Best hair meat sheep?

[Overeasyplz]

Hey there Bear Foot! Do you like your Dorpers? Do you cross them with anything or are they purebreds? I want meat sheep here, there is a breeder close by. How tall do they get? Are they as tall as a suffolk? I don't think I want to breed, just raise lambs to freezer.

 

[MacPoultry]

Dorper meat is sweet - not strong or gamy at all.

 

[Beekissed]

There is a new American breed called Royal Whites from a Dorper/St. Croix cross. They are quite expensive right now as they are attempting to register the breed and get the lines established.

Shearing just a few sheep doesn't make much sense to me unless you are wanting the fiber for spinning. That is why I chose hair breeds. I have Katahdin/St. Croix cross ewes and will be getting a Dorper ram to breed over them in the spring. This should produce the kind of meaty sheep I want with the good mothering and easy birthing of the Kats.

I've heard their meat is so much better tasting than the wool breeds.

 

[Bear Foot Farm]

Do you like your Dorpers? Do you cross them with anything

I like them a lot. They are relatively easy to handle, and normally have twins that grow well. Last year I even had 3 sets of triplets

They are Dorper/Katahdin crosses.
They get about 30 inches tall and ewes weigh about 150-180 lbs
Sam is closer to 250 when he's at his prime.

They do well on pasture alone, and grow even faster when given a little grain.
They will usually hit 80-100 lbs in 4-6 months

The two on the left are less than 3 months old:

This lamb is also about 3 months old, with her Mom:

 

[nop169]

We have Soay Sheep - they are a hardy smaller breed of sheep that basically take care of themselves. I have a small herd & as a friend of mine says "they live on spit & dust". The reality is that they do live well on poor pasturage. Mine actually live in a few (we rotate pastures) 2 acre lots that are a mix of fescue/bermuda/clover (winter we overseed with rye/oats & wheat). I do feed 4 quarts of feed daily for the 12 animals currently in the pasture & I do provide fee choice quality hay - but mainly out of habit more than they need this amount. I like my animals fat & sassy. They are excellent mothers & quite protective. In 6 years I have only lost one to coyotes. The meat is a good quality, tender & tasty meat & is low in chloresterol. Even my 11 y.o. eats it & asks for it for supper. I generally deworm twice per year - but not due to appearance - just as a preventative. During the 3rd consecutive year of drought last year, my guys remained fat with little "green" grazing.
I am in SC & a fellow farmer & friend introduced me to this breed. She currently has around 150 soay sheep with 3 or 4 distinctive blood lines. She sells both registered breeding stock & petr & slaughter grade sheep. If anyone in interested, her name is Virginia Vaughn & may be contacted at [email protected] or called at 864-718-8781. She is very informed on this breed & has raised them for many years. She also has a contact web page http://www.oakknollfarm.com

 

[Texgran]

Quote:
In my area it's easy to find katahand and dorpers. They are so popular now. We have a dorper ram on the painted X ewes. Lots of milk and meat.
If you wanted to try milking your sheep you could just lock the babies off milk the ewe and turn them back together. If you wait until the babies are eating grain it sure wouldn't hurt them on occasion(actually you could lock apart every night or day) only if they are eating grain well. Just milk once a day and let the babies have the rest. The dorper ewes have udders not just the little bags on most sheep.

 

[country freedom]

Quote:
Thank You !

 

[cordeoro]

I have the same thinking after research the best breed for meat and milk are Kathadin and Blackbelly. Forguet to use Pelibuey or Cuban breed are too small low low milk

You have to choose the best milkers sheep over selection over the time. The second one important think you need an installation to easy milking the Sheeps.

Other thing is start separate the lamb 8 hours a day so you can get the sheep fill in this time milk for you. The rest 16 hour would be for the the lambs or baby's sheep.

At the end when you have selection and milking routine. You have to introduce a second milking routine that mean 2 milking process during the day. A teory say that when the sheep fell empty she start to produce more milk so frequently diary process stimulate to produce more milk

Don't forget low and bad food then you will have low and bad milk. You need good quality pasture, legumes and minerals.

 

[ltct123]

Get hair sheep. They do not need sheered. Katahdin are good as well as many others. Google it. As for Soays, unless you get some already tame ones, they will give you "a run for your money." They will leap over low fences or through weak or electric fences. The horns are great on the males. But my family is a little fed up with these deer like sheep. The ewes are the worst and teach the babies to be wild as well. You need a pen system to trap them and then they scurry around in a panic. Not as much fun as we had hoped. Be prepared!

 

[SilkiesForEver]

Our Dorpers are fantastic. Extremely hardy, very gentle, low maintenance, delicious meat, excellent foragers (they don't do much damage to land or fencing) and they are wonderful mothers.

I really can't say enough good things about this breed.