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Livestock
This year, Howder Farms is able to offer some of our lambs as breeding stock for others either getting started or growing their flock. Our lambs are mostly a combination of Katahdin and Dorpers, and our flock is very worm and disease resistant, making them hastle-free and hardy for your flock or homestead.
Replacement Ewes
Our young ewes will be either 50% Dorper and Katahdin or 75% Dorper. We like to keep this ratio for our breeding stock for a few reasons. Dorpers produce great carcass sizes and grow very well on lower inputs. If you want 100% grass-fed grain-free lamb, the dorper is the breed to do it. However, they have a few more health considerations, and are much more susceptible to worms. Katahdins are much more hardy, and our flock in particular is very resistant to Barber Pole Worms, which is the number 1 cause of health complications in sheep in our region. They are also excellent milk producers and have a great mothering nature. The cross of these two breeds means we have healthy moms and lambs that don't require medical intervention as frequently and need worm intervention more rarely, who frequently have twins and triplets, and who are able to produce enough milk to raise triplets without supplementing with a bottle!
Rams
While most of our rams will be sold to buyers for processing, we will have a couple every season that stand out with great conformation, very healthy, a twin or triplet, and from a ewe with a healthy history and other healthy lambs in previous seasons. When we have these that stand out, we'll try and sell them as breeding stock. This is usually only one or two lambs per season, so let us know well in advance if you're looking for one!
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We also will offer some feeder lambs, typically in the 50 lbs range for sale starting this year. If you'd like one to finish out and process yourself, let us know!
Bottle Lambs
During lambing season, we will typically have 3-5 bottle lambs. This can be from moms that can't produce enough milk, reject a lamb, or if they get separated and she "forgets" she had one. As we've grown, we are now offering to sell them. If you'd like a bottle lamb, get on our call list and we'll let you know when any come available!
