Origin of Dorper Sheep

ORIGIN OF DORPER SHEEP

The Department of Agriculture and interested farmers developed Dorper and White Dorper sheep in the Republic of South Africa over 50 years ago. There was a great need for a sheep breed that would produce a maximum amount of high quality meat from the arid and often harsh shrub lands. European breeds were tried and had many shortcomings due to the harsh feed and climatic conditions.

The cooperative work resulted in the Dorper breed, which produced a maximum number of fast growing lambs with exceptional meat qualities and wide adaptability to feed and climatic conditions. The Blackhead Persian, a haired, fat-tailed sheep from North Africa and the Horned Dorset were initially crossed. The majority of the lambs were black headed, eventually named Dorpers. A minority were totally white and eventually named White Dorpers. Some Van Rooy sheep were crossed into the early White Dorpers. The only difference today is color. White Dorper breeders constitute about 15% of the members of the Dorper Sheep Breeders' Society of South Africa. South Africa has about 30 million sheep of which Dorpers have become the second most popular breed with over ten million head.