What is the best hair sheep for meat?

[Bossroo]

Without a dought the DORPER ... anything else and it will cost you more money to raise in this day and age. Google Dorper, Dorpers for Sale, etc. and you will get a very good idea of what I mean. Proportionally they produce more meat per animal than the other types on less feed. As for wool... it will cost you more to shear than what the wool is worth. Docking is much more adventagous especially for preventing fly strike as maggots will infest the dirty back end regions and start to eat the lamb's flesh causing extream pain. Treatment is costly and labor extensive. I have raised hundreds of lambs so I just may have an inkling as to what to raise efficiently to make a profit.

 

[Baymule]

Thanks to @Bossroo 's input when I asked the same question, I will be getting Dorpers. I have located several breeders close enough to me to go pick them up. We still have to finish working on the house (want it done BEFORE we move in LOL) and put up fence, but it will be Dorpers.

 

[Southern by choice]

Our goal, once we are on more land with actual pasture will be to have some meat sheep. My first choice would be the Dorper or I would get some of @SheepGirl sheep. BUT, there again, our region and dorpers do not do well. It is very much like the Boer goats and the Kiko goats. People spend a fortune trying to keep their Boers alive here, they drop dead like flies. West of the Mississippi they do fine though. Boers here have to be grain fed and alot of it. Eating off the land and they are riddled with parasites. Big fast growth rate but lots of money spent on them. The kiko does great here... wet marshy, they don't have the same issues. High wean weights without constant graining. Kathdins have faired better in our region and get to good wean weights and market weights easily.
KNOW your region and what does well or it is just money down the drain.

 

[FarmersDigest]

You said you were relocating to an established farm in Oregon? Or was it another state? Either way, I'm pretty sure it was out West. Shearing is talked up to be a big management task by the hair sheep promoters. Honestly, it really isn't (except for maybe the shearer! ) Out West there are the huge range flocks and there tends to be plenty of shearers to shear these large flocks. Finding shearers in the East is more problematic, though I'm happy my gypsy shearer has her home about 20-30 minutes from my farm. She travels all over the US, mainly the northern East coast to the northern mid West.

All I do is the night before shearing day I pen the ewes up. The morning of shearing I help the shearer set up (just plugging clippers into extension cords), and I hand her sheep one by one. After she's done, I'm able to check over each sheep individually for hoof trimming, weight, their udder, parasite issues, etc. Those management tasks would've been done once a year anyway, might as well do them while they're being sheared. For my shearer to shear my sheep it takes about an hour or two (I have a small flock; last year she sheared 7 and this year she'll be shearing 10-11). With small flocks I've noticed she takes her time, but with the larger flocks I'm sure she goes faster. She's competed in global shearing competitions, which of course measure speed as well as skill.

There is a very narrow breed selection for hair sheep--don't forgo other breeds just because they have wool. Their ease of care as well as their productivity level may be what you desire. Check out my Sheep Breed Selector (link in my signature I believe) and tell us what you come up with.

Yes, Oregon. So how much do you have to pay? That doesn't sound too bad!

It said Barbados Blackbelly 100% That was the breed I was thinking I really want! Thank you for sharing this with all of us! This thing was awesome! Thank you!

 

[FarmersDigest]

What SheepGirl said is so TRUE.

Shearers are pretty easy to come by. The people I use do most of the Pacific Northwest and do everything from thousands to two. I do a bit more work during shearing but I have 50 sheep. My guys generally bring a crew of 6-8 and do 85 % of the work.

In Oregon there is also a large fiber artist community.

This site provides a ton of information for contacts in the sheep industry. Shearers, Wool Pools and Mills, and even locations for custon processing for wool.

It also has meat processing contacts. Something to think about since your husband is a butcher.
http://www.sheepusa.org/Contacts_IndustryContacts

How much do you pay to have your sheep sheered, I hope you guys don't mind me asking!

Wow this website is amazing, thank you!

 

[Sweetened]

Barbados are a warmer climate breed, aren't they? I know there's a few people who raise them in the frigid cold here, but the management required is overwhelming. I loooove how they look, but make sure you get some that are acclimated to your area and know how they are raised (heated, not, grain, not). They are a leaner sheep as well, won't produce as much meat as a dorper or katahdin I don't think.

 

[FarmersDigest]

As far as your other questions I forgot to answer...

Tail docking -- Most hair sheep don't need to be docked. However many Dorper breeds dock the tails. The large majority of wool sheep breeds should dock lamb tails for the health of the animal. Rat tail breeds generally do not have this issue. I dock lambs as newborns up to a week old. The sooner the better though.

Grain -- Yes I feed grain to my flock. Flushing, 17 days pre-breeding and 17 days into the breeding season. I didn't flush this year so I'm interested to see my lambing rate and if it changes. I also feed ewes 30 days pre lambing and for 58 days of lactation. The last two days the ewes have no grain and with the grain they have, I decrease the amount by a 1/4 lb every two days until 58 days they get nothing. Lambs get grain at finishing, if I decide to feed them grain.

Wahoo, thank you for the help with this as well. I will have to read this over and over.

 

[FarmersDigest]

Tonne of good information from Sheepgirl! Finding a sheerer here is so hard as of late -- the only guys who do it are the meat sellers and they wont do it for anyone else, just themselves. Last I looked, the nearest guy was 500 km away from me and didn't travel half that. I do like a good looking wooly, but decided against it. Some people cross katahdin or dorper into wool to help shed out in the spring rather than needing to sheer, but from my understanding that's hit and miss?

We kill, gut and skin here and then take down to a butcher (Who's extremely pricy, but very good). Lamb and goat may be different, ultimately, if we could watch someone do the cuts once or twice, we're just not equipped for full butchering (we do everything with a fillet knife). I also keep the hides of my animals (Have like... 40 to do next year), so it's important to me to do the skinning so the only person to blame for a bad hide is myself. Dorper's are apparently well liked for their thick hides.

Yeah, I have read that it's a hit and miss!

That's awesome! Not many people do that here. They usually pay a mobile butcher unit, which my DH did that for 1yr too. Or there is the emergency cow got out, and farmer had to take care of the problem. So they bring them in not gutted or anything. I want to do the hides. I have only done rabbit, and 1 deer hide. So I know I would be in over my head. That's so awesome you do your own hides.

 

[FarmersDigest]

Barbados are a warmer climate breed, aren't they? I know there's a few people who raise them in the frigid cold here, but the management required is overwhelming. I loooove how they look, but make sure you get some that are acclimated to your area and know how they are raised (heated, not, grain, not). They are a leaner sheep as well, won't produce as much meat as a dorper or katahdin I don't think.

Oh really? Yeah meat is what DH and I want. I liked the katahdin too. You like the dorper? I know everyone has their own opinion, but I would like to hear everyone's! Well the ones that want to share.

 

[Sweetened]

Im impartial. I got the pure dorper ram because i traded for him and im all about trading. Other than that my girls are crossed dorper/katahdin and one is dorper/katahdin/romanov.

Our girls, i dont have a picture of our ram, Aries.

Libra was a triplet. She is haired like a katahdin

Gemini (left) was a twin. Has a wool coat like a dorper but with long hairs amidst the wool.

Nova (the lamb, of course) was a single, has wool like the dorper, i have a feeling she wont shed well, but that she wont grow long wool, and will shed more like a dog. Its just a guess though.

They have tripled in size easily.