# Are my White Dorpers REALLY White Dorpers?



## rockdoveranch (Jun 13, 2011)

We bought our White Dorper ewes a year ago this month.

They are registered Pure Breed, but I am not so sure they both are pure breed White Dorpers.  

This first one I think is a Pure Breed.  She is shedding her wool.  I can grab a hand full of it and it comes right out.  She was born 1-23-2010.







This one, I am not so sure of.  She appears to be shedding a little on her belly, but other than that, she has not shedded at all and we have been having "summer" heat for months.  I can grab a hand full of her wool and it does not come out at all.  She was born 2-21-10.

They both have a little cream color on them, but not much at all.

Sorry, they are both a bit dirty.  We are in a terrible drought and their over night pasture has a lot of bare dirt on it.

What do you think, are these gals White Dorper?






I had to include this picture.  This baby belongs to the ewe in the second picture.  The other ewe did not take.


----------



## SDGsoap&dairy (Jun 14, 2011)

Can't help with your question, but the ewe drinking from the bird bath sure is a nice looking animal!


----------



## carolinagirl (Jun 14, 2011)

Here's a link to the breed standard....  http://www.bwswhitedorper.com.au/dorper-breed-standards.html

I do know that in most breeds of hair sheep, you will find individuals who have a lot of non-shedding wool, which is a serious fault.  It doesn't necessarly mean the animal is not pure bred, but it's a fault all the same.  The head, belly and legs are clean so it does look like a hair sheep to me and not crossed with a wool sheep, but the non shedding wool may need to be shorn.  I was also told that some lambs retain their curly wool into young adult hood so maybe that second one is just hanging onto some of it's lamb's wool.  I think I'd try to shear it.  If it does not shed naturally next spring, cull it.


----------



## redtailgal (Jun 14, 2011)

.


----------



## carolinagirl (Jun 14, 2011)

redtailgal said:
			
		

> OK so I'm gonna sound like a total dork for saying this but
> 
> WOW I had no idea that an undocked sheep's tail was that long! I had always figured it was goatie sized.
> 
> Smithurmond is right, she is very pretty. And I'm no help either.


That long tail is cute, isn't it?


----------



## redtailgal (Jun 14, 2011)

.


----------



## rockdoveranch (Jun 14, 2011)

Thanks for the link carolinagirl.   

And thanks to all about our little ewe lamb.  She was born 4-15-11.  She is bigger and stockier than the barbados born less than a week later.  She has longish hair at the end of her tail which is really cool looking.

I have done a lot of reading on docking and I decided the tail is there to protect the pooper and the vulva, so I left it long.  Hopefully I will not be kicking myself down the road.


----------



## carolinagirl (Jun 14, 2011)

There is a huge difference in the body structure of these commercial breeds of sheep as compared to the more wild breed, isn't there?  My Katahdin ewe lambs are probably twice the weight of the barbados blackbelly lambs that are the same age.  And my 4 month old katahdin ram is very close to the same size as my adult blackbelly ewe!

But here's the way I am looking at it.  I raised goats for years.  I had Spanish meat goats (as close to wild as you can get), Nubians and boers over the years.  The more commercial the breed was, the harder it was to keep them alive.  Those spanish goats needed almost no care.  No deworming, no supplemental feed.  They were not meaty (as compared to boer goats) but they were much easier to raise.  So take those comparison and look at how it applies to our sheep.  The dorper and katahdin sheep are thick and meaty. But they will need more frequent worming and more supplemental feed than the hardy scrappy little barbados sheep.  So it's kind of a trade off.  Trade hardiness for meat/milk production.  I am hoping I can cross my blackbelly ram on a one of the katahdin ewes this fall.  What I am hoping for is a lamb that will grow faster than the blackbelly parent, but also be hardier than the katahdin parent.


----------



## rockdoveranch (Jun 16, 2011)

Our barbado/dorper mix ram lamb . . . now wether . . . born 1-1-2011 is bigger than his mom now, although she is on the small side.

I have decided he will go in the freezer!


----------



## aggieterpkatie (Jun 16, 2011)

I thought I replied to this but I guess I didn't!    My guess is they're Dorpers but that second ewe just may be a poor shedder. Her ewe lamb is very nice!


----------



## rockdoveranch (Jun 16, 2011)

Thanks for the reply Aggie.  

I just read through my OP again, and see that I posted the wrong info about who the mom of the ewe lamb is.  Her mom is the ewe that is shedding.

Sorry about that.

Seems that my fingers do not always type out what is going through my mine while typing.  

The ewe with the long wool did not take.  Her vulva is getting pinker now, but she shows not signs of bagging out.


----------



## Beekissed (Jun 16, 2011)

I found my St. Croix/Kats to not need any commercial deworming and not very frequent natural deworming.  I also found they seriously do not need supplemental feeding...mine stayed fat on just grass and hay.  I can't imagine if I had fed them grain supplements.

The farmer from whence I bought them said he tried grain supplements for his hair herd the first year or so because he had always needed them for his woolly breeds but found the hairs did not do well with additional grain supplements and stayed much healthier and sleek on just grass and hay.  

Maybe where you live the environment is more prone to parasite growth than mine?  

I've read that not all Dorpers are successful at losing their wool and this is an undesirable trait~most will just shear this excess.  

There for awhile ranchers were using Dorper rams to breed the wool off their woolly breeds but soon found that Dorpers weren't always successful for this....but the Katahdin rams did a great job and still delivered the large meat carcasses.


----------



## ShadyAcres (Jun 17, 2011)

Your ewe *does* look like a White Dorper to me.  The Dorper coat is actually a blend of hair and wool.  Sometimes you will get one that does not shed well at all.  Sometimes, one that doesnt shed well  if sheared  will shed better the next year.  Sometimes one will not shed well their first year, but will shed better her second year.


----------



## farmchick (Jun 19, 2011)

redtailgal said:
			
		

> OK so I'm gonna sound like a total dork for saying this but
> 
> WOW I had no idea that an undocked sheep's tail was that long! I had always figured it was goatie sized.
> 
> Smithurmond is right, she is very pretty. And I'm no help either.


DIDDO!


----------



## rockdoveranch (Jun 19, 2011)

Thanks for posting everyone.

We have discovered we have a Dorper breeder not too terribly far from us and in our county.  He has the Black Heads.  He said Texas A & M students come out to learn hands-on about sheep on his ranch.  He said we could come by and talk sheep, so we will plan on going to his ranch in the next week or so with pictures in hand.

We are not interested in the Black Heads, but this guy is very expensive, asking $450 for ram lambs.  YIKES!

Our little white lamb is very cute.  She comes up to smell me and investigate while I am feeding our bottle baby.


----------



## Hillsvale (Aug 11, 2011)

my katahdin ewes shed no problem this year, my dorper/katahdin lambs from the ewes (born April 7th and 12th) have not shed and they have coats to your fuzzy baby. My katahdin ram lamb born beginnis of February is not quite as hairy as my or your lambs but he hasn't shed wither... perhaps they just need a bit of time to figure this stuff out! 

We don't dock tails, clip eye teeth (piglets) or anything.... if they did well in the wild who am I to say its necessary... and they are extra cute!


----------



## manybirds (Aug 11, 2011)

rockdoveranch said:
			
		

> We bought our White Dorper ewes a year ago this month.
> 
> They are registered Pure Breed, but I am not so sure they both are pure breed White Dorpers.
> 
> ...


We just got our sheep a couple of weeks ago so i don't know to much about breed specifics but it looks like all the white dorpers i've seen.


----------

