White Dorper

The Dorper program crossed Dorset Horn rams onto Blackhead Persian ewes in South Africa around the 1930s, breeding a meat sheep for arid country; the White Dorper line used white Persian sheep instead. The Dorper Sheep Breeders Society of South Africa formed in 1950, and the name splices the two parent breeds together.

White Dorper genetics later went into the making of the Australian White.

The coat is a short, light mix of wool and hair, shed in late spring and summer.

Growth is the breed's engine: lambs can reach about 79 pounds in 100 days, cutting a 37 to 39 pound carcass. Lambing percentages of 150 percent are not uncommon in South Africa, average fecundity runs around 160 percent, and rams have been observed working by five months.

The American Dorper Sheep Breeders' Society registers White Dorpers under the same standard as Dorpers, which differs only in color, so its description covers both: the ewes are excellent mothers and heavy milkers, and the lambs are vigorous and survive well.

The standard discriminates against heavy horns and accepts scurs; the society says most Dorpers are polled, with many rams scurred and some horned.

The color is the reason to choose it over the blackheaded Dorper. A white hide with no dark hair is preferred by some processors and buyers, and pale skin runs cooler in high-sun country, though it also burns where wool cover is thin.

If your processor or buyer pays for the white hide, that settles the choice between the two Dorpers; little else about them differs.

Minimal care in arid country; the breed was made for it.

Watch condition instead: they fatten early, so finishing has to be managed rather than assumed.

The completeness of shedding varies by line, so ask the breeder what their sheep actually do in your climate rather than what the breed is said to do.

The American Dorper Sheep Breeders Society registers both Dorper varieties in the US; the papers say which you are buying.

Recent sale prices on HoofnHorn, where there are any, are further down this page.