How many are currently raising hair breeds of sheep?

[soarwitheagles]

Yup. You have Dorpers. I have 4 ewes that are Dorper crossed with Katahdin and they are all splotchy, the colors go crazy when they are cross bred. I want a good Dorper ram for them. They were bred to a Katahdin ram and so far I have 4 lambs.

Is it possible our Dorpers are cross bred or do they appear full Dorpers? Special note: I purchased these two Dorper lambs at a local auction for only $65 each. They eat like 10 times more than the American Blackbelly's and grow much faster too. I was thinking maybe breed them if they are full bred Dorpers...

I had a sheep one time that looked just like that. They called her a Dorper - I called her delicious!

LOL! Well, it sounds as if you raised your Dorper solely for the purpose of meat?

 

[n8ivetxn]

I'm not an expert on Dorpers, but they look crossbred - I say that because of the mottled/broken black hood. I think the purebreds have a solid black hood. Maybe ;-)

Other than that one thing, I'm not sure. Baymule seems to agree with that reasoning... That's a good price, $65 each.

 

[Baymule]

I believe you might have Dorpers, not crossbreds. Their head colors can get a little off, the show quality are white with black heads. There are also white Dorpers, without the black heads. You might want to do some study on the Dorpers @soarwitheagles as they are a premier meat breed. They can thrive on grass and browse. I give about a cup of feed a day to my 4 ewes and free choice hay. I give them the feed because it is so much fun to hear them calling for me, wanting their treat.

A good Dorper has a butt on them like a ham on a hog. Gotta see it to believe it. While mine are half Dorper and half Katahdin, and their lamb are 3/4 Katahdin, I will be buying a pure bred, if not registered Dorper, ram. I studied goats and sheep, read forums, (this one is the best) and finally settled on sheep. Then I studied sheep breeds. I wanted to help save a heritage breed, but none of them really suited what I wanted to do. I chose Dorpers, it was a close one with Katahdins, because they are very meaty and can thrive on pasture and browse. Katahdins can too, but those Dorper butts!!!

As far as heritage breeds go, I would choose Cotswold. Just a few for the fun of all those lovely long locks of soft wool. Then i would have to learn to shear, then I would have to learn how to clean and spin the wool. Then I would have to learn how to knit, crochet....... you see where this is going, don't you?

Count your lucky stars, you got a great deal on the Dorpers and if ewes, yes I would definitely keep them and breed them.

 

[Baymule]

Here are a couple of my splotchy girls and their lambs.
This is Miranda Lambert.

This is Sheepalicious.

and this is Sheepalicious ewe lamb.

I will keep the ewe lambs and wether the rams, to be sold as finished lambs for meat.

 

[soarwitheagles]

I believe you might have Dorpers, not crossbreds. Their head colors can get a little off, the show quality are white with black heads. There are also white Dorpers, without the black heads. You might want to do some study on the Dorpers @soarwitheagles as they are a premier meat breed. They can thrive on grass and browse. I give about a cup of feed a day to my 4 ewes and free choice hay. I give them the feed because it is so much fun to hear them calling for me, wanting their treat.

A good Dorper has a butt on them like a ham on a hog. Gotta see it to believe it. While mine are half Dorper and half Katahdin, and their lamb are 3/4 Katahdin, I will be buying a pure bred, if not registered Dorper, ram. I studied goats and sheep, read forums, (this one is the best) and finally settled on sheep. Then I studied sheep breeds. I wanted to help save a heritage breed, but none of them really suited what I wanted to do. I chose Dorpers, it was a close one with Katahdins, because they are very meaty and can thrive on pasture and browse. Katahdins can too, but those Dorper butts!!!

As far as heritage breeds go, I would choose Cotswold. Just a few for the fun of all those lovely long locks of soft wool. Then i would have to learn to shear, then I would have to learn how to clean and spin the wool. Then I would have to learn how to knit, crochet....... you see where this is going, don't you?

Count your lucky stars, you got a great deal on the Dorpers and if ewes, yes I would definitely keep them and breed them.

Here are a couple of my splotchy girls and their lambs.
This is Miranda Lambert.
View attachment 13462

This is Sheepalicious.

View attachment 13463

and this is Sheepalicious ewe lamb.

View attachment 13464


I will keep the ewe lambs and wether the rams, to be sold as finished lambs for meat.

Baymule,,

Thank you for sharing! Beautiful sheep you have there. Are your sheep in the picture the half Dorper and half Katahdin? That is amazing how the colors vary so much and I was wondering how that can happen.

I really like our American Blackbelly sheep, but when I saw how fast the Dorper's are growing, I began to think maybe we could have two flocks...one of the Dorpers, one of the American Blackbelly sheep. I am intrigued that each of these breeds can browse and graze. We were hoping to find sheep that would "mow the lawns" [fields] and clean up our back eucalyptus forest and provide some lamb roast every so often. It appears as if these two breeds may be able to get the job done.

I hear you on the big butts on the Dorpers.

I think we will wait until these Dorpers become 9 months old, then ask a local rancher to if we can "borrow" one of his Dorper rams to get the ball rolling...

I found excellent information and a long, long list of Dorper breeders at this website:

http://www.dorper.org/find.html

Discovered we we have several Dorper breeders within a couple of miles of our location!

That is good news!

Good luck on your sheep Baymule!

Soar

 

[Baymule]

Good luck with your sheep too. These 4 ewes are my first, so I have a learning curve.

 

[thqueensblessing]

We have Dorpers and Katahdins. Our ewes are commercial right now and our rams are registered. We're working our way up to quality registered stock.

 

[soarwitheagles]

Beautiful sheep there queensblessing! And welcome to BYH!

Good luck on your endeavor to raise quality registered stock. Wish you success!

Soar