Canadian Katahdin Sheep Society (CKSS)

History: Formed from the Canadian Katahdin Sheep Association (CKSA) who was previously the governing Katahdin Breed Association and Registry, the newly formed CKSS is actively working towards addressing the needs of the breed. The CKSS now has a supporting role to the breeders as registration is now handled entirely by the CLRC as Katahdin owners/breeders are members of the CSBA.

Current Status of the CKSS Board July 2018: The board members have been updated and as you can see not all provinces are covered. We keep in touch by email and texting as like most people these days, we are very busy. If you are interested in being on this board, we would love to hear from you.

Who is a member of the CKSS? Anyone that is current in their membership with CSBA and owns registered Katahdins.

What is being done at present: We are addressing the needs for coat grading and being able to coat grade your or others Katahdins. We could consider breed promotion at a show or fair if you are willing to display some Katahdins. We try and keep members informed with a newsletter that outlines changes or information on this breed. If you have any ideas, please let us know. We would love to hear from you! Especially if you are aware of other provincial mandates for ID and or have suggestions for promoting our Katahdins!

Katahdin Sheep Breed Description

The Katahdin breed was developed in the USA by Michael Piel, resulting from a cross breeding program that included hair sheep from the Caribbean and various British breeds. His goal was to combine the shedding coat, prolificacy and the hardiness of the Virgin Island sheep, with the meat, conformation and rate of growth of the wooled breeds. Later, Wiltshire Horned Sheep, another shedding breed from England was incorporated into the flock in order to add size, and improve carcass quality even further.

The mature Katahdin is medium sized, heavy muscled, low maintenance breed of sheep having an excellent adaptability to climatic variations and management conditions. The winter coat of the Katahdin provides a good thick cover for northern winters but by shedding in the spring eliminates the need to shear. Naturally prolific, Katahdin ewes exhibit strong maternal instincts, lambing unassisted with sufficient milk for multiple births. The lambs are noted for their vigorous arrival and survivability. They are early maturing, long seasonal breeders, often used in cross breeding programs or as a terminal sire. The meat of the Katahdin is lean with a mild flavour.