Damara Sheep

[Tegs]

Gentle natured, purebred Damara ram for sale. “Trevor” is a proven breeder and is an ideal working ram or mild mannered lawnmower - $100. We also have 3 lambs (2 weathers, 1 ewe) almost ready for the freezer. Finnish fattening them up or keep them as pets - $50 each.

[ppp]

hi tegs

I'm quite interested.. we were talking about looking for dorpers though.. can you tell us more about damara 's?

[Tegs]

Hi PPP,

Damara's are a shedding sheep just like the Dorpers however they seem to be a little bit hardier. However the trade off for them being so hardy is that they seem to take a little bit longer to grow if you are looking at them for meat production. The reason we are selling our ram is because we have just purchased a Dorper ram to try and increase the "meatiness" of the lambs. If you ask a Doper breeder which meat they prefer they will always say the Doper is far superior but ask a Damara breeder the same question and they will tell you that Damara meat is by far the best. It all comes down to personal preference I suppose. Take at look at both the Damara and Doper association web sites, we have found them very informative.

I hope this helps

[ppp]

thanks for that.. I have rightly had it pointed out that our fences aren't (quite) finished.. we've come a long way.. don't hold them for me, but hopefully I'll get back to you...

[Tegs]

Hi PPP,

When you are ready to get some sheep feel free to contact me. We are in the process of moving across to Dorpers and should some have some Doper x Damara lambs in about six months.

Good luck with your fencing

[ppp]

thanks re luck, not sure it's luck though.. just a case of getting on with it.
by the way, can you let me know approx where you are just so I can approx travel time for when the time might come?

thanks

[Tegs]

Yeah no probs, we are in Agnes Water, it's about 6 hours - a bit of a hike but a nice little road trip all the same. Good excuse for a beach holiday

[pippimac]

Just a heads-up on dorpers: my folks had some in a high-rainfall area and found they were really prone to footrot, which makes sense as the sheep were bred forthe arid S. African climate.
They are also escape artists. Think goats. You need really good fences to contain them.

[Tegs]

I think most sheep in the tropics/ sub-tropics need careful foot attention during the wet season as long as you can provide some dry ground for them you shouldn't have to many probs. We have dog wire fencing and haven't had any problems with the sheep getting out. Our goats on the other hand ... they were frustrating!

[teela]

I have currently Damaras grazing on my property in an 800mm rainfall area. I originally got them when I was on another property where the rainfall was 300mm. When I moved I just couldn't bare to leave them behind, I love the breed, both their strange looks and their easy care. So far so good. But I did wonder if I was doing the right thing bringing arid area sheep into a higher rainfall zone. In the future I may get a Wiltshire ram. I'm thinking along the lines that a splash of english blood will make the breed (meaning their off spring) more used to greener pastures.