The Dohne.   (pronounced “Doo-Nee”)

The Dohne ( although itself is a pure Merino breed) has been bred for exactly for that purpose. Developed in the late 1930’s by the South African Department of Agriculture at the newly established Dohne Agricultural Research Station and on surrounding farms in the Dohne region, the aim was to develop a dual purpose fine woolled Merino capable of high levels of lamb and meat production. The original quest was to incorporate the superior wool characteristics of the peppin style Merino with the carcase characteristics of the German Mutton Merino. In Australia the ‘Merino’ has been dropped from the Dohne so that meat buyers would not be biased and discriminate against the lambs at the point of sale. The first Dohne lambs were born in Australia only 10 years ago in 1998, we saw a real future in the sheep but it took until last year for us to negotiate to buy the genetics we wanted. Nareeb Nareeb’s Dohne stud ewes were selected from the “Roseville Park Dohne Stud”. With the use of Artificial insemination we aim to use leading industry sires and produce purebred Dohnes of the highest quality.

    12 mth old paddock reared Dohne rams

         Dohnes can be used as a complete self replacing flock producing meat and wool or as a highly valued alternative to other maternal or terminal sires. With first cross wool prices at very low levels we see a real future for the Dohne Sheep in replacing the traditional maternal and terminal sires that have been used over merino ewes. First cross ewes that will cut around $30 worth of wool, at least they pay their board and lodging if they lose their lambs. Dohne’s  have a lot going for them, 18-21 micron wool, plain bodied skins (easier shearing and increased skin value), bare breach (no mulesing), fertility (high lambing %), low birth weights (easy care lambing), fast growth rates (earlier selling dates or heavier lambs), excellent carcase traits (lean high yielding meat) and a wide dietary range (suitable for all types of improved and unimproved pastures). The use of objective measurement for body weight, wool cut and micron since 1970 enables breeding values to be compared accurately both within flocks and across Australia. Unlike the Australian Merino, a full pedigree register has all but eliminated black and medullated  fibres from Dohne sheep.