Lorens Longleaf Ranch

At Lorens Longleaf Ranch, in the historical range of the longleaf pine in southern Mississippi, we raise Katahdin sheep and lamb on pasture. The Katahdin is a hair-sheep breed, good for meat, that does not grow wool, or naturally sheds any wool it grows during the winter without any need for shearing. During summer, the primary forage the sheep eat is bahiagrass with the occasional planting of summer annuals like millet or soybeans for additional forage. In the fall we plant forage oats and ryegrass for winter and spring grazing. During winter we supplement with hay when needed. Year-round we supplement with "All Natural Protein Livestock Supplement", a molasses based lick-tub, to facilitate the health and activity of the sheep's rumen. No antibiotics are fed to our sheep. Ewes lamb during late February, March and early April in the pasture. Lambs are raised on pasture and are ready for market in mid summer through fall. Some lambs we market during this time, others we continue to grow, on pasture forage, to a greater weight and sell as yearling sheep. We have found that the Katahdin breed has a tender, flavorful taste at all ages. Even 3 and 4 year old sheep we have culled, have been tender and not had a "mutton taste". We sell three classes of sheep for the freezer market: lamb (less than 12 months age), yearlings (12 to 24 months age), and older cull sheep. When you buy lamb or yearling sheep from us for your freezer, as a service to you, we take your sheep to the Stevens Packing plant for processing. You pay for the processing when you pick up the frozen, packaged meat about a week later at Stevens. We take batches of sheep to sell at the Southeast Mississippi Livestock auction in Hattiesburg, Mississippi. At this time we do not sell live sheep directly from the ranch.