Buying Dorper sheep

[southernstardowns]

What are some important, good questions I should ask sellers when looking for sheep to purchase? What is the difference between the GR and RR factor? What is the important facts and nuances I need to know about Dorper sheep? Thanks in advance for everyone's help!

 

[boykin2010]

Hi, Nice to see someone else from Ga! Well, I have never of GR. There is however a QQ,QR,and RR when referring to a sheeps resistant to scrapie. Scrapie is a very serious disease in sheep that can ruin flocks. IT is like the mad cows disease in sheep. Thankfully there have never been any reported cases in America of a scrapie outbreak. So you should be good buying sheep from anyone. Many people buying breeder stock prefer to buy only QR and RR just to be on the safe side. I have Katahdins and all mine are either QR or RR. QQ is the lowest resistant to scrapie there is. QR is the next highest. RR is the highest resistance. Those letters are their "codon" and this comes from genetics. Like when you breed a RR and QR together you will get 50/50. Breed RR to RR and you will get 100% RR lambs. Sometimes you may have to get the lambs tested to find out their codons.

Some important questions to ask:
1. How old they are
2. Any potential health problems you should know about
3. Production records of the sheep. Most good sheep owners will keep records including how many lambs the ewe has had, vaccinations, hoof trims, DOB, parents, Lineage etc.
4. codon (QQ, QR, or RR)
5. Percentage Dorper ( I dont know if you are buying percentages or full bloods)
6. If registered

Thats all I can think of right now. If i think of anything else let me know.

I do not know much about the dorper breed in particular but they are pretty much like Katahdins. Easy keepers, good mothers, produce good meaty lambs. Sometimes they shed their wool like a good hair sheep and sometimes they keep a little hair on their back. There are many dorper raisers on this forum. Maybe they will chime in

 

[RemudaOne]

Dont know how old the sheep you're buying are but if they are adults, I'd look at feet....I don't want to have to trim feet. Make sure that none of them are growing in a weird way. Ask about worming practices. I like sheep I don't have to worm. I've only ever wormed mine once when I first got them because someone said "you should worm them"

DONT overfeed. My first lambing ever was my worst by far. The lamb was HUGE, I overfed. Took hubby and I hours to birth that lamb. Thank God both lamb and ewe made it. These sheep can get fat on air. In the morning, I give them six handfuls of pellets for 14 sheep.... They graze in the morning and sparsely during the heat, then when I bring them in they get a little bit of alfalfa and graze in the overnight paddock till they go down for the night. Our pastures are already fried and there's not much out there but they are holding their weight. I didn't notice where you are if you mentioned it, but they will eat cedar, mesquite and flame leaf sumac. Mine have even been nibbling nightshade. Sooooo, don't overfeed.

Are you buying to sell at market or to sell breeding stock or show lambs? I bought my original flock with just the thought that all lambs would go to market.....Easy peasy, no muss, no fuss but have now sold about half of my original flock including my ram and purchased some registered stock. If you've not had sheep before, I'd start small and grow from there after you get your feet wet and see if you like it.

I would stay away from the livestock sale barns (to purchase). There are some annual breeder sales that would be safer bets.

Plan on having some GOOD protection for your flock. From predators, I mean. That's really all I can think of right now

 

[EllieMay]

Excellent advice here.

I recently acquired some registered Katahdin ewe lambs and I asked all the questions above.

All of the ewe lambs are at least QR and I will be getting a ram that will be RR (still waiting for test results).
Just to be on the safe side, you want QR+.
I was told of a farmer who had a lamb test positive for scrapie and he had to destroy his entire flock, burn the carcasses and dispose of all the pastured top soil on his property.

I also chose lambs that had a good 60-day weight gain.
I was happy to also get a few lambs that were twins or triplets.

When the breeder delivered the lambs, we checked the hooves of all the lambs and trimmed any that needed.
He mostly did this to teach me how to do it since none of them really needed trimming.

Enjoy your Dorpers!
Are you getting the black faced or white faced??
I think the black faced Dorpers are absolutely gorgeous!

 

[kfacres]

Excellent advice here.

All of the ewe lambs are at least QR and I will be getting a ram that will be RR (still waiting for test results).
Just to be on the safe side, you want QR+.
I was told of a farmer who had a lamb test positive for scrapie and he had to destroy his entire flock, burn the carcasses and dispose of all the pastured top soil on his property.!

You were told wrong-

Yes, if you get a sheep tested positive-- then they come in a test your entire flock-- all QQ's and all offspring of the positive one- get sent to slaughter and be checked. (this was in the beginning).

Then the Feds ran out of money- and started doing the 3rd Eyelid test on the QQ's. Any that test positive for that- go to slaughter.

The Feds are out of money, and do not care anymore about Scrapie. There has never been a case of scrapie reported in a LONG time, if ever.. There have been some test positive- but none were ever diagnosed with it.

Anymore, it's a marketing scheme-- and quite honestly always has been.

There is a 'new' strain of scrapie-- called Norway 98... in it-- the QQ sheep are resistant, and the RR are suseptable... So, what-- breed QR"s now?

The only carcass burning that happened was with Foot and Mouth in Europe-- they have never burned anything in the USA-- always they went to slaughter..

The destroyed topsoil-- well-- I'll just laugh.

This information comes first hand- from someone who's dealt with the Feds TWICE directly. I sent a positive ewe to market once at a farm I was sheperd at.. and the other time was a positive ewe someone else had sent to market-- that I had owned...

With all of that in mind-- 60% of my current day brood ewe flock is QQ, and I am breeding with QQ rams some. That's how much importance it plays into my flock-- and how much importance I view it being to the industry. The only reason to breed RR sheep- is if you are selling stud rams-- and even then-- if the bucks are good enough, I can sell QR's. In most breeds, I can walk into a pen of sheep and pick out the QQs from the RRs.. WHy? The QQ's are the tremenous quality lambs in the KILL pen, and the RR's are the average to poor quality ones in the keeper pens.

Not one single factor IMO has destroyed the elite bloodlines more so, and propigated the poor quality ones-- than codon 171.

 

[EllieMay]

WOW!

Thank you so much for this info!

It sure takes the "fear" out of the situation.

I'm really enjoying keeping sheep!!!

 

[kfacres]

WOW!

Thank you so much for this info!

It sure takes the "fear" out of the situation.

I'm really enjoying keeping sheep!!!

My first run in-- we kept every ewe on the place-- even the QQ's and the goats (which normally go regardless)

In the second case, we lost the QQ's, but none of them came back positive.

 

[SheepGirl]

This is a great resource, regardless of what breed you decide to raise.

 

[boykin2010]

This is a great resource, regardless of what breed you decide to raise.

Great Link! I will be keeping that one for the future. You also cant go wrong with Sheep 101. It helped me a lot when I was first starting out

 

[southernstardowns]

Thanks for everyone's input. Whenever one endeavors to acquire a new type and breed of animal it is confusing and overwhelming. The advice and information is invaluable! I do at least have the LGD's covered and I do plan to start small and grow to be sure it is going to work out. There is nothing that stinks more than dumping money into animals that you have to go to slaughter. We would like to start with a few Ewes and a Ram and let them give lambs and see what happens. Thank you again and all of the advice and tips helps tremendously!