There many different types of Dorsets out there now. The more extreme being the show Dorsets. We concentrate on raising the other type of Dorset. The names for these is varied by the area you live in. They have been called Production Dorsets, Old Style and/or Commercial Dorsets. This is not to say that the show Dorsets can not be productive and both types of purebred Dorsets are registerable with Continental Dorset Club. These Production ewes just seem to be able to do better on their own. A bigger sheep doesn't necessarily mean a better sheep. Our foundation Dorset ewes were purchased from Kathy Soder of K Bar K Farm in Pennsylvania. We found Kathy has a similar philosophy of raising sheep to us and the ewes have been great.
The crossbred ewes in our flock have been the remaining ewes left from our endeavors into other breeds. These are the best ones left that continue to meet our culling criteria. The biggest part being Romney crosses. We worked with Romneys feeling that their unique could add value to our wool clip. However, we discovered this girls just don't work as easy as the Dorsets. The Texels we liked for the muscling but the lower lambing rate just wasn't good enough. However, once crossed with our Dorsets these ewes really do well. This is one cross we particularly like. Our newest breed to add was Ile De France. The IDF is similar in the muscling to the Texel but with more maternal traits. We added this breed through a ram we purchased from Janet McNally of Tamarack Lamb & Wool. We are anxiously awaiting our first lambs from Ivan.
We cull hard for ewes that can lamb unassisted, utilize pasture and raise twins or better with twins being the preferred birth. Replacements are sorted not only by their growth but by the production of their dams. We will have commercial crossbreds lambs for sale later this year and in 2009 will have registered production style Dorsets available as well.