Wool - Asset or Liability?
Each year it gets harder to
find a competent person to come and shear our small flock. The amount we
pay to remove the wool from the sheep is more than the return we get when
the wool is sold. With our busy schedules, we can find plenty
of other things to do instead of making arrangements, etc. for shearing
day. We have found a better way.
With the natural shedding of
the White Dorpers, shearing day will be a thing of the past at our farm.
This ewe is one of the
recipient ewes brought from Canada to our farm in Texas. The
sale of wool produced by this ewe and others like her did not pay the cost
of shearing.
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Our small farm is located near
Goldthwaite, in Central Texas. Our start with White Dorper sheep was
from an embryo transfer program. Using the services of
Creekside Animal Clinic in British Columbia, Canada, we were
able to import South African White Dorper embryos from the herds of
Martin Compion Jr.,
Dries Wiese and
Floors Brand. White Dorper meat sheep filled our need when we
began searching for a heavier muscled breed of hair sheep that
required no shearing. As we researched the breed, we were impressed
with the attributes of the Dorper.
 The
Dorper’s covering of hair and wool is shed annually so there is no
need for shearing. Dorpers are fast growing, hardy, and adaptable,
thriving under arid conditions such as we experience here in Central
Texas. The ewes are excellent mothers and are year round breeders.
An added bonus is their excellent disposition. The American Dorper
Sheep Breeders’ Society calls the black headed sheep “Dorpers”, and
the unmarked sheep “White Dorpers”. Lambs produced by using Dorper
rams can be darker colored with spotted markings. Our preference is
the White Dorper, as the lambs from commercial ewes, such as
Rambouillets, will generally be white.
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Our Registered Katahdins
are producing
lambs out of fullblood White Dorper rams. |
In the spring
of 2002 we were once again involved with an embryo program.
Creekside Animal Clinic again made it possible for us to bring
genetics from South Africa to Central Texas. We are pleased
with the quality of the resulting lambs. Visit the
photo gallery to see
pictures of our sheep.
If you are thinking about
purchasing fullblood or percentage White Dorpers, please
contact us for pricing. We welcome your inquiries and
will try our best to respond to all questions. |
- Member of the American
Dorper Sheep Breeders’ Society
- Member of Katahdin Hair
Sheep International
- Member of Southcentral
Katahdin Hair Sheep Association
- We are enrolled in the
Voluntary Scrapie Flock Certification Program.
Allen and Kay Mills
Box 805
Goldthwaite, Texas 76844
325-648-2692
info@white-dorper.com
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