Sheep Industry News August 2024

Producers Look at Future For Dorpers, Dorsets

S heep Genetics USA recently visited different latitudes to catch up with Dr. Jake Thorne of Texas, the National Sheep Improvement Program breed representative for Dorpers, and North Dakota’s Curt Stanley, the NSIP breed representative for Dorsets.

The horned and polled versions of the Dorset breed are essentially the same genetics with the exception being the horns. More recent areas of emphasis in the Dorset breed have produced the frame type, wether type and the production type that probably show more differences than between the horned and polled.

SGUSA: Currently your breeds appear to fill dif ferent niches within our commercial industry. Could you talk about where you see your breed fits and why. JAKE : Dorper/White Dorpers – for brevity, I’ll refer to them both as Dorpers – are very adaptable to a variety of climates, especially semi-arid envi ronments. That’s not to say they don’t work in other situations too, but they were originally developed to be a low maintenance, maternal yet carcass-orient ed breed that could withstand a drier environment. In the United States, Dorper sheep are gaining in popularity all across the country. They shed their wool – which eliminates the need to hire a shearer – and they are hardy animals that stay in good con dition even on marginal forage quality. Because of

SGUSA: Both the Dorpers and the Dorsets come in two versions, the Dorper and White Dorper and the Polled and Horned Dorset. Could you describe those differences? JAKE: Good question. Going back to the development of the breeds in South Africa, originally Dorset Horn and Blackhead Persian were crossed to develop what we would now call the Dorper, a black headed sheep with a white Body. Later on, another breed of sheep – Van Rooy – was included to create the White Dorper. In modern times, the differences between the Dorper and White Dorper are not drastic and often a bit subjective in nature. In general, I believe there is more variation within these breeds for most traits than there is across the breeds. With that said, there are a lot of varying opinions on how the two differ. CURT : The early importations of Dorsets came from Eng land in the mid-1800s, and at that time they were all horned animals. In the mid-1950s, there was an apparent mutation in the flock at North Carolina State University that produced polled animals. Those offspring were bred up to the consistent ly polled Dorsets that we are familiar with today.

their low maintenance requirement, they are an especially good fit for smaller farm flock situations. But perhaps the greatest role they play is as a supplier of lamb to the nontraditional market. Dorpers are fast growing sheep that reach 60 to 80 lbs. quickly, and often without grain supplementation. These lambs are very often sold right off the ewe into nontraditional slaugh ter channels that prefer their muscled carcasses, even at light weights. It should also be mentioned that Dorpers are one of the hair/ shedding breeds that are becoming popular to utilize in solar grazing and for targeted grazing. Their less selective grazing preferences and ability to successfully lamb without assistance (in most cases) on pasture helps in these situations. CURT: Dorsets and Dorset cross ewes have been used suc cessfully as a maternal breed in commercial farm flocks. De pending on a producer’s desired end point, Dorsets can meet both the traditional market lamb criteria or the nontraditional lighter market weight with an acceptable carcass. They are probably better suited to a more intensive production system

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