Royal White® Sheep Association
Increasing numbers of people have been diversifying into these easy care (never shear) super- fast growing lambs, such as cattle operators, dairies, goat producers, hog operators and baby boomers, looking for a hobby and to make some income. The demand for high quality pure hair lambs is and has been high....have a good 2010 everyone....BH
The 2010 Royal White Sheep Booklet is available now,. The Official Site
Royal White® Sheep
United States
royalwhi
Royal White Ewes
Sweltering Animals Cost Producers Cold, Hard Cash. August 16, 2002 Ohio State University
Cholesterol level and sensory eavaluation for lambs of various hairxwool sheep crosses, Utah State Univesity, Logan, UT (note implications). Royals produce high meat yields.
http://www.asas.org/western03/data/104300.pdf
Breeds of Livestock, Oklahoma State Universityhttp://www.ansi.okstate.edu/breeds/sheep/
The all hair sheep advantage.
Easycare.Never shear, dock or crutch equals less labor, less fly strike.
Less heat stress in the humid/hotter summer months, especially while lambing in open fields.
Faster newborn lamb cleanup by mother ewe, speed of cleanup enhances lamb survivability. Better lamb survivability means higher lamb crop percentages, equals higher profits.
Less debris in coat such as cockleburrs, spear grass, and needle grass, some of these can be deadly if they bore into skin.
Less chances of external parasites from rubbing back area under trees, thus less prone to spread to other sheep.
Better cooling of body in summer months. less heat stress, less chances of flystrike, less stress better lambing results in summer.
Shake and shed rain off.
All hair produces the highly sought after premium garment quality leather with high yields and less defects in the leather. This leather is in demand worldwide, including the US Military for pilot helmet liners. Also law enforcement gloves to name a few. Royals pelts are splittable, like cattle. Today they produce washable leather lambskin shirts and vests from this leather. Its lightweight, highly abrasive resistant.
Analysis of the sheep trichohyalin; potential structural and calcium-binding roles of trichohyalin in the hair follicle. Dept. of Biochemistrty, University of Adelaide, Australia.> Trichohyalin is a structural protein that is produced and retained in the cells of the inner root sheath and the medulla of the hair follicle. Trichohyalin plays more that a structural role within the hair follicle. In situ hybridization studies have shown that trichohyalin is expressed in the epithelia of the tongue, hoof and rumen. Could this be that hair sheep utilize/metabolize protein from feed/grass differently to make certain volumes of cells than say wool sheep...alot of protein goes to make wool?
Wool contaminates hair, thus leather quality and consistency; hair contaminates wool as well, increasing wool processing costs. A pure hair type of sheep yields higher premium garment quality leather yields than a wool-hair mix type. Leather from an all hair follicled pelt has higher tensile strength and higher abrasive resistance.
The skin is dense with excellent hide substance, increasing vector resistance.
Hair follicles retain body heat in the winter.
Royal's don't need to have wool on their backs to help protect them from sunburn. Many Australian producers shear the wool off those backs of the wool-hair composite types, sometimes referred to as shedding types. All sheep shed fiber.Royal White sheep were developed for production, not the show ring, however, they do very well in the show arena. One Royal ewelamb in the 2005 Houston Livestock Show (largest in Texas) was Supreme Champion ewe, they typically do well in shows.
Royals' have the ideal blend of both tropical and desert traits to make them adapt well in most areas of the USA. They are non-geo specfic. Upgrading from other breeds makes for inconsistency within the breed from farm to farm. We have no desire to dilute the traits in these sheep or add unwanted traits, thus upgrading from other breeds isn't permitted in the breed for registration purposes. They are non flighty, hardy and developed for overall performance.
Ewe w/twins, note nice udder size, ewes are excellent milk producers and placed well off the ground due to her height to weight proportionate frame>
The Royal White with it's all hair not wool/hair mix or wool type enhances this ovine's productivity in hotter summer months and more humid conditions. Lower heat stress/and high heat tolerance for sure, they don't commingle under trees in the summer, for long periods, like many breeds seeking shade, thus greater chances of spreading disease and external parasites. they don't huff and puff like some other breeds, particularly black face types in the hot summer They browse moreso during these periods as well exhibit lower heat stress The hollow fibered hair on hair sheep may indeed assist the animal in the cooling process and store body heat in these hollow fibers in the winter months. Angora rabbits have hollow fibered hair, reports indicate they absorb and utilize vitamins from the sun better than some other rabbits. No study on sheep that I know of in that regard.
Royal White meat. Lots of it, Very tender 2.1 Bratzler Shear Force Instrument ; conversion of grass or grain to muscle and just maybe more volumes of certain beneficial cells. Reports are coming in of 1 year old rams slaughtered stating the meat is very good. Figure approx. 54% meat yield on a 109# ram lamb. The Royals gain fast and distribute muscle throughout their height to weight proportionate frames.
Parasites: Royals have done well in Florida and stayed up with the St. Croix sheep. They may have an advantage because of greater size in carrying worm loads versus a desert type sheep or smaller framed hair sheep and are resilient.. The Royals were selected for parasite resistance, they do well in wetter/tropical climates as well as the desert climates.
The key to this breed are the many selected traits packaged/bundled in the new Royal White for production and consistent performance, not 1 or 2 traits. These sheep adapt most anywhere.They are highly intelligent for sheep per comments from many veternarians who work with sheep, making management easier and less stressful on both handler and the sheep. The ewes are excellent mothers, highly protective of their newborns and have large udders for multi-lamb nursing capabilities.. These udders are well sized and off the ground high enough to help avoid mastitis. Royal White ewes are feminine, we like it that way, better mothering traits, Royal handle shipping with low stress even on long hauls.
Currently ,we need more sheep producers in this country. The demand for lamb in the US has exceeded supply for many, many years. There is plenty of room for more producers and plenty of opportunities to make a profit. Royals are in demand both domestically and internationally. Seems like producers who have experienced the Royal White desire more of them once they have them on their farm and see for themselves how well they perform. 2009 and forward should be an excellent for production of lamb with the lack of supply but increasing demand, particularly the growing ethnic lightweight lamb market. Lamb prices are rising versus many livestock markets and this trend should continue. These are super fast growing lambs. Good luck to you in your sheep production endeavors. ~ BH
Royal White Ram Lamb
Royal White® Sheep
United States
royalwhi
