In the hayday of the US market lamb industry... it was based on Ramboulett ewe bred to Suffolk ram. The Hampshire ram was also very popular, however, due to it's wide shoulder structure many ewes had difficulty in giving birth , so assistance was often required so many breeders turned to the Suffolk. Followed by the Corriedale ewe bred to Suffolk ram. I used of own hundreds of these ewes bred to Suffolk ram for a very nice market lamb. In today's marketplace , your sister would be very well served with this cross. However, there is a new kid on the block, that is the Dorper ram ( google Dorper sheep to get the full story of the breed ) which in todays' sales marketplace, as well as meat taste competitions compete very favorably and often outperform the Suffolk .
WOW...I would of never been able to explain it that well.
Have to agree with the "breeding backwards" by using a barbados. Their biggest plus is they are a hair breed. The dorper would be the best for just getting more meat and the lambs are not supposed to be that big at birth. The suffolks today are being bred to be too lean and streamlined in my opinion. Everyone is into this lean thing. We used to have some hamps, and the old style horned dorsets which weren't real big and tall, but had a good amount of meat on the compact body. One of the reasons we went with the texas dalls, we liked the horns and neither one of us is a big lamb eater. They are also very good mothers, and not like the "typical sheep" that is looking for a way to die when they are born. But they are a semi wild breed of sheep and not for the small homesteader type that wants a few sheep on their farm. The ewes can be fairly friendly, but most are not and the rams can hurt you when being handled.
