Carol, we usually band our Katahdins as well as the woolies at about a day of
age. Some are pretty darn small. The smallest Kat boy this year was six pounds.
You might want to invest in new O rings though. They can dry out over time.
Hope this helps. You are very smart about banding the bottle boy to prevent
future problems. We had three bummers this year, two Kat boys and one wool
girl. The friendly boy, Buddy, is staying here. I like having a few tame sheep
for visitors to pet and feed. He will live with the rams when we take them away
from the ewes. Then if we have to separate one out, Buddy can go with him for
company.
I was offered a very nice quad ram lamb a couple years ago but he had been
bottle-raised. No way for us.
Peg Haese in snowy SW Wisconsin USA
PNP Katahdins and commercial wool flock
--- On Wed, 12/24/08, Carol Elkins wrote:
In the 12 years I've raised BB sheep, I've never castrated. But I now
have a bottle baby ram that I would like to castrate so that if I can't bear to
butcher him he can live in the flock without becoming aggressive. I've had a
ring expander and a supply of "O" rings for
years. My question is whether the "O" rings are small enough to castrate our
breed of tiny lamb. Is there anything special I need to
do? Does the rule about castrating between 7-10 days apply to blackbelly sheep?
Carol
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