Breed information

Brief History

The breed was developed in South Africa in the 1930's by crossing Blackhead Persian ewes with a Dorset Horn ram. They were bred to produce a high quality carcass under extensive conditions. The Blackhead Persian was selected for its non-selective grazing, coat shedding, hardiness and good mothering abilities. The Dorset Horn was selected for its rapid growth rates and carcass attributes.

The Breeding program resulted in the development of the black headed and white headed Dorper. Successive Dorper breeding has shown it to be a fixed breed type, giving a reliable reproduction of features and characteristics. It is now numerically the second to largest sheep breed in South Africa.

The breed was introduced into Australia in 1996 and has the potential to be developed for domestic and export meat markets.

Conformation

The animal is characteristically barrel shaped with short, dullish black or white hair on the head. A short, loose light covering of hair and wool (wool predominating on the forequarter) with a natural clean kemp underline, is a typical breed standard.
An even distribution of a thin layer of fat compliments the breed.

The Dorper sheds its fleece avoiding the need for mustering for shearing, crutching and fly control.

There is little difference between blackheaded and whiteheaded Dorpers - the choice is a matter of target market preference.

Characteristics

Economical:
The Dorper are an economical breed because of their excellent feed utilization and conversion, they don't need shearing, crutching and mulesing, and they are disease resistant

Meat production:
Purebred Dorper rams reach a liveweight of 90-120 kg and ewes 50-80kg. The Dorper carcass has a good conformation and fat distribution.
Trials and producer experience in Australia indicate that it should be possible to breed Dorper-Merino F1 lambs with a bodyweight of 36kg at 105-120 days, to produce a carcass of about 16kg.

Adaptable:
The Dorper is now well adapted in South Africa to a variety of climatic and conditions. It thrives in arid to semi-tropical areas and 100mm-760mm rainfall.

Hardy:
The Dorpers have the ability to thrive in harsh conditions. They were developed to be turned off quickly from arid, extensive grazing conditions in South Africa and have the potential to be produced successfully in a wide range of climatic conditions in Australia.

Fertile:
The Dorper is one of the most fertile of the sheep breeds, with potential lambing intervals of only 8 months. Lambing percentages in excess of 150% (2.25 lambs per annum) are possible and 100% is feasible for most areas. Short lambing intervals have various advantages, of which greater selection possibilities and the sale of larger numbers of lambs are the most important.

Good mothering qualities:
The Dorper ewe is a very good mother and protective of her young. Multiple births are common, with some instances of triplets recorded. Lambs are extremely mobile at birth and survival rates are high.
The Dorper ewe produces a large quantity of milk, aiding lamb survival and early growth.

Good grazing habits:
They are non-selective grazers. Experience so far suggests that Dorpers can adapt to most grazing conditions. There is evidence that they prefer fibre to grains and they respond well to good quality hay.
Purebred lambs will start to graze in the first few days after birth. F1 lambs after about two weeks.
The Dorper can be advantageously incorporated into under-utilized pastures of lesser quality, thus converting a poor asset into profit.

Continuous breeding season :
The Dorper is polyoestrus (can breed continually, with no defined season). Their breeding intervals can be as short as 8 months or 3 times in 2 years. Running rams with ewes continuously is one option that may stimulate reproduction, however it is also likely that ewes will adjust their fertility according to conditions.

Fast growing :
Dorper lambs have an inherent growth potential (ability to graze at an early age) They grow rapidly and can attain a high weaning weight. Dorpers respond well to increased planes of nutrition, giving growers the potential to increase weights rapidly in response to market demands.

Market Potential

Markets can be developed in four key areas:

• Domestic and international sale of prime lamb meat
• Export of live ram lambs, primarily to the Middle East
• Domestic and international sale of purebred breeding stock, positive pregnancy recipients, semen and embryos.
• Domestic and international sale of by-products, principally skins.

Dorper's fast growth rates allow for early marketing, with the potential to fill market supply shortfalls.

This information is (C) www.dorper.com.au

THE DORPER SHEEP BREEDERS' SOCIETY OF SOUTH AFRICA

The Dorper Breed
Standard of Excellence

With amendments up to July 1988

THIS REPLACES ANY PREVIOUS
STANDARDS OF EXCELLENCE

The purpose of a Standard of Excellence is to indicate the degree of excellence of the animal by means of a description and a score by points according to visual appearance and performance. These values must be recorded in such a way as to give a true reflection of the excellence or deficiencies of the sheep.

For descriptive and comparative purposes sheep may be compared with each other according to a score card, and the following points are allotted, corresponding to the respective terms of the main sections of the standard of excellence.

The following comprises
the Standard of Excellence

1. Conformation: represented by the symbol B.

(a) Head: Strong and long, with large eyes, widely spaced and protectively placed. Strong nose, strong well shaped mouth with well-fitted deep jaws. The forehead must not be dished. The size of the ears must be in relation to the head. A developed horn base or small horns is the ideal, heavy horns are undesirable but permissible. The head must be covered with short, dullish black hair in the Dorper and dull, white hair in the White Dorper. The head must be dry i.e. without indications of fat localisation.

(b) Fore-quarter and Neck: The neck should be of medium length, well-fleshed and broad and well-coupled to the forequarters. Shoulders firm, broad and strong. Chest deep and wide and may slant slightly upwards. A prominent protruding brisket is undesirable. Forelegs strong, straight and well-placed with strong pasterns. Hoofs not too widely split.

