The adaptability of the Dorper enables it to flourish in most climates, from cold, rainy areas to drier regions with hot summer temperatures, where very few other types of farming are economically viable.
An excellent meat carcass with even fat distribution is the trademark of Dorpers – mature rams have a live mass of 100 to 120 kg and ewes one of 75 to 85 kg. The Dorper produces a large quantity of meat with little input.
Fast-growing lambs that can be marketed from the age of 3½ to 4 months when a live mass of 36 to 45 kg is reached.
High fertility rate and multiple births combined with ewes that are physically well-equipped for breeding and feeding over many years result in the ability to maintain a high level of production. It has a long breeding season with the possibility to have lambing intervals of eight months.
Pasture friendly grazers that eat less selectively than woolled sheep do and has a propensity to eat more unpalatable plants.
A resistance to disease and requiring little care. Dorpers do not require shearing, crutching, mulesing, jetting, nor constant monitoring for fly strike.
Dorper Sheep are intelligent and curious and can become very easy to handle with very little training