Coopworth Sheep Breed – Everything You Need to Know

The Coopworth Sheep is a hardy, durable and highly productive sheep breed from New Zealand. They are easy to care for and are excellent foragers. The ewes make excellent mothers with good maternal instincts and they usually have multiple births.

Their meat and wool are of a good quality and they are ideal for pasture-based systems. They are a medium dual-purpose sheep breed.

COOPWORTH SHEEP QUICK PROFILE OVERVIEW
The Coopworth Sheep breed is ideal for low-input pasture-based production systems.
Country of Origin:	New Zealand
Other Names:	None
Breed Size:	Medium
Main Purpose:	Meat and wool
Can be used for	Breed, Meat, Wool **LSC (Landscape Management)
Temperament:	Docile and easy to handle
Ideal Climate:	Most climates
Conservation Status:	Not Listed by the *ALC Common
Health Issues?	No known health issues
Good Starter Sheep?	Novice to intermediate sheep farming
Sheep Associations:	American Coopworth registry
Sheep Clubs:	Please refer to the American Coopworth Registry for breeders’ information
Note: ALC stands for American Livestock Conservancy * LSC stands for Landscape Management – the animal is used for controlling various vegetation growth

PHYSICAL CHARACTERISTICS

The Coopworth Sheep breed has a long clean face, they have a long large heavy body and short clean legs. They either have a smooth head or have a sort of top knot wooly type cap up to their polled horns.

Color(s):

White although there are a few off colors

SHEEP ⇒	EWE	RAM
Breed Weight:	64 to 80 kgs	80 to 125 kgs
Breed Height:	Unclear	Unclear
Hair:	Their fleece is thick with pointed locks and a bright luster to it along with a well-defined crimp	Their fleece is thick with pointed locks and a bright luster to it along with a well-defined crimp
Ears:	Small to medium sized pointed and held erect from the sides of their head	Small to medium sized pointed and held erect from the sides of their head
Horns:	Polled	Polled
Matures at age:	10 weeks/15 months or 15 years	10 weeks to 15 months
Puberty Age:	5 to 12 months	5 to 7 months
Breeding Age:	18 months	1 year
Breeding Traits:	See Ewe Breeding & Milking Info.	Cover 5 to 10 Ewes in 1 season

EWE BREEDING & MILKING INFORMATION

The ewes make excellent mothers and do not have many problems giving birth.
Breeding Period/cycle:	Usually lasts 16 to 59 hours
Estrous cycle:	Ave. 17 days/15 to 20 days
Gestation Period:	Usually, around 149 to 155 days but most gestation is 152 days
No. Lambs/Litter:	1 but twins are quite common amongst this breed
Lactation Period:	Usually, around 150 to 240 day but most are milked for 180 days
Milking From:	4 to 6 weeks after lambing
Milk Quality:	Good, Quantity: Enough to wean lambs , Per: Lactation period
Milk Ideal for:	Lambs
You may Also Like:	10 Best Sheep Breeds for Milk

SHEEP MEAT PRODUCTION INFORMATION

They are good for meat production with tend succulent meat and a good meat to bone ratio.

Meat Production:

Yes, Quality: Good

SHEEP ⇒	LAMB	HOGGET/MUTTON
Approx. Maturity Weight:	58 kgs	79 kgs
Approx. Maturity Age:

SHEEP WOOL PRODUCTION INFORMATION

Well defined crimp from the base of the lock to the tip. They are a long wool breed of sheep

Wool Production?

Yes, Quality: Good prized by hand spinners for its luster and silky texture

Wool is used to Produce:

Harris Tweed, carpets and some craft trade. It can also be spun into other wool to make it more durable.

SHEEP ⇒	EWE	RAM
Age they Produce from:	6 to 8 months	6 to 8 months
Approx. Length:	15 to 30 cm	15 to 20 cm
Microns:	35 to 39	35 to 39
Approx. Quantity:	From 3.6 kgs a year	From 5.4 kgs a year

GOOD TO KNOW ABOUT THE COOPWORTH SHEEP

A few interesting facts about the Coopworth Sheep breed to know
Child-Friendly?	Children should never be left unsupervised around livestock
Landscape Management?	They are great landscape management breed as they are excellent foragers
Where to buy them?	Please refer to the American Coopworth Registry breeders directory for information on where to buy the Coopworth Sheep breed

HISTORY

In the late 1940’s shortly after World War II Professor Ian Coop started to selectively breed Romney ewes with Border Leicester rams. His goal was to improve the lambing percentages of both the Romney and Border Leicester breeds of sheep.

The crossbreed that resulted in his breeding program were then interbred over a few generation. By culling the lower performing progeny, he eventually had his success. In 1968 the program was deemed a success with a medium sized breed. This new breed was highly adaptable, prolific and a dual-purpose breed. The new breed of sheep was officially recorded as the Coopworth breed.

During the 1970’s and the 1980’s there were several large importations of these sheep destined for commercial and smaller farming operations in both the United States and Canada.
These imports included both the natural colored and white sheep.

Due to more regulated animal importation rules and high costly quarantine of animals. To improve genetics and keep the animals from too much interbreeding artificial insemination is mostly used to obtain genetic diversity.