Royal White
Encyclopedia
The Royal White is a new breed of domestic sheep
in the United States
privately funded and developed by William Hoag. This sheep is a hybrid breed that produces more meat, less fat, and less wool
, to optimize the meat per feed pound ratio. Lean, tender meat is the purpose of this breed. The breed is also highly disease-resistant. These sheep outgain goat
s and will convert feed better to gain than say Angus cattle. They also outperform both Dorper and Katahdin
sheep (wool-hair types), more consistent as well. The meat is tender with a mild sweet flavor. The leather is of garment quality and can be split. The best traits of St. Croix and Dorper were used and their negative traits removed via selection over many years.
The Royal White grows a hair with a down undercoat in the Fall and naturally sheds its fiber in the Spring, thus the cost and expense of shearing is eliminated. This is the first new breed of sheep in the US in over 20 years developed for high performance and low maintenance
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...
in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
privately funded and developed by William Hoag. This sheep is a hybrid breed that produces more meat, less fat, and less 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....
, to optimize the meat per feed pound ratio. Lean, tender meat is the purpose of this breed. The breed is also highly disease-resistant. These sheep outgain goat
Goat
The domestic goat is a subspecies of goat domesticated from the wild goat of southwest Asia and Eastern Europe. The goat is a member of the Bovidae family and is closely related to the sheep as both are in the goat-antelope subfamily Caprinae. There are over three hundred distinct breeds of...
s and will convert feed better to gain than say Angus cattle. They also outperform both Dorper and Katahdin
Katahdin (sheep)
The Katahdin is a breed of domestic sheep developed in Maine, USA, mostly in the second half of the 20th century. This breed was originated by Michael Piel who after reading an article in the February 1956 National Geographic imported selected St. Croix sheep chosen by Dr...
sheep (wool-hair types), more consistent as well. The meat is tender with a mild sweet flavor. The leather is of garment quality and can be split. The best traits of St. Croix and Dorper were used and their negative traits removed via selection over many years.
The Royal White grows a hair with a down undercoat in the Fall and naturally sheds its fiber in the Spring, thus the cost and expense of shearing is eliminated. This is the first new breed of sheep in the US in over 20 years developed for high performance and low maintenance