Best hair meat sheep?

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MtnCkn

MtnCkn

In the Brooder
10 Years
Nov 26, 2009
23
1
22
Can anyone give me any ideas on what is the best or preferred breed of hair sheep used for meat and maybe also milk? Thanks everyone.
 
Dorpers and Katahdins, or crossbreeds of those, are the most popular.
Pure Dorpers are white with black heads, or all white.

Katahdins come in white , red, black or brown.
Crossbreeds can be any combination of those

Dorpers grow fast and have well muscled bodies, while Katahdins are known for easy birthing and being good mothers.
Both breeds are worm resistant, and do well on marginal pastures

This is Sam the Ram: (75% Dorper):

Sam2008003.jpg


A couple of his offspring:

BrandyBelleLambsFeb2008001_edited.jpg


If you want milk, get a dairy goat. You wont be happy trying to milk sheep
 
Last edited:
Are they that hard to milk? Was gonna use them to try to make sheeps milk cheese.
 
Quote:
It's very hard to milk most of them. The teats arent very big compared to dairy goats.
If you milk the ewes, you'll have to bottle feed the lambs.
They normally only have 2, so they dont produce the amount of milk that a goat having triplets or quads would produce.
 
I dont think there are many hair breeds that do well as milkers

http://www.sheep101.info/dairy.html

Dairy sheep breeds
While lactating ewes of any breed can be milked, as with other species of livestock, there are specialized dairy sheep breeds. Worldwide there are more than a dozen dairy sheep breeds, but only a few are available in the United States: East Friesian and Lacaune. Specialized dairy breeds produce 400 to 1,100 pounds of milk per lactation, whereas the milk production from conventional sheep breeds is only 100 to 200 pounds of milk per lactation.

The East Friesian is the most common and productive breed of dairy sheep in the world. Their average production is 990 to 1,100 pounds per 220 to 240-day lactation. Two other highly productive breeds of dairy sheep are the fat-tailed Awassi and Assaf breeds from Israel. In France, the Lacaune is the breed of choice for making the country's famous Roquefort cheese.

http://www.ansi.okstate.edu/breeds/sheep/

The East Friesian is considered to be the worlds highest producing dairy sheep. They are highly specialized animals and do poorly under extensive and large flock husbandry conditions. It is perhaps no mere coincidence that the region of Friesland is also the origin of the Friesian cattle breed, including the Holstein which has the highest milk yield of any breed of livestock. Friesian cattle and East Friesian sheep are alike in other important regards. Neither fares well in harsh hot environments but both have produced excellent crossbreds with adapted local breeds.​
 
Is it hard to sheer sheep? That one of the reasons I would like to get hair sheep I have no idea how to sheer. Also I don't know if there is anyone near by that does and how much it costs?
 

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