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["Lynda" <lurine AT softcom.net>]

We've been looking into hair sheep for a couple of years now.  Youngest is 
planning on buying 2 or 3 St. Croix ewes and a white Dorper ram.

http://www.howlingoak.com/

http://www.texasdorpers.com/

All the hair breeds are known for being relatively parasite free and having 
a nice not muttony flavor.  And most of them breed year round.  Looks like 
someone played around with Dorpers to get this "breed."

Now, strickly from a butcher's point of view, the Royal Whites aren't 
something I'd pick up at auction.  They have a lot of neck, relatively short 
back, the hip drops off and are real straight and not well muscled in the 
thigh.  The heavy neck is wasted.  Folks don't pay a lot for neck bones or 
ground lamb.  The loin is where the big $$ chops are and you should have *at 
least* as much loin as a good sized adult males hand from thumb to pinky 
with the fingers spread from point of hip to first rib and an equal amount 
of rib.  The second highest priced cut is the Leg of Lamb and if you don't 
have a lot of muscle and good twist, you aren't going to be able to sell 
them for much.

Look at the pictures of the White Dorpers on the one link, and you'll see 
the difference in length of loin, neck and hip/thigh.

All of which is probably more than you wanted to know <g>

Lynda
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "bob ford" <bobford79 AT yahoo.com>


> This might be old news to most , but I had never heard of a breed of sheep 
> without wool until I ran across this article ....bobford
>
> Royal White sheep-a new hair-class sheep breed-is now being introduced to 
> the American market.
>
> The Royal White sheep is a highly functional and adaptable sheep without 
> wool, focusing on a variety of markets for year-round meat production 
> without the hassle of shearing, and also offers very low parasite 
> treatment requirements, due to natural resistance.
>
> http://www.sheepmagazine.com/issues/24/24-5/Staff_Report1.html