Royal White sheep are a hair breed, privately funded and developed in the United States by William Hoag, Dorpcroix Sheep Farm in Hermleigh, Texas. Hoag started sheep raising as a hobby in 1994-95 with St. Croix sheep in Utah and then infused the Dorper and White Dorpers. Large framed registered St. Croix ewes were selected from a wide variety of small flocks mainly in the Western portion of the USA. The selected offspring from these crosses were then called Dorpcroix sheep and sold to the public for breeding enabling many traditional wool producers to retain wool ewes and utilize the Dorpcroix rams to achieve the lower maintenance and labor benefit and in many cases more lambs with better survivability.

 

The Royal White sheep is frame to height weigh proportionate, designed to be off the ground far enough not to effect body temperature. They grow a longer hair coat in the fall and the shed it off naturally in the spring. The Royal White is pure white. Ewes and rams are polled or naturally hornless.

 

Texas Tech University, New Deal, TX has been researching and doing tests with these sheep since 1998 in regards to feed to gain and meat evaluation. Texas A&M University, DNA Core Facility, College Station, TX has been doing research in regards to scrapie resistance since 2002.

 

Weights:

•  Rams 185-235 lbs
•  Ewes 175-210 lbs

 

The Royal White Sheep Association is continuing to improving this breed in regards to genotyping and will continue improving traits for such things as scrapie resistance and even more parasite resistance.

 

 

Breed Associations and Registries

Royal White Sheep Association

PO BOX 245

Houston, PA 15342

Phone: (724) 681-8755

 

 

References

William Hoag, Hermleigh, Texas