Meatmaster (sheep)

Meatmaster (sheep)
Meatmaster sheep

The Meatmaster is a breed of domestic sheep native to South Africa. Bred in the early 1990s from various hair sheep breeds, the Meatmaster was created with the goal of improving the meat characteristics of African fat-tailed sheep breeds in mind.[1] Today Meatmaster bloodlines may be a composite of any number of breeds, such as Van Rooy or South African Meat Merino, but must contain Damara breeding.[2]

Meatmasters are hair sheep (meaning they lack wool which requires shearing), come in a diverse array of colors, and may be both horned and polled. The focus in breeding is mostly on meat production, but they are also very hardy and with good mothering instincts (inherited from their Damara breeding). Rams weigh from 85 to 105 kilograms and ewes 60-70 kg.[3] Meatmasters have been exported to Namibia, Australia, and Canada.[1]

References

  1. ^ a b Susan Schoenian, Sheep & Goat Specialist University of Maryland. "sheep101.info/breedsM-N". http://www.sheep101.info/breedsM-N.html. 
  2. ^ Hinton, David (2006). Running a Small Flock of Sheep (2 ed.). Landlinks Press. p. 28. ISBN 9780643092754. 
  3. ^ Sheep breed compendium, Australian Wool Exchange (AWEX), 2010

External links

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