The Katahdin is a heavy muscled, medium sized, easy-care meat type sheep.
They exhibit a natural tolerance of climatic extremes and are capable of high performance in areas that vary in geography, temperature, and humidity, as well as feed and forage systems.
Katahdins usually have a docile and quiet disposition - a temperament which contributes to easy handling, so that women and children have no problem moving them around.
The purpose of the breed is to efficiently and economically produce MEAT.
The shedding coat of the Katahdin does not require shearing and is preferably free of permanent wooly fibres. The coat can be any colour from white to brown to spotted. Polled animals are preferred; scurred or horned animals are recorded as such (only ewes can carry horns and rams that are horned cannot be registered).
Katahdin ewes are easy lambers, exhibiting strong maternal instincts with sufficient milk supply to raise twins or triplets. They possess a high potential for arriving at early puberty, for fertility, and for having a high rate of lamb survival.
Small at birth, lambs grow and mature rapidly to an acceptable market weight. Katahdin produces a well-muscled, lean carcass with a mild flavour. Some producers have experienced very little taste variation in the Katahdin meat even at a mature age, therefore maintaining a marketable product past the "lamb" stage.