South Poll Cattle. We started doing some TH-cam videos as well, mainly for friends and family to check out. Cheers!
I shall check out your channel! Thanks for stopping by🤠
When I was researching breeds to raise on small acreage in North Texas, I spoke to a breeder here. She said you HAVE to deworm dorpers, even with rotationally grazing. I asked her how often she has to assist in lambing and she said 30% assist rate with her ewes. I then spoke to my uncle. He also referred to dorpers as "Angus of the sheep" but not in a positive manner. Said they have been "beefed up like Angus" and if he wasn't around during lambing, he would lose many ewes and lambs as they struggle to lamb without assistance. He ultimately sold all of his dorpers because they required constant deworming in addition to having to frequently pull lambs. We ended up with Katahdins as they are easier to come by than St. Croix in our area.
Great info here for the viewers, thank you very much!!🤠🐑🌱
That sounds like heave... my romanov mostly have triplets and quads, and i am close to 90%+ lambing asistance... lambing is hard.. but 300% lambing rate is good
Thanks for sharing your info and data from your experiences. I’m learning and looking to add sheep to our mix, this info helps.
You got it, thanks for watching
Great information for all to consider. Thank you!!
And thanks for watching and commenting!
Thanks for the enlightenment!
And thanks for watching!
I’ve raised dorpers and Dorper/Katahdin crosses in NewMexico . Very low maintenance, no deworming. Moved to De. OMG! Game Changer! Raising St. Croix. Lost my first lamb to parasites! The parasite environment in grass pastures vs arid desert raised sheep is very different. No comparison. Dorpers are Bred for Dry Arid conditions. I wanted a Dorper flock, I’m not so sure now because of the parasite resistance.
That’s interesting info. Sounds like lots of varying results depending on climate and context.
Numbers don't lie!! Great video!!
@@mstephens814 Thanks for watching🤠
New subscriber here. Love your video. Hit all the important points. Agree with you on avoiding chemical dewormers if you can. Appreciate your transparency. Looking forward to watching your older videos.
We’re in western NC recovering from overgrazed clay soils. Almost zero topsoil. We have 6 katahdin ewes with 11 lambs that we move daily. Mostly for personal consumption. Our 5 month old lambs averaging abt 70#. We lamb 1/year and let the ewes wean the lambs.
Welcome! 70# at 5 months on all grass sounds amazing. Sounds like what you’re doing is working well healing the ground. Thanks for being here!🤠
Pastures are looking great Jason! We have had great rain up here this year - definitely our best year yet in terms of grass growth. It almost feels as if we have been in a non-stop spring flush this year. God is great indeed! Hopefully the faired the recent storms well. They completely missed us, but further North got hit pretty hard.
Non-stop spring flush…good way to describe it. Keep that mg topped off! 🤠
Jason, this information is profound. I am still trying to wrap my head around what it is you have presented here. I do NOT doubt what you are saying, I have just been programmed to farming beef so I was floored when you say that sheep is better for profit. That is news to me.😊
I was a bit stunned the first time I heard Jim Gerrish say, “The most profitable kind of small cow is a sheep!” Shorter gestation and more offspring per birth make them an enormous advantage over cattle in a grass system.
Check out The Shepherdess. She's been raising dorpers in NE Texas for several years, no shots, no wormer. She's been able to build some strong genetics.
Nah, she pins em up and deworms once a month. Sacrifice area where she keeps the toxic poo. She seems like a great person, and I’m not speaking against her. I just want sheep that I don’t have to doctor.
Yeah, that's what I'd want too. I thought she didn't use it, but I can't argue.
There are other sellers that don't use wormer on her site. Several sell Dorpers, but they're crossed. So it looks like you're on to something.
A local here in central TX only uses wormer when he sees issues. He said that he'll just pour Ivermectin over some feed for them and it clears it up. But I'm with you. I'd rather not hassle with it at all. I want resilient animals.
