Damara sheep

[username taken]

Thought people might enjoy pics of my Damaras

Lamb pics

The ewes

Minty - a hermaphrodite

And some traditional breed lambs - all on the bottle

 

[Farmer Kitty]

I like the pics of the red and black lambs laying together. They make quite the contrast.

 

[lizard]

Very cute!!!

 

[wynedot55]

love those lil lammies.they are way to cute.

 

[Scout]

Nice sheep!

 

[username taken]

thanks everyone

 

[Scout]

I aint never seen one up close and personal, heck I dont even know where you'd get those around here. What are there temperments like and how big do they get? I'd like to try to get somethin big like a Dorper but not as mean, all of them I've been around are buttheads for the most part LOL.

 

[jojo@rolling acres farm]

I'd be interested in hearing more about Damara sheep...I'm sure we all would. Is this a meat breed? Fiber? Temperment? Tell us more!

 

[username taken]

Okay, here goes.

The Damara is an African fat tailed hair breed.

Being a hair breed, they are of course kept for meat rather than fibre. They have a slick hair coat like a cow or goat; depending on genetics and environment, some of them grow a cashmere - like winter coat, which they shed when the weather warms up.

They were developed in very very harsh areas of Africa and so they require very little in the way of feeding. The fat tail acts like a camel's hump - in times of lush feed, the Damara stores fat in its tail, and when feed is limited, they draw on these fat reserves to survive.

The Damara comes in the full range of colours; solid black, solid white, solid brown in various shades. Patches, stripes, small and large dots, speckles, you name it, they've got it! They can have various combinations of white, black and browns all on the same animal. The colour pattern is not hereditary - you never know what you will get from the ewes at lambing time. A solid black ewe can have a solid white lamb, or a brown speckled lamb, or any colour really.

The Damara is traditionally horned with the males growing very large, heavy spiral horns and the females growing very very small horns, or no horns. Polled animals of both male and female exist also. The photo of Minty my hermaphrodite shows horns typical of a 10 month old ram lamb, while the photo just above that of the brown and white ewe shows horns typical of the adult ewe.

The Damara is a very tall breed similar in size to a dairy goat, and tends to be finely and narrow built. They are not extremely muscled like a Dorper. The legs are very long and very fine, but very very strong. Although they do not look like very good carcass animals, they are heavier than they look. The average weight of an adult ram is 80 kilogams, an adult ewe 50 kilograms, and a new-born lamb 4 kilograms. It is possible to turn lambs off mother's milk at four months old with a liveweight of 35 - 40kg which allows them to go straight from suckling to slaughter. Alternatively lambs can be weaned at 2 - 3 months and grown out until 4 - 8 months to reach target weight.

The Damara survived a long and perilous migration through Africa with its predators and its pervading principle of survival of fittest. As a result of these circumstances, the African people inherited a fleet-footed and alert breed, reminiscent of the African gazelle. The breed is closest in temperament and mannerisms to deer - minus the jumping. They are naturally alert and somewhat flighty - their movement is very similar to the movement of deer. However, they do not jump ordinary sheep fences even when under a great deal of pressure.

The Damara has a superb flocking instinct which makes them a dream to muster and handle in yards, in comparison with traditional sheep breeds which often have individuals break away from the mob - Damaras do not break away. They move together as a group and will actively look for gates.

One of the reasons I personally chose Damara is for the temperament; I have worked with various shedding breeds and traditional breeds. Dorpers will outperform the Damara in carcass every time, but the temperament of the Dorper leaves much to be desired. Many many times I have had a full grown Dorper turn around and run straight through me when I am working them through the yards. They barrel straight through you and let me tell you, that hurts! Damara do not do this. Damara are also much, much better on the fences than Dorper.

The Damara is a mixed feeder like the goat, enjoying both browsing (trees, leaves, scrub) and grazing (pasture, grass etc). Up to 60% of the Damaras diet can consist of browsed vegetation, and it can thus live in areas usually more suited to goats. They have a high resistance to both internal and external parasites.

Damara is not a seasonal breeder and can be bred all year round; 3 lambings in 2 years is very easy to achieve. First joining of ewes is generally at 10 - 12 months old.

Damara have a place in both large commercial flocks, and small hobby flocks. Large flocks are seeing the benefits of crossbreeding with Damara - the strong flocking instinct is evident in the first generation of crossing. They are also very good for farms in very arid, marginal country - similar to the country that would suit Longhorn or Brahman cattle, or feral goats. There is also an opportunity for farmers to target the specialist middle eastern market - either domestically for immigrants/refugees, or by export. The fat tailed breeds are the breed of choice for most middle eastern people. For small hobby farmers, the Damara is an ideal breed. Hobby farmers are drawn to the variety of colours. And these sheep do not need to be shorn, do not need to have their tails docked, which is a big benefit for hobby farmers.

Crossbreeding is very popular. The first cross inherits hybrid vigour and thus grows faster, the hide colour, fat tail and flocking instinct. The first cross needs to be shorn if kept longer than 12 months. The second cross has less wool which is shed yearly. The third and fourth crosses resemble purebreds. Fifth cross is considered pure.

Hand feeding a small amount of grain or hay each day will help keep them quiet - they will come when they are called and this makes them easy to move through paddocks if you are by yourself. This breed really does need regular human contact - at least every second day - otherwise they will revert to their flighty nature. However, they adapt very well to different systems - the ewes in these pictures I bought from a breeder who had put them out on the range, they hadnt seen people for four months, I bought them, they came home to my very different set up with hand feeding and seeing people 4 - 5 times a day, small children, etc and they have adapted very very well.

Now to keep things fair I must point out the weaknesses of this breed, and these are the three things I believe we as a breed need to work on to get the breed out and about and more popular in the wider industry:

1. Carcass conformation - we need to start selecting for heavier muscled animals that can compete on the hooks with dorper, poll dorset, suffolk etc

2. Fecundity - this breed tends to have single lambs, with twins occurring in about 10 - 15% of births. But the ewes have ample milk for twins, and I think to become more cost effective we need to get the fecundity from 110% as close to 200% as possible. After all, when it boils down to the economics, it is all about kilograms of lamb produced per female per year and the more twins we produce the more meat our females are producing.

3. Temperament - I believe the best way to describe these animals is 'undomesticated'. They are not truly domesticated and this can pose some problems with flighty animals. To target in particular the hobby farmer market, some work needs to be done on breeding animals who are less flighty and more interactive with their human handlers. In contrast, the temperament of the Damara is very good compared to Dorper (possibly the most popular hair/shedding breed) which is often aggresive.

 

[jojo@rolling acres farm]

Thanks so much! They sound like an interesting animal. I'm assuming the cashmere they produce is limited...does anyone do anything with the cashmere? Or, is it the wrong texture and not long enough? What a variety of colors! Love the white one with the brown head - the one that is featured about mid way through your selection of photos...love the look of the "fat" tail. I'm gald you could share all your knowledge/information. Your animals are in beautiful condition loved the photos of your cattle that are posted in the cattle section here as well. You do a really nice job with them!