Friday Dose of Cute: New Kids on the Block

Audrey Had Twins Yesterday! (Meet new flock member Audrey here)

About One Hour Old

Sunday Dose of Cute: How and Why We Added Katahdin Hair Sheep to Our Flock

Katahdin cute overload

It's a funny thing about our sheep shearer—he raises sheep that don't need to be sheared. They're Katahdins, and this hardy breed has hair rather than wool that, as you can see here, comes off each year on its own.

One of the biggest problems we face raising our mostly Suffolk meat sheep here in Missouri is internal parasites, specifically a blood sucking stomach worm known as the barber pole or wire worm. For much of the year it's wet and warm here, which, unfortunately, is Parasite Paradise.

Despite agressively using both commercial and natural wormers, we've lost numerous sheep over the years to worms—and we've been comparatively lucky. I know of one farmer who had most of her flock drop dead from internal parasites—the day after they'd been wormed.

It's terrible. And while there were many benefits to having that extra rain during the past two springs and summers, it made the parasite problem even worse.