1. Transition from wool to sheep meat – What options do you have?
Sell existing stock
- purchase Dorper rams and F2 Dorper ewes
Upgrade
- purchase Dorper rams and upgrade the existing Merino ewe base
F1 Dorper rams
- appears to be a less costly option but is not viable
F1 rams 1/3rd the price cf. pure ($350 vs $1400)
In any cross breeding system the continued input of purebred animals is required.
Under this scenario, progression to a shedding meat animal is not possible.
Revenue from wool will be foregone
no additional income or reduced costs realised
This option is not viable and therefore was not considered in the analysis

2. Consider the genetics….impacts on management
% of Flock Requiring Shearing
Year
Dorper/Merino
Dorper/F2 1
100 (100)*
100 2
100 (63)* 3
100 (12)* 74 4 26 5 94 23 6 68 7^ 25 8
F1 50/50 F2 75/25 F3 87.5/12.5 F /6.25 No shearing from F4
F4 = no shear – proportion of Dorper genetics in each cross
*= % of Merino ewe in flock – value wool income – when merino base gone shearing for no significant wool $ - utility vs labour factors
^ all ewes F3 or greater by 7 years
Loss of yearly wool cheque

3. Source: http://cashdown.com.au
Shearing vs Shedding
When can you stop shearing?
- Doper sire – 8th year
- F2/Dorper sire – 6th year
Heritability of shedding
- shedding score (1-5) h
- selection shedding vs economically
important traits
Also consider…
Dark Medulated fibre (DMF)
- DMFRS
- Bale descriptions Y K R
Shedding – major gene – autosomal dominant mode of inheritance - variation in speed & extent of shedding -
Study just released (Pollott UK) h2 limited
11% don’t exhibit trait as lambs
Shedding score h lambs -2yo (but 0.26 older animas) moderate to high heritability – you can select for it but
Phenotypic correlation lambs cf. 2 yo 0.34 moderate (26/42 shed 12 unknown)
2 levels – introduction of shedding gene followed by selection
No ASBV’s for shedding ability.
Wool contamination - preliminary studies found no difference in DMF MF between groups 8 weeks after contact ceases
DMFRS Bale descriptions Y=visible BF K= visible MF R=run with shedding breeds
Source:

4. Risks and Benefits sensitivity infrastructure performance data
- drought, price fluctuations
infrastructure
performance data
- anecdotal evidence
- ASBV Dorper $ Index
organic production
- price premiums
- product quality, supply chain, markets
Dorper $ - increase overall profitability of meat production in self-replacing flock -pure-bred or up-grading

5. References
Cloete, S. W. P., M. A. Snyman, et al. (2000). Productive performance of Dorper sheep. Small Ruminant Research 36(2):
DPI (2011) < business/budgets/livestock>
Pollott, G.E. (2011). A suggested mode of inheritance for wool shedding in sheep. Journal of Animal Science: (89) 8.
Rose, M. and Bright, R.L. and Quigley, S.P. and Kleemann, D.O. (2000) Fibre Transfer in Merino Ewes Mated with Damara, Merino or Dorper Rams in Central Western Queensland. In: Animal Production for a Consuming World. AAAP-ASAP Conference, 2nd - 7th July, Sydney, Australia.
Sheep Genetics (2011)
Snyman, M. A. and M. J. Herselman (2005). Comparison of productive and reproductive efficiency of Afrino, Dorper and Merino sheep in the False Upper Karoo. South African Journal of Animal Science 35(2):