Dautobi Acres
Northeast Texas - Lamb - Grass-fed, Pasture-raised, Organically grown
dautobiacres@yahoo.com
Member - Texas Organic Farmers and Gardeners Association
Farm and Ranch Freedom Alliance
Homegrown by Heros
Katahdin Hair Sheep International
Dautobi Acres
Hunt County
Celeste, TX 75423
dautobia
We have raised Katahdin Hair sheep for 20 years, along with other livestock and poultry. Whether your looking for the perfect animal for an ag exemption, need meat for your family or just want pasture improvement, hair sheep might work for you. Katahdins are a breed of hair sheep "made" in this country by an enterprising shepherd from Maine.
Visit www.katahdins.org for more information on this breed and download a wonderful booklet on how to care for hair sheep. The booklet is also available in paper format for $3.00. If your just starting out with Katahdin hair sheep, this booklet will help you separate fact from fiction.
Katahdins are adapatable to just about any breeding and lamb production program. The meat has an excellent flavor that brings back customers year after year. We prefer to utilize this small ruminant in a grass and forage based program. Our farm and our family benefit in numerous ways from shepherding. It is hard to imagine running a small farm with any other livestock "helper". From compost making to happily removing poison ivy, these sheep pay their way. The most important tool you need is good fencing ( to keep your sheep safe from dogs and coyotes).
If you desire not to be in the sheep breeding business, consider a group of wethers (castrated males) or older, non-reproductive ewes for co-species grazing and/or parasite management. Co-species grazing with cattle, horses and/or poultry helps with parasite control. The maintenance aspect and nutritional demands of a non-reproductive flock is minimal. A group of wethers (castrated male sheep) can improve a pasture by consuming "weeds", poision ivy, and many other plants left by cattle and horses. They are (arguably) the least expensive method of weed control and most likey the least toxic. There are plenty of weeds that sheep (and goats) cannot eat, some are toxic and some are to mature (take more energy to digest than they yield in calories).
Visit www.katahdins.org for more information on this breed and download a wonderful booklet on how to care for hair sheep. The booklet is also available in paper format for $3.00. If your just starting out with Katahdin hair sheep, this booklet will help you seperate fact from fiction.
Do not buy your sheep until you have the following - Good sheep/goat fencing, a shed or barn (for shade and shelter), water trough or pond, feed/hay, a catch pen and a plan for finding and introducing a livestock guardian dog. And TIME ! The first few weeks you spend adapting your flock to thier new home is critical.
The number one killer of your sheep will most likely be 1) your "house" dog(s) running them to death, 2) improperly trained livestock guardian dog or guardian donkey "playing", 3) your neighbors dogs that are free to roam the area, 4) overfeeding (enterotoxemia) 5) wild predators that can defeat your livestock guardian dog(s) and fence, 6) poor nutrition and lack of parasite management.
The need for good fences and a good livestock guardian cannot be emphasized enough. Accidents can and do happen, but failing to provide for your livestock is no accident. 
Your sheep should be this comfortable with your livestock guardian. If they avoid and stand away it is an indication of lack of trust. Never let your sheep eat your dog's food - this creates aggression and chasing.
Visit katahdins.org for more information on Katahdin Hair Sheep. For information on all of the hair sheep breeds out there, visit http://ansi.okstate.edu/breeds/sheep/hair.htm
Need more information on upgrading, grading up, percentages and recordation ? Visit www.katahdins.org/ and Click on KHSI Forms at the top of the page and then click "Registration, Recording, &Upgrading FAQ's" to learn more about how the Katahdin breed registry works.
Katahdin lamb pricing
(see our lamb meat order page for processed lamb cuts)
Katahdin lambs (of breeding quality) are priced as follows -
$225.00 at 3 to 4 months of age
$250.00 at 5 to 6 months of age
$275.00 at 7 to 8 months
$300.00 at 9 to 10 months
Our breeding quality lambs are properly weaned, started on feed, good hay, loose mineral, pasture, vaccinated (CDT) and de-wormed prior to pickup or delivery. They are familer with a Great Pyrenees livestock guardian dog, electric cross-fencing, woven field wire perimeter fencing, sheds for shelter, water trough and pond drinking, trees for shade and turkeys.
Email us for more info: dautobiacres@yahoo.com
Picking up your sheep
A stock trailer works well. A horse trailer (fold down ramp) is a little more difficult unless it has a center gate. If you plan on using a "goat tote" cage in the back of a pickup, you must have some type of bedding (mat, old carpet, straw, hay, etc.) If you are bringing extra large pet carriers/kennels, they must allow the sheep to standup and turn around. We do not load sheep into the passenger compartment of any type vehicle or tie them in the open bed of pickups.
Delivery
Locations that are close to us may be delivered by the farm. The cost is $1.35 per loaded mile, with a $50.00 minimum.
