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Dorpers and the Drought
When we started the sheep business in January 2005 we tried to get Dorpers but they are hard to find. We got Romanov-Dorset cross and Rambouillet-Dorset cross out of Nebraska and were supposed to get 1/2 and 3/4 Dorpers from a dealer here in Texas. It turns out we got Barbados, Texas natives, Katahdins and everything else but. We bought some really good full blood rams and bred our mixture to them. It's the second crop now and we have some really good 1/2, 3/4 and 7/8 ewe lambs. Meantime we went to San Angelo and bought some grade 4 & 5 Full bloods from Martha Howell and are raising our own top rams. As the pasture gets short and the lambs grow, all of the Dorpers and their lambs are getting fat and growing well.
ALL of the other sheep are losing weight and we have to supplement their feed. Grazing on the same field in the same flock, the Dorpers flourish and the others lose weight. I don't know how much less it costs to feed a Dorper but as fast we can we are getting rid of the Hard Keepers and getting all Dorpers. Even the 1/2 blood Dorpers stay fat. We found out the hard way that Dorpers convert feed better.
The breed was developed in South Africa in the 1930's by crossing Blackhead Persian ewes with a Dorset Horn ram. They were bred to produce a high quality carcass under extensive conditions. The Blackhead Persian was selected for its non-selective grazing, coat shedding, hardiness and good mothering abilities. The Dorset Horn was selected for its rapid growth rates and carcass attributes.
The Breeding program resulted in the development of the black headed and white headed Dorper. Successive Dorper breeding has shown it to be a fixed breed type, giving a reliable reproduction of features and characteristics. It is now numerically the second to largest sheep breed in South Africa.
The breed was introduced into Australia in 1996 and has the potential to be developed for domestic and export meat markets.
The animal is characteristically barrel shaped with short,
dullish black or white hair on the head. A short, loose light covering of hair
and wool (wool predominating on the forequarter) with a natural clean kemp
underline, is a typical breed standard.
An even distribution of a thin layer
of fat compliments the breed.
The Dorper sheds its fleece avoiding the need for mustering for shearing, crutching and fly control.
There is little difference between blackheaded and whiteheaded Dorpers - the choice is a matter of target market preference.
- Economical
The Dorper are an economical breed because of their excellent feed utilization and conversion, they don't need shearing, crutching and mulesing, and they are disease resistant
- Meat production:
Purebred Dorper rams reach a liveweight of 90-120 kg and ewes
50-80kg. The Dorper carcass has a good conformation and fat
distribution.
Trials and producer experience in Australia indicate that it
should be possible to breed Dorper-Merino F1 lambs with a bodyweight of 36kg at
105-120 days, to produce a carcass of about 16kg.
- Adaptable:
The Dorper is now well adapted in South Africa to a variety of climatic and conditions. It thrives in arid to semi-tropical areas and 100mm-760mm rainfall.
- Hardy
The Dorpers have the ability to thrive in harsh conditions. They were developed to be turned off quickly from arid, extensive grazing conditions in South Africa and have the potential to be produced successfully in a wide range of climatic conditions in Australia.
- Fertile
The Dorper is one of the most fertile of the sheep breeds, with
potential lambing intervals of only 8 months. Lambing percentages in excess of
150% (2.25 lambs per annum) is feasible and 200% is possible for most
areas.
Short lambing intervals have various advantages,
of which greater selection possibilities and the sale of larger numbers of lambs
are the most important.
- Good mothering qualities
The Dorper ewe is a very good mother and
protective of her young. Multiple births are common, with some instances of
triplets recorded. Lambs are extremely mobile at birth and survival rates are
high.
The Dorper ewe produces a large quantity of milk, aiding lamb survival
and early growth.
- Good grazing habits
They are non-selective grazers. Experience so far suggests that
Dorpers can adapt to most grazing conditions. There is evidence that they prefer
fibre to grains and they respond well to good quality hay.
Purebred lambs
will start to graze in the first few days after birth. F1 lambs after about two
weeks.
The Dorper can be advantageously incorporated into under-utilized
pastures of lesser quality, thus converting a poor asset into profit.
- Continuous breeding season
The Dorper is polyoestrus (can breed continually, with no defined season). Their breeding intervals can be as short as 8 months or 3 times in 2 years. Running rams with ewes continuously is one option that may stimulate reproduction, however it is also likely that ewes will adjust their fertility according to conditions.
- Fast growing
Dorper lambs have an inherent growth potential (ability to graze
at an early age) They grow rapidly and can attain a high weaning
weight.
Dorpers respond well to increased planes of nutrition, giving growers
the potential to increase weights rapidly in response to market
demands.
Markets can be developed in four key areas:
Dorper's fast growth rates allow for early marketing, with the potential to fill market supply shortfalls.