Katahdin sheep

A ram
Conservation status	FAO (2007): not at risk[1]: 147  DAD-IS (2024): not at risk[2] Livestock Conservancy: not at risk[3]
Country of origin	United States
Distribution	44 American states[2] Canada Caribbean Central America South America[4]
Use	meat
Traits
Wool color	variable
Horn status	usually polled (hornless)
Sheep Ovis aries

Ewes

The Katahdin is a modern American breed of sheep. It is an easy-care sheep: it grows a hair coat with little wool which moults naturally in the spring, and so does not need to be shorn. It is reared for meat only.

It was developed by a breeder named Michael Piel in Maine, and is named for Mount Katahdin in that state. From about 1957 he cross-bred a small number of African Hair Sheep from the Virgin Islands with various meat breeds, principally the Suffolk.[5]: 837 

History

In 1957 a farmer named Michael Piel imported three African Hair Sheep[a] – a ram and two ewes – from the island of Saint Croix in the Virgin Islands to his farm in Abbot, Maine.[6]: 153  For almost twenty years he experimentally cross-bred them with sheep of a wide variety of breeds, among them the American Tunis, the Cheviot, the Hampshire Down, the Southdown, the Suffolk and other English Down breeds.[5]: 837 [7] All but the Suffolk crosses were eventually discarded,[5]: 837  and a flock of about 120 breeding ewes was selected.[6]: 153  In the 1970s he experimented with cross-breeding with the Wiltshire Horn, the only naturally-moulting English sheep; after his death in 1976, his widow took steps to breed out unwanted characteristics of this cross including the horns, the lower prolificacy and the reduced ease of handling.[6]: 153 

A breed society, Katahdin Hair Sheep International, was formed in 1985, and a flock-book was started.[6]: 153 

The Katahdin was formerly an endangered breed, included on the watchlist of the Livestock Conservancy; it was removed ("graduated") in 2013. In 2024 its conservation status was listed in DAD-IS as "not at risk";[2] the world-wide population was estimated at 13957, of which approximately 85% was in the United States.[4] The sheep were also present in Canada and in sixteen other countries, principally in the Caribbean, in Central America and in South America.[4]

Characteristics

The Katahdin is of medium size: the average weight for ewes is approximately 65 kg (145 lb) and for rams about 95 kg (210 lb).[2] The sheep may be of any colour, and are usually naturally polled (hornless).[6]: 153 [3]

The Katahdin has the typical characteristics common to hair sheep: it has an outer coat of fine hair, and in winter may grow a wool undercoat which moults naturally in the spring, so that it does not need to be shorn; it is tolerant of hot and humid climatic conditions, and has good resistance to parasites including some gastrointestinal nematodes resistant to anthelmintic drugs; ewes are to some extent aseasonal and capable of breeding in the spring.[6]: 153 [8]: 52 [9]: 503 [3]

Use

The Katahdin is reared for meat. The lambing rate is some 168%.[8]: 52 

Notes

1. These were later known as Virgin Islands White and as St. Croix.

References

1. Barbara Rischkowsky, Dafydd Pilling (editors) (2007). List of breeds documented in the Global Databank for Animal Genetic Resources, annex to The State of the World's Animal Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture. Rome: Commission on Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture, Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. ISBN 9789251057629. Archived 23 June 2020.
2. Breed data sheet: Katahdin / United States of America (Sheep). Domestic Animal Diversity Information System of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. Accessed September 2024.
3. Katahdin Sheep. Pittsboro, North Carolina: The Livestock Conservancy. Archived 24 April 2024.
4. Transboundary breed: Katahdin. Domestic Animal Diversity Information System of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. Accessed September 2024.
5. Valerie Porter, Lawrence Alderson, Stephen J.G. Hall, D. Phillip Sponenberg (2016). Mason's World Encyclopedia of Livestock Breeds and Breeding (sixth edition). Wallingford: CABI. ISBN 9781780647944.
6. Janet Vorwald Dohner (2001). The Encyclopedia of Historic and Endangered Livestock and Poultry Breeds. New Haven, Connecticut; London: Yale University Press. ISBN 0300088809.
7. Arthur Bolduc (Winter 1986). The Katahdin: A Woolless Breed of Sheep. Small Farmer's Journal. 10 (1).
8. J.M. Burke (2005). Lamb Production of Dorper, Katahdin, and St. Croix Bred in Summer, Winter, or Spring in the Southeastern United States. Sheep & Goat Research Journal. 20: 51–59.
9. Frank Flanders, James R. Gillespie (2015). Modern Livestock & Poultry Production, ninth edition. Boston, Massachusetts: Cengage Learning. ISBN 9781133283508.