Silver Creek Farm in Bovina is best known as an equestrian facility where people board and ride their horses.

But the farm played host Friday and Saturday to a different breed of animal. The South Central Katahdin Association, a 13-state organization of owners of Katahdin sheep, were at the farm to show their animals and do some buying and selling.

According to the association’s website, the Katahdin breed was developed in the United States at the Piel Farm in north central Maine by farm owner Michael Piel, who crossbred several breeds of sheep until he developed a goal of a “meat sheep that did not require shearing.”

He called them Katahdin sheep after Mount Katahdin, the highest peak in Maine. The Katahdin Hair Sheep International was incorporated in 1985, and by 2008, the organization had registered more than 75,000 sheep in North America with more than 500 members.

The Katahdin breed of sheep, said South Central Association president Darrell Adams of Singer, Louisiana, “Is kind of an all-purpose sheep. It’s a meat sheep. It’s just an all-around good sheep. People can start with this sheep; they’re real easy to take care of, and they’re nice to have around.”

Adams, who has 40 head of sheep, has been raising Katahdin sheep for about 12 years.

“I was looking for something to take car of my property, and somebody suggested this, and we got into it,” he said. “My granddaughter won the first one in an essay, and we’ve just moved on from there. They can handle any kind of climate.”

Adams said the South Central Association meets once a year. “We try to have a little meeting, we have speakers for education and just try to have a good time.”

He said Silver Creek was selected because it was centrally located in the region. The gathering at the farm was a “private treaty sale. It’s just kind of like between you and the seller. There’s a lot of people meeting and talking and just having a good time,” he said.