"Baa, baa, black sheep,
Have you any wool?
Yes, sir, yes, sir,
Three bags full"
Md.Nehal Hossain Nafis : a poem originally written on 1731 based on 13th century England.A tempered country like England need sheep to harvest wool but in tropical country like ours, we rear sheep for meat and lambs to fulfill our protein demand.As meat is our priority,it is high time we adopted meat breed of sheep to increase meat production and to improve our local breeds. Dorper in my point of view can be an excellent option for bangladesh to adapt.
WHY CHOOSE DORPERS?
Economical
Dorpers are a cost-effective breed due to their superior feed conversion and utilisation.They are highly disease resistant and do not require shearing, crutching, or mulesing.
Meat production
A pure-bred Dorper ram may weigh between 90 and 120 kg, while a ewe may weigh around 50 and 80 kg. There is an optimal distribution of meat and fat on the Dorper carcass.
Fertile
With only about 8-month lambing interval, the Dorper belongs to the most prolific sheep breeds. Lambing percentages of 150% (2.25 lambs annum) are achievable, and in the majority of regions, well above 100% is easily attainable.
Good mothering qualities
The Dorper ewe is an excellent mother that fervently stands her young. It is typical to have multiple births. Lambs have a good survival rate and are very mobile at birth. The high milk production of the Dorper ewe benefits to the early growth and survival of lambs.
Good grazing habits
Dorpers are able to adapt to most different types of grazing. Within the first few days of their lives, lambs will begin to graze. It can be advantageous to introduce the Dorper into poorer-performing pastures of lower quality in order to turn an inferior asset into a profitable one.
Continuous breeding season
The dorper is polyoestrus, meaning it can reproduce year-round without having a set season.Breeding interval for dorper is as little as eight months or a total of three in a two-year period.
Fast growing
Dorper lambs are born with the capacity to grow quickly and to graze from an early age.Thus they have a quick growth rate and a high weaning weight. Dorpers respond well to high protein feed sources and balanced nutrition, giving farmers the potential to increase weights rapidly in response to market demand.
Given their polyoestrus characteristics, short breeding intervals and fast growing potential, the flock size of the Dorpers lamb increases more quickly than most other sheep breeds.So Dorper has huge potential in farming in bangladesh.Already first movers are adapting dorper and It's farming is increasing,thats a good sign however finding pure lines of dorper breed in Bangladesh can be a tough job.
Writer-Assistant Manager (CF)
Bengal Meat Processing Industries Ltd.
