"Quality Meat, Exceptional Sheep"
Dorper sheep originated in South Africa and were the result of crossing a Dorset Horn ram with a Blackhead Persian ewe. Two varieties resulted: the Dorper (black headed) and White Dorper. The aim was to create a high-quality meat sheep that could survive the hot drier areas of South Africa. The Dorper was first introduced into Western Australia as embryos in 1996. Since then dorpers have experienced an ever growing domestic meat market due to their hardy and muscular characteristics.
Breeding
Fairbanks Dorpers is a commercial producer and we have a strong focus on confirmation, growth rate and muscle mass to produce a premium lamb. The aim is a quality, low fat, meat eating sheep. We have improved our genetics, attributes and our offspring through reputed rams sourced from Burrawang in New South Wales and locally from Red Rock Dorpers, over our original station mated ewe flock.
Currently the prime lambs grow quickly and we have live weaning weights averaging 36kg at 120 days. Since 2018 we have contracted an independent classer and Dorper Inspector to assess all breeding ewes and maids. This allows us to cull the undesirable traits and attributes of our breeding mobs.
Fairbanks Dorpers has experienced an increase from 80 to 120% lambing by removing drys and using selective refinement in our mobs and self-replenishing maiden ewes. Our genetics have markedly and continually improve with the quality and weight of lambs we now produce.
