[StockDogLovr]

Ok, so on to the next questions.

My Dorper ewes are not pureblood/fullblood registered but they are pretty nice ewes. Dorpers are pretty hot everywhere, and I realize I can't get such high dollar as what the registered stuff brings, but even still they do seem to bring a higher amount than the rest of the hair sheep. At auction anything that looks like a Dorper automatically goes for nearly $50 more than the other hair sheep.

So, my question is with regards to my lambs which aren't weaned yet. I have three ram lambs. One was a single and is a horse. His mother does not have a solid black head, but instead has some white splashes on the head. The ram has the classic coloring. This lamb is solid white with black ears and black mask. I was told by a friend that went to a Dorper conference that this type of coloring is allowed. He's a really nice ram lamb.

One of the twins has the classic black head and white body, no extra black anywhere. His brother is the same except that the black goes almost all the way down one leg, with a little white sock at the bottom.

I had someone leave a note on our gate saying she was interested in the one with the black head (I gather she means the lamb with the classic markings) and how much would I want?

So, I'd like to get top dollar for these guys. I'm hoping for opinions on what the best way to go is. I haven't castrated them yet because I don't want to take away the potential for at least the perfectly marked one to be a breeder for someone. Not everyone can afford the registered stock but still want the appearance. What is a reasonable price for a 2 mo lamb of this type? To castrate or not, sell as butcher lambs or not? Hang onto them for five months or so and then sell for what?

How would you proceed if these were your lambs? Sorry, so many questions, I'm all over the place with indecision on this!

 

[farmmaid]

We raise Dorper/Katahdin crosses.....love the cross. I sell weaned ram lambs (weaned at @10 weeks) and then on grass for about 3-4 months for $200 each. At that age they hang 40#-50#. I would contact the "message leaver" and offer to sell the best breeder for $225 at weaning. Note...my prices were for meat animals, not quality breeding and I ONLY sell the best for breeding. We allow farm butchering, as we have a nice peaceful place for respectful butchering on our farm. This way I know that $200 meat ram lambs are not going for breeding.
We have NEVER had any problems and have repeat customers.

 

[creeksidelc]

I've recently sold a couple dorper lambs and usually around here you can sell a 50-60 lb lamb for about 125. They are bringing about 2.30 per lb. The lambs in the 70-90 lb range are bringing around $2 per lb. I've seen a couple people selling unregistered dorpers for breeding stock for around 160-200. They are 7-10 months old. The way I see it you can very quickly get a dorper lamb to 55 lbs(usually 60 days) and wean it at time of selling and get 125 for it, or raise it an additional 3-4 months and only get another 70 or so for it. I sell mine as soon as I can get $125 so that I don't have to continue to feed and put money into them or take a chance of something happening to them. That's just my preference but it's all up to what you want to do.