(c) Barrel: The ideal is a long, deep wide body, ribs well sprung, loin broad and full. The sheep must have a long straight back and not have "devil's grip". A slight dip behind the shoulders is permissible.

(d) Hind-quarter: A long and wide rump is the ideal. The inner and outer twist to be well fleshed and deep in adult animals The hind legs must be strong and well-placed, with sturdy feet and strong pasterns. Faulty pasterns must be discriminated against according to degree. The hocks must be strong without a tendency to turn in or out. Sickle or perpendicular hocks are undesirable.

(e) Udder and Sex Organs: A well-developed udder and sex organs are essential in the ewe. The scrotum of the ram should not be too long and the testicles should be of equal size and not too small.

(f) General Appearance: The sheep should be symmetrical and well-proportioned. A calm temperament with a vigorous appearance is the ideal.

2. Size or Growth Rate: represented by the symbol G.

A sheep with a good weight for its age is the ideal Discrimination against extremely small or extremely big animals must be exercised.

3. Distribution of Fat: represented by the symbol D.

Too much localisation of fat on any part of the body is undesirable. An even distribution of a thin layer of fat over the carcass and between the muscle-fibres is the ideal. The sheep must be firm and muscular when handled.

4. Colour Pattern: represented by the symbol P.

Dorpers: A white sheep with black confined to the head and neck is the ideal. Black spots, to a limited extent on the body and legs are permissible, but an entirely white sheep or a sheep predominantly black is undesirable. Brown hair around the eyes, white teats, white under the tail and white hoofs are undesirable.

White Dorpers: A white sheep, fully pigmented around the eyes, under the tai I, on the udder and the teats is the ideal. A limited number of other coloured spots is permissible on the ears and underline.

5. Cover or Fleece: represented by the symbol H.

The ideal is a short, loose, light covering of hair and wool with wool predominating on fore quarter and with a natural clean kemp underline. Too much wool or hair is undesirable and exclusively wool or hair is a fault. Manes are a disqualification.

6. Type: represented by the symbol T.

Type is judged according to the degree to which the sheep conforms to the general requirements of the breed. Emphasis is placed on Conformation, Size and Fat distribution when determining type, while Colour and Covering are of secondary importance.

ALLOTMENT OF POINTS

Points are allotted as follows:

1. CONFORMATION:

B5 Very good.
B4 Good.
B3 Average. No cull points.
B2 Poor.
Bl Very poor with cull points.

 2. SIZE:

C5 Large sheep.
C4 Average.
C3 Below average.
C2 Small.
Cl Extremely small or extremely big.

3. DISTRIBUTION OF FAT:

D5 Good fat distribution over the whole body. No fat localisation.
D4 An indication of fat distribution. Slight indication of fat localisation.
D3 Reasonable amount of localised fat. Too dry.
D2 Localised fat.
Dl Excessive localised fat.

When judging fat distribution discrimination should be greater against fat in the young animal than in the mature one.

4. COLOUR PATTERN:

For definition of Colour Pattern the division of the Top and Underline is as follows:

(a) On the hock
(b) On the lower point of the knee
(c) With rams to the rear as far as the junction of the scrotum
(d) With ewes it runs up to the sexual organs.

DORPERS:

P5

(a) A white sheep with an entirely black head or black head and neck.
(b) Complete pigmentation is essential.

P4

The following is permissible:

P3

In the two lighter lamb classes a lamb must have an indication of pigmentation on each separate part of the body where pigment is required.

P2

P1

(a) Altogether white or altogether black sheep
(b) Sheep with any other colour other than black or white.
(c) Sheep with one or both eyes blue.

To qualify for P3, a Dorper must have pigmentation in excess of 50% on each separate part of the body where pigment is required, except on the sheath of rams where it is not a requirement. No pigment is a cull fault. Discriminate against obvious brown colour around the eyes and on the head.

WHITE DORPERS:

P5

P4

P3

P2

P1

Ram lambs under 60 kg and ewe lambs under 50 kg must have an indication of pigment on the eyelids.

5. COVERING:

H5

Short, loose light covering of hair and wool with wool predominating on forequarter and with a natural clean kemp underline.

H4

Short, loose, light mixture of hair and wool with a natural clean underline.

H3

Short, loose covering of predominantly hair or wool with perceptible kemp on the outer thighs.

H2

(a) Almost exclusively hair with an apron permissible
(b) Almost exclusively wool and very dense

H1

(a) Exclusively hair
(b) Exclusively wool
(c) A mane

With all types of covering a thick skin is preferable.

Discriminate against denseness and length of covering.

Discriminate against long covering on underline of mature sheep.

6. TYPE OR GENERAL/APPEARANCE:

Type is determined by all the above characteristics and the judge must decide to what degree the sheep complies with the breed standards and general appearance of a true type of Dorper sheep. The general impression must be that of a strong, well muscled sheep with femininity in the ewe and masculinity in the ram and which will be adaptable in arid regions. A four-tooth ewe which is not obviously in lamb or which has not already lambed, may not be approved or placed at a show.

T5 Good
T4 Above average
T3 Average type
T2 Poor type
T1 Very poor type with noticeable cull faults.

Any sheep with a symbol below 4 for Conformation, Size, Fat Distribution or Type, or below 3 for Colour Pattern or Covering will not be approved.

When evaluating a sheep the following values must be attached to the different characteristics.

The breeder, judge or inspector should always remember to accentuate traits with the highest economic values, as the Dorper sheep was bred for the sole purpose or producing meat under varying, even unfavourable, environmental conditions as efficiently as possible.