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- Meatmaster_(sheep) abstract "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. 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.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. Meatmasters have been exported to Namibia, Australia, and Canada.Some of the renowned breeders of Meatmaster Sheep are Clynton Collet, Johnny Morrison, Jean du Plessis, Boemie Saaiman and Danie du Plessis in South Africa, as well as Dennis Russsel of Genelink in Australia. Justice Malanot is an advocate for a more tropical Meatmaster for Central and East Africa. Many Damara sheep enthusiasts in countries such as Mexico, Canada, Columbia and New Zealand are also breeding towards Meatmasters from their Damara nucleus genetics, often incorporating local female bloodlines. There is also a big movement away from pure Dorper genetics towards the Meatmaster Dorper-Damara hybrid. The reason for this is the superior vigour and hardiness of the Meatmaster over the pure Dorper, and the A2-A3 type Dorper type conformation and carcass.The International Meatmaster Sheep movement can be described as sheep breeders that wish to have Dorper type carcass conformation, whilst retaining the easy care aspect, the strong herding instinct and the high disease resistance of the Damara. Meatmaster owners select their sheep based on primarily economic criteria (such as BLUP data) and not based only on visual appeal (for shows). The Meatmaster is a commercial sheep aimed at returning the highest possible economic returns with the lowest possible inputs and dosing, inoculation and human care. This is achieved by combining the best aspects of the Dorper sheep breed with the superior hair sheep aspects of the hardy Damara. South African Meatmaster sheep retain their tails, while Meatmasters in Australia most often have the tails docked due to local market discrimination against a Damara type fat tail carcass. This is aimed at making the Meatmaster carcass qualify as a Dorper-cross animal.Meatmasters thrive on up to 63% browse, unlike most European grass fed sheep, which puts them nearly in the goat feeding category, just like pure Damara Hair Sheep. Meatmaster sheep also have the ability to graze on Alfalfa Lucerne without bloat problems. Meatmasters on Lucerne are known to exceed a 200% lambing percentage, dropping twins roughly every 7–8 months. The Meatmaster breed is unique in that it lends itself to an extensive farming model combined with elements of an intensive model, such as direct unsupervised uncontrolled grazing of Lucerne stands. Mature Meatmaster Rams and Ewes typically protect young lambs with vigour, even going as far as attacking a predator such as a jackal or a dog. Younger animals are most often shielded in the center of the flock, with aggressive older animals on the outer perimeter. Predators approaching the flock draw the ire of mature animals, which divert attention away from vulnerable lambs. Predators shy away from direct confrontation with an aggressive Ram weighing 85–105 kg, which can deliver stinging blows butting with its head. Even an aggressive ewe weighing a mere 60 kg can inflict serious bruising, and prefer hitting a human interfering with a lamb in the vulnerable loin area, causing the lamb to be released immediately. Ewes scan for their lambs every few seconds and become very agitated if separated from their lamb even for a moment or two.This superior mothering ability result in a higher weaning percentage compared to pure Dorper. Dorpers generally have more lambs than Meatmasters, but Meatmasters wean more lambs than pure Dorpers due to its superior mothering and a stronger flocking instinct, with fewer individual lambs falling victim to predation. Meatmaster sheep should preferably always be kept in a group of two or more, as they can become very agitated if separated from a flock as an individual, causing stress to the animal and resulting in a panicked attempt to rejoin the flock. Two Meatmasters will instinctively band together. Meatmasters have a strong flocking instinct and do not swarm off in small groups like Dorper sheep. Meatmasters are not as flighty as pure Damara, but are more flockbound than Dorpers.A stud Meatmaster is at least a F4 generation, most often a cross between a white Dorper and a Damara. Meatmasters are most often bred up from either a white Dorper Ram and Damara Ewes, or from Dorper Ewes and a Damara Ram. The F1 offspring are then crossed with each other for a F2 cross. When the F4 stage is reached, the animal is regarded as a true Meatmaster Sheep in which the hybrid vigour has settled, and in which the desired characteristics have been fixed. A F1 cross is not regarded as a