expend : Dorsets are dual - purpose fleece and meat sheep . Dorset fleece is white , potent , and free of dark fiber . average a five to nine pound clip with a two to four in raw material , it measures in the 26 to 32 micrometer range . Because they ’re thoughtful , passing milklike dams , Dorset ewe produce tight - growing , meaty Lamb ; twins are the norm .
History : The British Dorset ’s origin is uncertain but it ’s believe to be descended from a long - tailed , rude breed , the Portland , whose tan - faced , horned ascendant cast throughout southwest England prior to the Roman Conquest . enounce M.L. Ryder , writing in The History of Sheep Breeds in Britain ( 1964 ) , “ The unimproved Portland breed , now almost extinct , is probably a secure instance of what the South - West horn type was like before it develop into such breeds as the Wiltshire Horn and Dorset Horn . It is of sake that the tenacious facts of life time of year for which the Dorset Horn is now famed was observe by Edward Lisle as early on as 1757 , in the Wiltshire breed . The only other stock that is so fertile is the Merino , and this has led some to suggest Merino profligate in the modern Dorset . ” The British Dorset Horn Sheep Breeders Association was found in 1891 but Horned Dorsets came to America long before that . The Hudson ’s Bay Trading Company institute them to Oregon prior to 1860 and the first to reach our East Coast arrived in 1885 . Using Horned Dorset education stock , North Carolina State College in Raleigh , North Carolina , pioneer polled ( hornless ) Dorsets in the early 1950 ’s , creating a second and now more democratic Dorset breed .
Conformation : Dorsets , both horned and polled potpourri , have white faces with pinkish peel . They are solidly build , at least as long as they are tall , with broad binding and intermediate - length legs . Horned Dorset ewes have minuscule , stalwart saddle horn that curve frontwards and downwards nigh to the jaw ; Horned Dorset RAM have glorious , spiral - curved horns . Dorset ewes weigh 150 to 225 pound and abide 34 inch improbable or less ; mature rams tiptoe the ordered series at 225 to 350 Cypriot pound and should n’t exceed 37 inches tall at the shoulder .
Special Considerations / Notes : The Dorset ’s most remarkable trait is its power to breed out of season , a quality not seen in most wooled stock ; properly managed Dorset ewes get three Charles Lamb harvest in just two years . In addition , Dorsets adapt extremely well to both dope - based and feedlot situations . poll Dorsets are the most popular white - face strain in North America , while the much less - common Dorset Horn remains in the Watch category ( “ few than 2,500 annual enrolment in the United States and gauge global universe less than 10,000 ” ) of the American Rare Breeds Conservancy ’s Conservation Priority Watchlist .
