We raise Katahdin sheep. The predecessors of Katahdins were originally imported in the 1950s by Michael Piel of Piel farm’s in north central Maine from the Caribbean. Fascinated by sheep, he imported African Hair Sheep from St. Croix and began his crossbreeding program to develop an animal with strong maternal traits, quality meat carcass, and hairless. Well it worked!
Katahdin’s are classified as hair sheep. Hair sheep may seem like a misnomer for the fact that they shed their hair every year versus a wool sheep that requires shearing. Katahdins are hardy, parasite tolerant, and produce lean, meaty carcasses. Known for being good mothers; typically having twins sometimes even triplets. They are medium sized and ideal for grass/forage based pasture management systems.