Tough reputation drives popularity of Dorper sheep

Find out how a once controversial addition to Australia’s sheep flock has risen to the top of the price charts.

Known for their hardiness, the once-maligned Dorper sheep are now attracting record prices. Picture: Dannika Bonser

Love or hate them, there is no denying the growing popularity and increasing value of Dorper sheep.

Prices of $300, $400, $500 and $600 have regularly appeared on AuctionsPlus for young Dorper and Australian White ewes this year, culminating in some record-smashing sales of up to $994 a head in the past fortnight.

Behind it is a perfect storm of factors, agents say, starting with the desperate drought years of the past decade through to today’s coronavirus pandemic and snap border closures.

And it has to be acknowledged that the production performance and toughness of these shedding breeds has played a part in winning the hearts and cheque books of producers.

Particularly in NSW and Queensland where they have earnt the nicknames “little cow”, “beef sheep” or “woolly pigs”, among others.

Agent Darren Old, based at Mildura for BR&C, has watched the breed expand through pastoral NSW in the past decade and said the shift to running Dorpers had been gathering pace.

“A couple of things are definitely firing it,’’ he said.

“The first would be the dry conditions of the past six years which has seen people move to a tougher type of sheep. A lot of country that was destocked and locked up (over the drought) is now being stocked with Dorpers.

“Covid-19 has also pushed the breed along, as the border closures and New Zealand shearers being locked out meant people were really worried about getting sheep shorn.”

Mr Old said other factors driving up Dorper and Australian White sales in the north were:

GREATER corporate ownership of station country, with shedding sheep viewed as easier to manage and offering a quicker cashflow compared to Merino sheep;

GOVERNMENT grants for dog-proof fencing in Queensland which was encouraging more sheep back into this area; and

THE shortage and high cost of cattle which had producers looking for other options, and the Dorper was ticking boxes for its high fertility and faster return on investment compared to cows.

“A lot of guys that were running cattle are now running Dorper sheep,’’ Mr Old said.

“They can multiply quickly and when it comes to servicing debt accountants, bank managers like them, which helps.

“And then there is the seasonal risk. Dorper sheep can survive pretty well through a dry period whereas a cow needs a haystack.’’

All these points line up with a recent analysis by Michael McManus and Teeah Bungey of AuctionsPlus, who looked at buy and sell trends for Dorper and Australian White sheep on the online selling system.

They found that the bulk of Dorper trading is within NSW, which as a state accounts for 56 per cent of numbers listed and 53 per cent of all purchases.

The hot spots by region are Western and Central NSW.

Queensland was next on the list, purchasing 21 per cent of Dorper sheep on the box.

The southern states, where higher rainfall favours more traditional breeds such as first-cross and composite sheep for lamb production, lag behind – although there are signs of a push further south by the Dorper breed.

“Most states are weighted evenly between (Dorper) listings and purchases, except for Victoria,’’ Mr McManus said.

“Victoria has purchased a much greater percentage than they have listed, purchasing 18 per cent of the total offering while only listing 6 per cent.’’

The record priced $994 scanned-in-lamb Aussie White ewes, sold on AuctionsPlus last week, were purchased by a Victorian producer.

The 20 young ewes were listed as nine to 11 months old, averaging 55.9kg and joined to Tattykeel Australian White rams. They were from the Adler family of West Wyalong, who have been in the headlines in the past fortnight after selling five small lots of young ewes (or around 100 head) for between $988 to $994 each.

online artwork june 30 jenny kelly

Prices for shedding sheep have been rocketing along on AuctionsPlus since the drought broke.

The graph shows the average price for scanned-in-lamb Australian White ewes, and Dorper ewes, sold through the online platform since 2016.

In recent seasons they have doubled to tripled in price, led by the Australian White ewes which are currently tracking at $413 per head for the year to date.

The current average for purebred SIL Dorper ewes is at $321. That is within $5 of last year, and they are the only breed to have really held their value on last year’s buoyant results.

Mr Old said the reality was producers needed between $300 and $400 a head to be competitive on decent bred lines of SIL Dorper ewes.

“The better quality SIL ewes would be $350 to $400, which is very good money considering most people only sell their seconds — you really don’t see any Dorper flock dispersals,’’ he said.

It’s money that is well ahead of the average cost of a SIL Merino ewe.

MAKING IT PAY

So how does productivity and profit stack up for these shedding breeds?

Western Division producer Wayne Smith and family run five properties in the Menindee to Broken Hill area of NSW, under the banner of Tanany Pty Ltd.

Their blue bush country still runs Merinos, another property has Dohne ewes joined to White Suffolks, and 150,000ha at Karoola Station is dedicated to Dorpers.

Mr Smith said direct comparisons between breeds was difficult, as they all had their pros and cons. But he said the Dorper was a strong performer, to the point they would consider expanding further into this meat sheep.

“Over two lambings a year you can get 160 per cent lambs or better, and of the ewe lambs you are going to keep they can be joined before they are 12 months old,’’ Mr Smith said.

“That is where the Dorper really gets the jump over the Merinos, the number of lambs produced and how quickly you can get them into production and the classing pressure you can apply from having bigger numbers to select replacements from.

“I think a really well run Merino operation that was achieving at least 80 per cent saleable lambs would be comparable to Dorpers, but if you were only getting 60 or 70 per cent Merino lambs to sell you would be well behind.’’

As for the idea there were fewer costs and management of Dorpers, he was less convinced — although that could be because the Smiths run their 10,000 classed Dorper flock with tight six-week joinings.

“We have rams going out every eight months, we scan ewes at 40 days after joining and we have started to use electronic tags to manage ewes and record pregnancy and weaning results,” Mr Smith said.

“So while we don’t shear, there is still a lot of management and labour with jobs such as lamb marking.’’

Lambs are sold at around five months old, direct off the ewes, at a target weight of 24kg carcass weight, suiting domestic and supermarket orders.

He said the price point for Dorper lambs was usually similar to traditional crossbred lambs.

Price data from the National Livestock Reporting Service show Dorper lamb prices track within $5 to $10 per head of crossbred stock, with much of this difference taken up by skin value.

Although most of the lambs sold from the pastoral country of NSW go direct to abattoirs.

Mr Old said there was also a lucrative live export trade for Dorpers, with lightweight young ewes regularly in demand from countries such as China, Russia and Malaysia. Then there is the organic meat market, which much of the pastoral bred stock fit into.

“There is quite a lot that goes on with the Dorper breed that people just aren’t aware of unless they are in the game,’’ he said.

COMPARING APPLES AND ORANGES

On the criticisms directed at the breed around fencing requirements and grazing habits — often voiced by southern farmers where Dorpers seem to have a love/hate profile — Mr Smith agreed the breed was different.

“They are a different animal to handle compared to a Merino, they are a lot flightier and defensive,’’ he said.

“You learn to do things differently so infrastructure doesn’t get damaged — like if one ewe gets separated in the yards you bring back others to it otherwise it will crash through a gate or break its neck.’’

He said they had upgraded fencing: “They say if you throw a bucket of water at a fence and some goes through, a Dorper will also get through. Upgrading fencing is probably one of the biggest expenses of having them, but then again if we had wool sheep we would have had to spend money on shearers quarters and shearing sheds. There is expense no matter what breed you are in.’’

Mr Smith said if stocked correctly, there was no damage to paddocks. “Any damage is more a management issue than a sheep breed issue.

“A Dorper does eat more than a Merino, particularly if it has twin lambs with it, and you have to match your country accordingly,’’ he said.

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