Horned Dorsets courtesy of grosbeak_1 of flickr
The Dorset Horn sheep is one of the earliest recorded breeds of British Sheep with the first Flock Book being established in 1892. The Dorset Horn sheep was soon engineered to be polled amazingly enough this took place in both the U.S. and Australia. Both breeds still maintain the attributes of the original breed.
beautiful polled dorset rams courtesy of baalands on flickr
One of the biggest attributes that is well loved about the dorset horned and polled dorset, is the ability to breed at anytime of year which allows the breeder to plan lambing better. They are able to lamb 3 times in a 2 yr period.
An interesting mutation has happened in Oklahome in 1983. A ram was born with amazingly muscular buttocks. The mutation has since been named Callipyge (which is greek for beautiful butt). The gene can be passed from the ram to lambs.
The sheep on the left has the Callipyge gene. Picture by Bob Rost
Ewes weigh in at about 150-200 pds, Rams can weigh about 225 to 275 pds. Have a bright white fleece with no kemp or black fibers.
Polled dorsets by crazyjane2006 on flickr
I found the research for this breed to be quite confusing as there are other breeds called Dorset that are not related to the Dorset Horn and Polled Dorset. To keep things simple I will be doing a post specifically for the Dorset Down breed. The reason for the same name is that both breeds are geographically from the same area of Dorset County in England.
How cute is this little horned dorset? Thanks to Baalands for sharing:)
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All information has been provided by wikipedia, Dorset Horn and Poll Dorset Sheep Breeder’s Association , and The Fleece and Fiber Sourcebook by Deborah Robson and Carol Ekarius.
