The Polypay sheep breed

Domestic sheep

Sheep are quadrupedal, ruminant mammals typically kept as livestock. Like all ruminants, sheep are members of the order Artiodactyla, the even-toed ungulates. Although the name "sheep" applies to many species in the genus Ovis, in everyday usage it almost always refers to Ovis aries...

 is a white, medium sized sheep which was developed in the 1960s at the U.S. Sheep Experiment Station

U.S. Sheep Experiment Station

The U.S. Sheep Experiment Station is an agricultural experiment station focusing on domestic sheep which is run by the United States Department of Agriculture's Agricultural Research Service...

 in Dubois, Idaho

Dubois, Idaho

Dubois is a city in Clark County, Idaho, United States. The population was 647 at the 2000 census. The city is the county seat of Clark County.The city was named for U.S. Senator Fred Dubois....

. In general, Polypay sheep are noted for being a highly prolific, dual-purpose (meat and wool

Wool

Wool is the textile fiber obtained from sheep and certain other animals, including cashmere from goats, mohair from goats, qiviut from muskoxen, vicuña, alpaca, camel from animals in the camel family, and angora from rabbits....

) breed.

Breed goals

Dr. C. V. Hulet created five main goals for the new breed.

• High lifetime prolificacy
• Large lamb crop at one year of age
• Ability to lamb more frequently than once per year
• Rapid growth rate of lambs
• Desirable carcass quality

The original breeding stock were taken from the Finnsheep

Finnsheep

The Finnish Landrace or Finnsheep is a breed of domestic sheep which has a high incidence of multiple births – it is common for a ewe to have three, four, or even five lambs at once. In North America there have been several instances of births of seven lambs, and the record in Finland is nine...

 for their high prolificacy, early puberty and short gestation, Dorset

Dorset

Dorset , is a county in South West England on the English Channel coast. The county town is Dorchester which is situated in the south. The Hampshire towns of Bournemouth and Christchurch joined the county with the reorganisation of local government in 1974...

 for their superior mothering ability, carcass quality, early puberty and long breeding season, Targhee for their large body size, long breeding season and quality fleeces

Wool

Wool is the textile fiber obtained from sheep and certain other animals, including cashmere from goats, mohair from goats, qiviut from muskoxen, vicuña, alpaca, camel from animals in the camel family, and angora from rabbits....

, and Rambouilet

Rambouillet (sheep)

The Rambouillet is also known as the Rambouillet Merino or the French Merino. The development of the Rambouillet breed started in 1786 when Louis XVI purchased over three hundred Spanish Merinos from his cousin, King Charles III of Spain...

 for their adaptability, hardiness, productivity and quality fleeces.

History

In 1968, the first cross breeding was performed. In 1970, the resulting bred sheep were produced. The Polypay name was created in 1975 from poly, meaning multiple, and pay, meaning return on investment

Rate of return

In finance, rate of return , also known as return on investment , rate of profit or sometimes just return, is the ratio of money gained or lost on an investment relative to the amount of money invested. The amount of money gained or lost may be referred to as interest, profit/loss, gain/loss, or...

. The American Polypay Association was formed in 1980.