@@JoeJohnson1👍👍
Bird and bat houses alongside your fence rows and near trees would help put pressure on the flies.
Dorper vs. St.Croix ...and the winner is......Kathadin :) Good break down 👍
Yea A mix of both. Dorper do much Better out west with how much dryer it is. Many out in Utah Idaho Wyoming where I am at run a Kathadin Doper Mix. like anything its about Context. St. Croix fit his context/location very Well.
Def a better pick than Dorper, but my struggle with Kathadin has always been breed uniformity. What am I actually paying for? So much variation with the mixing of breeds, and again I’ve got you by a hair on productivity per acre on grass with lower weights (no pun intended).
@@Ironrodpower we are also in Idaho , we have few pure kathadins ,few dorpers and most of kathadin/dorper mix. Personally I like Kathadins better
@@birchfieldfarming very hard to find st. croix around here . i'm gonna put them on diet it'll be even :)
@@jmc9507🤣🤣🤣
Dorpers were originally bred for drier desert type conditions to put more meat on fat tailed type sheep. Here in South-Africa other types of sheep are preferred in wetter areas...all about the environment.
Interesting, that makes sense!
I was about to say similar.
We have every hair breed except painted desert. This will be our first year breeding all of them with multiple programs so i am very interested to see how they compare!
That’s interesting, what valuable insight you’ll have with all that experience! I’m interested where you land on favorite.🐑🤠
@birchfieldfarming so far my favourite has been St. Croix and this year will be my first year breeding pure St. Croix too. Katahdin is a good second place though. I'm like you and not a fan of the lack of uniformity with katahdins but I gotta admit, so far they have been just as prolific as my St. Croix and they grow bigger faster. We will have to see over more than one year though to be sure.
@@ShepherdsCreekGood info, thanks!
Please come back here and let us know how things shook out. I'd be interested too, although I know it will take a few years.
@@valeriestevens5250 I will for sure!
What are your thoughts on tail docking? No fly strike issues?
Never docked a tail in 6 years now, just never had issues. Sheep that stay clean on the rear are a joy all the way around.
What are your thoughts on Katahdins? Seems like a middle of the road between the two breeds you are speaking about. I agree Dorper is just not a great fit if you don’t like deworming. Thanks
Katahdins can be a great breed for a regenerative system. Generally speaking, larger carcass size vs St Croix but less parasite resistance. In the cattle world, it has become well known that the smaller framed breeds are more profitable on grass. No different with sheep. I can run more head of ewes with smaller frames and actually produce more meat per acre vs larger framed sheep. Katahdin can be good though coming from the right grass-genetic farm.👍
As with everything, you have to use the right tool for the job. So many variables to consider. Dorpers do better in hotter drier climates, St Croix does better in wetter environments as they are more parasite resistant. Both are great animals that can fulfill your goals
Great points here, thanks!🌱
I rotational graze black headed dorpers on a small scale, I have 6 ewes and a ram on 5 acres. Grass and hay is all my animals eat. I have them on a 3 day rotation and still have some parasite issues with my lambs every year. I lamb end of march/ early April. We get our lambs butchered in December my weight gains on all grass aren’t much different then your weights on ST croix. I think dorpers are stockier no doubt but you don’t get those big gains without supplementing with grain.
Thank you for this info! Real world situations are what we’re looking for!👍
@@birchfieldfarming I love the look of my dorpers on pasture, that and carcasses size being a big part in my original decision in picking the breed. But definitely don’t think it’s a trade off for parasite resistance. It doesn’t matter how much bigger they grow if they die due to parasites… I am located in kinsman Ohio (the complete opposite side of the state from you) here in the coming years I wouldn’t mind adding some of your stock to my program!