Veterinary Inspection
REMEMBER - any animal with a destination outside the State of Texas legally requires a Certificate of Veterinary Inspection. This is an additional cost to the buyer. Currently the vet charges $45.00 for a scheduled farm call (Tuesdays and Thursdays), $25.00 for the completed certificate and $5.00 for each sheep listed on the certificate. If your state requires specific testing beyond the basic certificate, additional vet charges may apply.
All breeding age sheep are legally required to have a Scrapie premise I.D. ear tag. This tag indicates the sheep/lamb flock of origin for disease tracking purposes. This protects both buyer and seller.
Katadin ewe in winter coat. Katahdins have proven to be adapable from Canada to Mexico. Many hair sheep breeds seem to thrive in our Texas climate. The winter coat is shed naturally (no shearing required) during Spring in preparation of Summer's heat.
Ewe lamb during a brief Texas snow. Our flock has simple sheds to keep them dry and out of the winter wind. Proper winter sheltering of any livestock will reduce hay/feed/supplement costs, not to mention health and productivity.
Katahdins in summer coats enjoying a mixed grass pasture. Free advice - learn to grow grass before you grow livestock and your farming days will be much easier. A pasture rest and rotation plan improves pasture and flock heath. If you have perfect pastures and a great parasite prevention plan, you won't have many issues with your flock.
A few days old Katahdin lamb. We select for polyestrus ewes that twin, have great maternal traits and forage conversion.
The Katahdin sheep is permitted to be any color or combination of colors. Due to its origin as a composite sheep and an ongoing KHSI registry upgrade program, Katahdins are not "cookie cutter" sheep. The goal of the Katahdin breed originator, Michael Piel, was to develope a meat sheep that was extremely practical, easy-care and adaptable. That is why you will find them from Canada to Mexico, white, black, spotted, horned or polled. Your flock can be managed to develope the traits you find most helpful.
A properly raised livestock guardian dog protects your lambs and sheep from predators. Neighbor's dogs are a serious issue in most rural areas - usually more so than coyotes. Even your own pet dogs can chase your sheep to death. You cannot wait and get a livestock guardian dog "later". Livestock guardian dogs are purchased as young pups and raised with your sheep. One of the issues you will have to manage is the playful pup stage - when your puppy plays to rough with lambs and/or sheep. It can be helpful to have two pups from the same litter. It helps to ease the transition to thier new home and gives them a buddy with which to rough house. Later you can seperate them to protect two areas, such as your lambing ewes and the other pasture with your rams, ram lambs and wethers. 
Sheep have a smaller "eco-hoofprint" than large ruminants. They consume a wider variety of forage and are better at converting it to meat. Having a few wethers (castrated male) with your horses or cattle will aid in pasture weed control, heavy brush areas, posion ivy, milk weed, etc.
A simple shed design keeps sheep dry and out of the wind during winter. This drastically reduces hay consumption, offers a place for hay, protien tubs and mineral supplements and keeps your flock more content. If you have raised livestock for any length of time, you know what stress can do - and cold, wet livestock are stressed and will have greater management issues. 
Great pyrenees and other livestock guardian dog breeds (Maremma, Anatolian Shepherd, Komondor, Akbash, Kuvasz, etc.) are necessary for a successful sheep operation. Please remember that other breeds of dogs ( Labs, German shepherds, Border collies), are not livestock guardian dogs ! Work with a breeder that offers livestock guardian dog pups raised with sheep or goats. 
Sheep get along well with other livestock and are typically not the aggressor. They will naturally flock with cattle and horses. Co-species grazing with cattle, horses and/or poultry helps with parasite control. The ability to rest a pasture (no grazing) is also critical. The cost of cross fencing and/or electric fencing is well worth it.
Lambs are adorable and very good at finding trouble to get into.
Katahdin sheep checking out the Midget White tom turkeys. The sheep and turkeys are good pasture companions.
Sheep need protection from predators ! Good fencing keeps predators out and your guard dog inside. A properly trained guardian dog(s) has worked better for us than donkeys. Some people use both. Great Pyrenees, Anatolian Shepherd or a hybrid of both breeds works well. The guardian dog must be raised with sheep and/or goats - not a pet raised in a house and bonded with people. Two dogs work better than one and have your sheepdog spayed or nuetured. Sheep with a properly trained guard dog will be at ease around it. Guard dogs (energetic pups) that have been chasing or playing with the sheep will have sheep avoiding the dog and very nervous around it. Don't let your sheep eat your dogs food - this will creat a bad relationship and have the dog growling and biting to protect its food. Stray dogs, your own pet dogs and coyotes are the predators of sheep in our area. You may also have cougar, bear and wolves depending on your location. 
Protect round bales of hay with "round-pen" or "portable corral" sections. They work much better than cattle panels and are much less hazardous for adult sheep. Cattle panels work fine for small lambs (with small heads that fit through the small squares). If you purchase "horse quality" high protien hay, sheep can utilize more of it and little goes to waste. Coarse, low protien, cow hay will cost more as you will need to feed grain or protien tubs with it.
Dautobi Acres
Hunt County
Celeste, TX 75423
dautobia