Hair Sheep Trying to Pass ASU Test

Already the host of the country’s longest-running performance test for meat goats, Angelo State University’s Management, Instruction and Research (MIR) Center will soon be the first-ever host of a similar test for Dorper sheep.

More commonly known as the ASU Ranch, the MIR Center will host its inaugural Dorper Ram Performance Test June 12 – Sept. 4 at its facility just north of San Angelo.  Conducted in conjunction with its annual Meat Goat Performance Test, the Dorper test will utilize the same principles and techniques to determine which of the rams are potentially superior breeding sires.

“We take them from their environment to a central location where we can remove feed differences, location and elevation differences based on where they were born, plus heat and environmental differences,” said Dr. Mike Salisbury, associate professor of animal science and test director.  “We put them all in the same health program and provide them nutrition where it meets all their body’s needs for growth.  That way, it allows us to remove all those environmental factors so that the true differences are genetic.”

The new test was initially proposed by the Texas Dorper Sheep Breeders Association as the breed becomes more popular in West Texas.

“Just like in goats or any other breed of sheep, the faster we can get them to grow, the more economical they are,” Salisbury said.  “But, we have to have a way to try to measure that to see how fast we can get them there.”

Dorper sheep, also called “hair” sheep, were introduced to the U.S. around 1994, at the same time as Boer goats.  But, while the popularity of Boer goats soared almost immediately, there was little interest in the Dorper sheep because they do not produce wool and are bred mainly for slaughter and consumption.

“They are strictly for lamb production,” Salisbury said.  “You don’t have to do any sheering because fiber has nothing to do with it.  They never get shorn and they never get clipped.  They shed each year.”

“Until the last few years, their usefulness has been ignored,” he added.  “Now, it has been realized that there is a use for them and they can fill a niche.  Some of the older producers raising wool sheep are getting out of that production and some of the younger generation that don’t want to mess with the wool and the shearing are raising sheep that don’t have to be shorn.”

Salisbury said the main impetus for the recent interest in the Dorper breed stems from the decline in both the availability of shearing crews and the price of wool.  Studies done at the ASU Ranch on its own flock of about 30 also indicate that Dorper sheep may be more parasite-resistant than the wool-producing breeds.

“We have gotten some really encouraging data there,” Salisbury said.  “So, producers do not have to worry as much about the de-wormers as we have in the past.  Plus, if you have a small acreage, they are probably easier to keep animals.  They don’t have to be feed-supplemented quite so much.”

“They are good if someone has 20-30 acres, wants some livestock on it and doesn’t want to have to deal with shearers,” he added, “especially if they have fences with the fairly small holes in them.  If you put goats in there, they get their heads hung and their horns become an issue.  But, you can put Dorpers in there and still maintain an agriculture production without having to deal with that management issue either.”

However, despite the many positives inherent in the Dorper breed, it still faces at least one significant hurdle because in the sheep business, size matters.

“They don’t fit our normal marketing channels for American lamb, which is mainly Rambouillets, cross-breeds and Suffolks,” Salisbury said.  “The Dorpers reach maturity at around 90-110 pounds, where the others go up to around 140 pounds.  If we take the Dorpers up to 140 pounds, the data we have right now shows that they are going to be extremely fat, which is inefficient.”

“We can market them through Producers Livestock Auction,” he added.  “But, they are going to be smaller and the total production per ewe is going to be less.  Instead of 65-70 pound lambs, you are looking at about 50 pound lambs, so your revenue per sheep is down.”

As a result, Dorper sheep remain in what Salisbury calls a niche market, meeting the needs of some producers while being shunned by others.  Finding the most cost-effective way to breed larger Dorper sheep while keeping them suitably lean for auction will be one of the main focuses of the new ASU test. 

In the meantime, while the Dorper breed is gaining in popularity, its smaller size makes any future growth in its status uncertain.

“We are seeing a shift where the numbers of our traditional sheep, our Rambouillets, are going down,” Salisbury said.  “We have these hair sheep numbers that are going up.  So, they are having strength and leverage in the marketing system to where there might be somewhat of a shift in what is preferred in America.  But, it is going to be a long time coming.”