I've started with sheep in the last year so take my opinion with a grain of salt. If I'm not mistaken, St. Croix are better suited to an accelerated lambing program than Dorper which would add to the cumulative affect. Also it seems when looking at market reports that the lighter lambs bring more $'s per pound. Personally, I'm running one group of 3/4 Dorper 1/4 Katahdin and another group with a St. Croix ram and a couple St. Croix ewes and a few of the 3/4 dorper 1/4 Katahdin ewes. I'm planning to try different percentages to see what works best with the heat and humidity and all the worms that entails where I am(N MS). We'll see how these future 1/2 St Croix 3/8 Dorper 1/8 Katahdin lambs perform. I'll have pure St Croix and 3/4 Dorper 1/4 Katahdins to compare. Enjoy your channel alot. Thanks Jason.
Keep me in the loop on this, love what ur doing!🤠
I’m running St. Croix/Khatadin crosses here in upstate SC. No way would I run any other sheep here and NOT use chemical dewormers.
Since I’m not ever going to deworm and wreck my pastures, we went the St. Croix route and couldn’t be happier.
Forage/Minerals/Clean water and ruthlessly culling animals that can’t make it inside those parameters.
Stating odd with Greg Judy genetics really gave me a head start.
Do you have any 90 or 120 day weights you can share? Would love to see what those Katahdin’s are adding weight-wise! Just had a straight St Croix ram that was 63.5 lbs at 112 days old, no grain, which is actually decent for St Croix.
@@birchfieldfarming I just snagged a weight on one of our ram lambs, currently 141 days old. He clocked in at 83.6lbs, he was a single born lamb though.
This September I’m going to only allow my bigger of my two rams in to breed. See if I can size up the carcass from within the flock as opposed to bringing in dorper and losing that parasite resistance.
One of my rams is about 15% larger than the other, and he was like that even as a lamb, so hopefully I can select for some carcass size on the margins.
It also helps that he likes to be pet and walks up to me every day lol. Not even a bottle lamb, just a friendly ram.
@@jmhamilton87That’s awesome, thanks for sharing! Keep those boys a growin!🤠🐑
I raise Dorpers. I also live in Arizona. I have never dewarmed and have only lost 1 sheep to worms. I think your argument about the animal pressure of a smaller sheep to larger sheep isnt that comparable like it is when it comes to cattle because dorper are know to put on a lot of weight with little as possible inputs. They are amazing grazers and will eat lower quality weeds etc. I know you addressed this in your video too about the animal kill cost. Butchers charge per animal charge, so thats is a big disavtage of going a smaller sheep route as well. It would be interesting to see a comparison of dorper vs Katadin and st croix sheep feed to live animal weight. Got bless!
Very interesting! Thank you for watching and for sharing! Love to all the real world ranchers chiming in here!🤠🌱
Thanks for sharing your experience with Dorpers. I’m in a totally different climate but I enjoy learning what’s working down south too.
When it comes to St. Croix vs Dorper, you also need to consider the market you are catering to. St. Croix work for those who want to raise their own healthy meat, not necessarily those who are supplying lamb for grocery stores. Also, a smaller sheep is easier to butcher if you are going to do it yourself. Much like a deer and works best for homesteader types.
Don’t disagree with any of that, it’s just that the grocery store is only as good as the uneducated, hurried consumer buying there. Perhaps, I’m asking the question what does it look like as consumer sentiment towards the industrial food system continues to fade. Those moving away from industrial gluten and dairy are not just trendy but doing it to successfully combat things like rising rates of auto-immune conditions. Rising input costs are highlighting those breeds best suited for the times ahead.
Your downside with carcass yield
Is in your butcher/slaughter costs. With Dorper your going to have more meat to spread that cost over, vs st croix slaughter cost spread over less lbs of meat.
For sure! I called local processor here, and it’s $75/head kill fee!🫢💸
@@birchfieldfarming This is why lamb in general is more per lb than beef too. 75 kill fee is nothing spread across 600lbs of beef.
@@jmhamilton87Small facility on homestead=holy grail
🇳🇿🙏🏼
🧑🏻🌾🐑🐑🌱😀