Dorper crossbred sheep will be black or black and white in colour. The first part of the tail is attached to the rump while the second part is pushed upwards and ends in the tassel or ‘sambokkie’ which hangs down perpendicularly. The difference in color is therefor merely a matter of preference for each breeder. Blue Persian Sheep. This breed is a result of cross breeding the Dorset Horn and Blackhead Persian sheep. Meat. [3], On average at maturity, rams weigh 68 kg (150 lb) and ewes 52 kg (115 lb). Dorper sheep are medium in size and mainly white in colour. The breed is now found in South Africa where they are sometimes known by the name Swartkoppersie (Afrik.). [1] The breed was specifically bred for the large quantity of fat stored in the tail region which gave resilience in arid conditions and which was prized for cooking. The breed most commonly found in the English speaking Caribbean is the Barbados Blackbelly . A South African studbook was set up in 1906. Blackhead Persian, beginning in the 1940’s (Milne, 2000), and the Dorper color pattern is essentially the same as that of its Blackhead Persian parent. Persian sheep are a rare breed in Australia. The Persian (or ‘Persie’ in Afrikaans) is a fat-tailed sheep, covered in hair and is, therefore, well-adapted to hot, arid climates. They can either have a white or a black face and both rams and ewes are polled. [5], Bernard Faye et Hamadi Karembe, « Guide de l'élevage du mouton méditerranéen et tropical » [PDF], sur doc-developpement-durable.org, "Indigenous Sheep Breeds of South Africa", https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Blackhead_Persian&oldid=981099675, Short description is different from Wikidata, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License, This page was last edited on 30 September 2020, at 08:21. Coat short and coarse without wool undercover. The Blackhead Persian sheep, a hardy, fat-tailed desert breed from Arabia, brings to the Dorper its hardiness, thriftiness, adaptability, pigmentation and hair covering. The Blackhead Persian was crossbred with Merino sheep [7] creating the Permer sheep [8] (name is derived from its ancestry Persian-Merino) which is the source of Capeskin according to the Technical Bulletin No 466. Image of mutton, dorper, breeding - 39144937 The Blackhead Persian (also known as Swartkoppersie) is a fat-tailed breed of domestic sheep from Africa. Generally the more Dorper genes the cross bred sheep has the more closely they will resemble a pure bred Dorper. The Persian is a small, smooth-haired, fat-rumped breed with three varieties: the Blackhead Persian, the Redhead Persian, and the Speckled (Skilder) Persian, which can be black or brown with white spots covering the body. On average at maturity, rams weigh 68 kg and ewes 52 kg. Information on adding new breeds or updating existing information. The Shropshire sheep are dual purpose animals. This strain originated from the mating in the 1980s of Karakul ewes with Persian rams. The Blackhead Persian has a white body and, as their name would suggest, an entirely black head. The breed is now found in South Africa where they are sometimes known by the name Swartkoppersie (Afrik.). The leg’s hair is usually of dark chocolate brown color (although this can be of other colors). The sheep has been introduced to many wetter areas where the comparative advantages it enjoys in dry areas are lost. document.write('animal-science-mail-form'); The breed is also a type of hair sheep, meaning they do not grow wool and tolerate heat better than wooled breeds and are raised primarily for meat. Please mail your original copies with our email form There were an estimated 2 million Blackhead Persian sheep in South Africa in the early 1950s but numbers of purebreds have declined, mainly due to dilution by crossbreeding. Please provide a description of this breed as well Colour similar to Blackhead Persian with black head and fore part of neck, remainder of body white or white with black spots or splotches. It also found its way to the tropics of the Caribbean region via South Africa many years ago. The Dorper is a South African breed of domestic sheep developed by crossing Dorset Horn and the Blackhead Persian sheep. But as the name suggests, their head is of black color. Dorper Sheep were developed around the 1930s in South Africa. Exactly the same breed standards are applied to both Blackhead Dorper and White Dorper except regarding colour and pigmentation. History of the Persian sheep. Mature ram and ewe weights are approximately 50 and 30 kg, respectively.