Dorpers in Scotland

[HBush]

Does anyone know anyone that runs these?

 

[Nithsdale]

I remember a few years ago, there was someone near Kelso bred them, but I can't find them on Internet.

Closest breeder is Northumberland on their site

https://www.dorpersheepsociety.co.uk/breeders/

 

[Bones]

A friend of mine bought a dozen ewes last year ,, total criples, worst feet ever, had to sell them on.

 

[HBush]

Oh Bones! They are really popular in New Zealand and Western Australia. New Zealand is wet too???

 

[HBush]

Thanks Nithsdale - will look them up.

 

[AftonShepherd]

Janet Beale of Astra Sheepdogs used to have them but haven't heard of her or her dogs for years.

 

[Nithsdale]

Janet Beale of Astra Sheepdogs used to have them but haven't heard of her or her dogs for years.

She's down south now.

Doesn't have a good rep on here, going by the last time I mentioned her

 

[Nithsdale]

Oh Bones! They are really popular in New Zealand and Western Australia. New Zealand is wet too???

Their feet are supposed to be very bad.

It's a shame as of all the shedding sheep I've seen, I believe they've the most potential

 

[Tim W]

Their feet are supposed to be very bad.

It's a shame as of all the shedding sheep I've seen, I believe they've the most potential

Great carcass quality
Poor shedders
Poor feet

Good for dry climates ----and some potential here if you can sort the feet

 

[Nithsdale]

Great carcass quality
Poor shedders
Poor feet

Good for dry climates ----and some potential here if you can sort the feet

I know not something you'd personally be interested in doing, but


You could breed them with your Exlanas or other Easycares/Shedders to introduce better shedding and feet, but without losing the carcase or other positives the breed have?..

They just need improvement

 

[Tim W]

I know not something you'd personally be interested in doing, but


You could breed them with your Exlanas or other Easycares/Shedders to introduce better shedding and feet, but without losing the carcase or other positives the breed have?..

They just need improvement

Agree that they just need improvement ---ideally about 600 ewes in a harsh breeding/selection program would get you somewhere in 8 /10 generations i reckon
I'm interested in breeding functional terminal sires and the Dorper could be part of that i guess
The only thing that puts me off shedding terminal sires is the selling live conundrum --but having just sheared the Charollais today i could be persuaded otherwise

We have used Dorpers but their offspring haven't lasted that long ---their growth rates were not much greater than anything we already have (although conformation is better )--the ones i have tried have also tended to put plenty of fat down

There was someone breeding them in Scotland a few years back but i can't find any details now

 

[HBush]

Tim W - do you think the shedding genes for Texels are similar to shedding genes for other sheep. I culled a huge shedding Texel last winter because he lost condition and would not regain it - something wrong. He did not leave many daughters, but I have one big maiden hog - and a shedder. I weighed her today- 105kg! Almost all her wool fell off before shearing.

 

[Tim W]

Tim W - do you think the shedding genes for Texels are similar to shedding genes for other sheep. I culled a huge shedding Texel last winter because he lost condition and would not regain it - something wrong. He did not leave many daughters, but I have one big maiden hog - and a shedder. I weighed her today- 105kg! Almost all her wool fell off before shearing.

Wool retaining gene is a single mutant gene (Pollock et al RVC ---i've got the paper somewhere if you are interested)
Shedding is the ''normal '' genetic make up for ovines so i would assume it's likely to be the same for all sheep

 

[yellowbelly]

Wool retaining gene is a single mutant gene (Pollock et al RVC

It's interesting that the wool is the mutation.

To me it's even more interesting how, way back in time, they managed to breed it onto just about everything.
By the time they got to Bakewell's era it's quite mind boggling how much genetic progress they made (or how much the old books 'claim' they made) in such short periods of time (Bakewell's lifetime, in his case) without any modern day knowledge of genetics or modern techniques such as AI or ET.

I suppose if you're starting off with something that's 'mega-crap, you get to 'crap' quite quickly. The more you go on, the harder bigger leaps of improvement are to achieve.

 

[Woolless]

Wool retaining gene is a single mutant gene (Pollock et al RVC ---i've got the paper somewhere if you are interested)
Shedding is the ''normal '' genetic make up for ovines so i would assume it's likely to be the same for all sheep

Well, I've learnt something this morning . Makes perfect sense, mind you.

 

[HBush]

That was a good learn Tim W.

 

[HBush]

Tim W - Another one for you. Would I be right in guessing hairy wool shedders with good conformation, would be hardier than shedders with soft wool?

I was having a thought that breeding a hairy shedding sheep with good muscling, using a Texel base, might be slower than breeding from a hair sheep which already has good confirmation such as the Dorper.

I wonder how you could fix the Dorper feet? Who wants to go to New Zealand to find out about the Dorper sheep from Footrot Flats? Hands Up.

 

[Woolless]

Tim W - Another one for you. Would I be right in guessing hairy wool shedders with good conformation, would be hardier than shedders with soft wool?

I was having a thought that breeding a hairy shedding sheep with good muscling, using a Texel base, might be slower than breeding from a hair sheep which already has good confirmation such as the Dorper.

I wonder how you could fix the Dorper feet? Who wants to go to New Zealand to find out about the Dorper sheep from Footrot Flats? Hands Up.

Hmm, no volunteers @HBush. Perhaps sorting Dorpers for commercial British conditions could be your legacy to the sheep industry? I'll definitely buy a tup off you

 

[HBush]

I am looking forward to the NZ bit

 

[Tim W]

It's interesting that the wool is the mutation.

.

It's not the wool that's the mutation i think it's the retention of wool
All wild ovines have a wool /hair fleece ---some more wool than others ----and i guess we just selected for animals that retained more fleece for longer so that it was easily harvest-able