Polled Dorset

This article is about the American sheep breed. For the Australian breed, see Poll Dorset.

Polled Dorset
Ewe and lamb at the North Carolina State University Small Ruminant Unit
Country of originUSA

The Polled Dorset is an American breed of domestic sheep. It is a polled (hornless) variant of the British Dorset Horn. It was developed at the North Carolina State University Small Ruminant Unit in the 1950s after a genetic mutation led to the birth of a polled ram. After some years of breeding work, a true-breeding polled strain was established.

It is an all-white sheep of medium size, prolific and able to breed out of season. The carcass is muscular with good conformation, and the fleece is free from dark fiber. The number of Polled Dorsets registered in the United States has grown to exceed the number of Horned Dorsets.[1]

  1. ^ Janet Vorwald Dohner (2001), The Encyclopedia of Historic and Endangered Livestock and Poultry Breeds, Yale University Press, pp. 108–110, ISBN 978-0-300-13813-9