I always thought the Dorper was a terminal breed,
Dorper sheep
- Thread starter pgkane
- Start date
- Location
- Dumfries & Galloway
Meat breed but im not sure it's an out and out terminal, though - not in the sense we are used to here?
But like I said I'd be coming up from the Lleyn. I'd try and keep Lleyn in the sheep I breed, finding a wool shedding sheep somewhere between the 2...
but you've got to think in a world on the outside of the EU and with no/virtually no sub, selling (quality) meat lambs off upland/hill areas with no wool worries will be the only viable way forward for '1 man band' shepherds
- Location
- Fife
I have a customer who bred some brilliant wool shedding commercials from Lleyns.
PM me if you want more info/some tup lambs for next season.
I think it will take you a while to breed the wool off your Lleyns with a Dorper ---they do tend to carry more wool than many other hair/shedding sheep
3 + generations ????
The Lleyn is where i started my wool shedding project from & it's what much of the Exlana is based on
Cut the generations down by finding the cleanest skinned ram you can ---select your ram when the flock is half way through shedding ( April/May?) and see which rams have shed first/cleanest
We wool score our animals this way and it helps to cut down the generations needed to breed the wool off a ewe
- Location
- North Yorkshire
Where would you go to buy white headed dorpers? A quick google search hasn't revealed much
- Location
- Fife
Dormer society have a for sale page. Almost exclusively hobbyists with less than 50 sheep.
Probably best to buy shedders mid summer when they should be shed. Some dorpers keep a saddle of wool on there back,not the end of the world. If you can see shearing marks on the sheep avoid.
I've had white dorpers for 6 years,they don't get maggots, never get stuck on there backs and don't die for no reason. You can leave them unseen and not worry.
I've had white dorpers for 6 years,they don't get maggots, never get stuck on there backs and don't die for no reason. You can leave them unseen and not worry.
- Location
- Owaka, New Zealand
http://www.nzsheep.co.nz/index.php?page=dorper
I'm not really certain that the Dorper is only any use as a terminal breed, they seem to be fairly well rounded IMO.
Unless you like having a rainy day job with the handpiece... I am quite tempted to grab a few ewe lambs this year based on my findings here, I was only sceptical based on their rep for bad feet but that hasn't been my own findings with them.
They seem to survive my conditions pretty well and it isn't really sheep friendly - a bit of a torture test if anything, as I don't graze below 6 inches as a rule, don't worm my sheep, don't yard my sheep save for shearing and vaccinating
They stand up to that just fine, obviously selection pressure matters a lot
I'm not really certain that the Dorper is only any use as a terminal breed, they seem to be fairly well rounded IMO.
Unless you like having a rainy day job with the handpiece... I am quite tempted to grab a few ewe lambs this year based on my findings here, I was only sceptical based on their rep for bad feet but that hasn't been my own findings with them.
They seem to survive my conditions pretty well and it isn't really sheep friendly - a bit of a torture test if anything, as I don't graze below 6 inches as a rule, don't worm my sheep, don't yard my sheep save for shearing and vaccinating
They stand up to that just fine, obviously selection pressure matters a lot
- Location
- North Yorkshire
That doesn't sound too promising, need them to be culled hard and run commercially. Don't want to buy in trouble
- Location
- Owaka, New Zealand
I'd definitely agree that many keep that saddle, I wasn't after shedding so I got the woolliest two-tooth tup (who happened to have the highest meat scores- not sure if these traits are correlated?) purely as a tup for my low-input composite (mongrel) ewe lambs.
They've averaged better than 1.0 lambs which is ideal, not so worried about the lamb as much as a mechanism, to stop the ewe getting too big.
Next time I would probably buy a cleaner one?
My ram does get a dirty bum but mainly because he doesn't stand up to
and sits in it like a cow 
Maybe you should be a pioneer and start a flock of them and run all dorpers in a commercial system. Change your name to dorperben
- Location
- Dumfries & Galloway
This is the biggest problem. The breed is in such a minority in UK that there isn't anyone running substantial numbers... you'd almost have to breed your own - but even then, you need to start by buying from somewhere
- Location
- North Yorkshire
They'd have to be good for me to prefer them over texels!Maybe you should be a pioneer and start a flock of them and run all dorpers in a commercial system. Change your name to dorperben
- Location
- North Yorkshire
If I Could find a decent starter flock, a decent place to start breeding from, then I'd be away. It's just finding them......
Might be better trying to work with the easycare breed, more of them about,
- Location
- Fife
Import embryos and breed up from your current ewes.
NZ probably best place to look due to climactic similarities.
NZDan
Member
- Location
- Broomfield, New Zealand
That's what I've found with the Dorpers, too wooly and terrible for dirty tails/worms. I've had better results using Texels to add Meat and maintain shedding.I'd definitely agree that many keep that saddle, I wasn't after shedding so I got the woolliest two-tooth tup (who happened to have the highest meat scores- not sure if these traits are correlated?) purely as a tup for my low-input composite (mongrel) ewe lambs.
They've averaged better than 1.0 lambs which is ideal, not so worried about the lamb as much as a mechanism, to stop the ewe getting too big.
Next time I would probably buy a cleaner one?
My ram does get a dirty bum but mainly because he doesn't stand up to
- Location
- North Yorkshire
Bit too "goaty" for my liking, the ones I've seen at least.
breed up from your texels
NZDan
Member
- Location
- Broomfield, New Zealand
A pal has a flock of Texel X Dorpers that are quite useful ewes.
I decided to go down the composite route once I discovered the feet on Dorpers. We've recentally had Australian Whites imported to NZ, I expect them to be a vast improvement on the Dorper and I'm watching them closely.