Greeting, I forgot to mention that in the BBSAI Newsletter mailed out this month is an article dealing with "Resistance to Internal Parasites in Lambs of Hair Sheep Composite." Katahdin, Dorper, Blackbelly, crosses and other sheep are compared and mentioned in this article. Thought this might help with your decision.
James Harper Virginia Regional Director Blackbelly Barbados Sheep Association International -----Original Message----- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of lisa morris Sent: Wednesday, November 19, 2003 11:53 PM To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: [blackbelly] Blackbelly - Dorper Comparison Hello, My husband and I have two 6 mo. old Blackbelly ewes and plan on getting more (he posted about the fencing) We are debating about what kind of ram to get. We are raising the sheep for meat for the family. Our rainfall here is very low, so we must buy all our feed. Hay is $10.00 a bale (three string), so efficient feed conversion is important. Although the Blackbelly sheep seem very hardy, they are, at 6 months old, not very heavy. We could get a polled Blackbelly ram lamb, and breed more lightweight sheep. We were considering getting a Dorper ram, so the lambs would be bigger. We would save the ewe lambs for breeding. Our concern is that the Dorper sheep might not be hardy enough. I know there are websites promoting the hardiness of the Dorper breed, but their main goal is to sell their product. The Dorper is promoted as "heat tolerant", but how hot is hot? Our summer temps. average 110 during the day. Months go by where the daily temp always exceeds 100. The Blackbelly don't seem to care. Could the Dorper ram become infertile? Another concern is birthing. Could the crosses have more birthing problems than Blackbelly? I have no interest in participating in flashlight-assisted midnight midwifery, emergency vet calls, or bottlefeeding "bummer lambs" (who could eat a lamb they bottleraised?) I understand of course that emergencies happen, but I prefer to keep them to a minimum. This is even more important than feed conversion. Does anyone have any experience with this? _________________________________________________________________ Is there a gadget-lover on your gift list? MSN Shopping has lined up some good bets! http://shopping.msn.com =============================================== This message is from the Barbados Blackbelly Sheep mailing list. To respond to this message, send e-mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] To unsubscribe or change your membership options, go to http://lists.coyotenet.net/mailman/listinfo/blackbelly =============================================== This message is from the Barbados Blackbelly Sheep mailing list. To respond to this message, send e-mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] To unsubscribe or change your membership options, go to http://lists.coyotenet.net/mailman/listinfo/blackbelly
