Differences in sheep
I’m not entirely sure exactly what kinds of sheep you may have seen, but there are quite a few. I’ll go with what I normally see at shows I go to with a basic description. These are also the meat breeds, as that’s my area.
1- Suffolk. Suffolk have white short wool and have a black face and legs. These are the kinds of sheep I show. 2 varieties that I know of exist, the White Suffolk - which is pretty much the same as a Suffolk, and the original Suffolk.
2- Texel. Texel’s look bulkier. They have white faces and legs, with a few black dots on their head. They also often have their front feet slightly turned outwards. They are a short wool type breed.
3- Southdown. Southdown’s are a pretty type. They have been compared to teddy bears, and if you’ve seen them you would know why. They have darker wool, a more greyish type, and their wool goes onto their face, which gives them the teddy bear look. Again, they have short wool.
4- Poll Dorset. Poll Dorset's are lovely. They have a white face and legs, and they’re a taller looking breed, that look similar to Horned Dorset’s except they have no horns.
5- Horned Dorset. Horned Dorset’s are my favourites. They and the Poll Dorset look similar due to the fact that they are essentially the same sheep, except as the name states the Horned Dorset has horns. That is the only thing really setting them apart.
6- Dorper. Dorper’s are a smaller breed. There are 2 varieties. One is the White Dorper, which is a small white breed. The other is the regular Dorper, and that has a white body up until the shoulders, which is when the shoulders and head are black. These guys have no wool, and instead a type of hair, due to their origins.
A common trend one will see in sheep is that unless they’re used for both wool and meat, one will have different wool to the other. By that, I mean that if they’re used for meat, then their wool tends to be shorter.
