Poll Dorset

A short-wool, meat-producing sheep breed developed in Australia between 1937 and 1954 to create a hornless version of the horned Dorset Horn, by introducing a poll (hornless) gene into Dorset Horn flocks through two other polled breeds until the resulting animals carried nearly the full Dorset Horn bloodline. Poll Dorsets are hornless with an elongated, lean, square body on short legs, pink skin, and a short-stapled, dense, white downs-type wool of about 30 microns fiber diameter with a wool-free white face. Three Australian breeders pioneered the work, WJ Dawkins from 1937, Lyall Stuart from 1941 and Rex Wilson from 1943, each introducing the polled trait from a different breed, and in 1954 the three men joined Jack Reddin to found the Australian Poll Dorset Association. The breed is used mainly as a sire for prime lamb production in Australia, its ewes noted for fertility, strong maternal instinct and good milk production, and its lambs for rapid growth and superior muscling suited to markets from lightweight Middle Eastern demand to heavier export grades.