Meatmaster breeding animal, but as a F1 cross on the way to full (F4) Meatmaster status. Meatmasters have colour patterns similar to those of Nguni cattle and Indigenous Veldt Goats. These may range from a single dominant colour such as red or white, to spotted or striped patterns closer to that of the Damara parent breed. The colour combinations of Meatmaster sheep are most often a mix of Damara and coventional Dorper colours and are generally regarded as less important than the carcass conformation. The main selection criteria that commercial breeders focus on are birthweight, 100-day weight and 270-day weight. Animals without obvious conformation faults and with the highest BLUP data for fastest growth and the most weight gain are used as the top Meatmaster breeding animals. The slogan of the South African Meatmaster Sheep Society is "Nature's moneymaker". The emphasis is on economic performance and not on visual appeal or colours.The Meatmaster sheep has become popular among both large commercial farmers faced with predation problems from Jackal, Caracal and Leopard (where the strong flocking instinct provide added protection), as well as small scale weekend "hobby farmers" making use of the "easy care" aspect of Hair Sheep which provide very low barriers to entry for first timers. Communal farmers and livestock owners in open range realities make use of the Meatmaster because of easy control of a flock by just one person as well as the higher disease resistance over most conventional sheep breeds. The Meatmaster Sheep Breed Society has become popular because of the open non descriptive breed standard which is inclusive and allow people to breed towards Meatmasters using whatever female animal sheep breed they already own. This inclusiveness and the economic emphasis has proven popular worldwide. Meatmaster sheep is regarded as an economic option where parasite resistance to traditional chemical parasite treatments have become a problem.Meatmaster Sheep breeders do not compete with each other using the prettiest animals at Meatmaster Sheep shows, but rather have lively Sale events where the economic traits for specific ecosystems are emphasized. The Meatmaster Society recognises that grazing conditions and eco realities differ and that individual breeders select the best performing Meatmaster sheep for their own unique eco-realities. As such direct competition between breeders and direct comparisons are best avoided, as each Meatmaster breeder "calibrates" and select animals for a unique geographic location and a different feed reality. This makes direct comparisons impossible, as the animals are on different types and quality feed. The Meatmaster breed and Meatmaster society have benefitted from this approach, as it stimulated selection for economic performance instead of for shows. Local buyers and first time entrants prefer to purchase sheep from local breeders that have similar eco realities to their own, and these differ from sweetveldt to sourveld, semi desert to subtropical, very arid to high humidity, Heartwater and Tsetse Fly challenges. As such the best Meatmaster sheep depends very much on location and availability of feed- and the requirements of the individual involved, with the emphasis placed on selecting animals that have the highest performance in a unique on farm feed reality. Meatmaster sheep are Hair Sheep selected for optimum meat production.".
- Meatmaster_(sheep) thumbnail Meatmaster.jpg?width=300.
- Meatmaster_(sheep) wikiPageExternalLink meatmaster.studbreeder.com.
- Meatmaster_(sheep) wikiPageID "25990327".
- Meatmaster_(sheep) wikiPageRevisionID "586974501".
- Meatmaster_(sheep) hasPhotoCollection Meatmaster_(sheep).
- Meatmaster_(sheep) subject Category:Sheep_breeds.
- Meatmaster_(sheep) subject Category:Sheep_breeds_originating_in_South_Africa.
- Meatmaster_(sheep) type Abstraction100002137.
- Meatmaster_(sheep) type AnimalGroup107993929.
- Meatmaster_(sheep) type BiologicalGroup107941170.
- Meatmaster_(sheep) type Breed108101410.
- Meatmaster_(sheep) type Group100031264.
- Meatmaster_(sheep) type SheepBreeds.
- Meatmaster_(sheep) type SheepBreedsOriginatingInSouthAfrica.
- Meatmaster_(sheep) type TaxonomicGroup107992450.
- Meatmaster_(sheep) type Variety108101085.
- Meatmaster_(sheep) comment "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.".
- Meatmaster_(sheep) label "Meatmaster (sheep)".
- Meatmaster_(sheep) sameAs m.0b6gl18.
- Meatmaster_(sheep) sameAs Q6804325.
- Meatmaster_(sheep) sameAs Q6804325.
- Meatmaster_(sheep) sameAs Meatmaster_(sheep).
- Meatmaster_(sheep) wasDerivedFrom Meatmaster_(sheep)?oldid=586974501.
- Meatmaster_(sheep) depiction Meatmaster.jpg.
- Meatmaster_(sheep) isPrimaryTopicOf Meatmaster_(sheep).