Master Sheep: Taking Namibia by storm

A GROUP of South African farmers experienced the tremendous advantages of fat-tailed hair breeds regarding fertility, resistance to various diseases, resistance to external and internal parasites, and durability and survival skills in times of extreme drought, herding instinct to protect the herd from predators and good strong teeth ensuring a long lifespan.

They also realised that not only in South Africa but world wide these breeds lacked two vital components preventing them becoming highly sought after economic meat producers. That was fat localisation with poor distribution and lack of muscling leading to flat sidedness and late maturity.

In the early nineteen nineties (1990), determined to utilise the advantages of the indigenous fat tailed hair breeds and realising the huge gap between the fat tailed breeds and the well muscled British and European breeds and the need world wide for a truly good pure hair breed with good meat qualities, it was decided to develop a composite breed. Various fat-tailed breeds were thus crossed with well muscled breeds and the dream of the Meatmaster emerged.

Development

The Meatmaster is a composite sheep breed. It is bred as a non-fat tailed hair-type sheep for meat production. It offers farmers an alternative with unique characteristics to meet the needs of a huge market around the world.

The one aspect that makes the Meatmaster totally unique in its development is the fact that the breeders first established whether there is a commercial demand and tested to see how the sheep performs and only after that success, a stud industry was formed in the early turn of the century.

The stud industry was formed and based on the combination of Performance Testing and the Hand and Eye method. It’s never the one or the other but always both.

At the moment Meatmaster breeders are found mainly in the central and Western extensive sheep breeding areas of South Africa. Meatmasters are ,however, represented in all 9 Provinces of South Africa and are becoming increasingly popular in agricultural areas with a need for a sheep breed with extreme easy care and high production.

The breed’s greater resistance to tick born diseases and strong herd instinct is also leading to a big demand for Meatmasters.

Meatmasters Elsewhere

Meatmasters are being recognized all over the world. The fundamentals of doing what we claim have taken places like Brazil and Australia by storm.

In 2009 Dr Johan Steyn was given the main podium at a sheep conference in Brazil.

In the beginning of 2010 Clynton Collett (one of the main founders of the Meatmaster) also was given the main podium in Australia at the annual Clean Skin Sheep Conference.

Breeders at both conferences where totally overwhelmed with the breeding philosophy and the progress this unique breed has made over such a short period.

Meatmasters has also taken Namibia by storm with a number of breeders purchasing Meatmasters in South Africa and also further developing the breed under their own natural environment.

We have had ample enquiries for exports to Brazil, Canada, Egypt, Australia, America, Zimbabwe, Zambia, Botswana. Although we are very limited with the exports to various county’s due to the facts of protocols, Rift Valley Fever and Foot and Mouth. What we are doing to accommodate those interested, we advise them of how to breed it themselves with the breeds currently available to them. – http://www.studbook.co.za

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