The Royal White is a breed of domestic sheep in the United States developed by William Hoag at Dorpcroix Sheep Farm in Hermleigh, Texas. It is a hybrid breed that is bred to produce more meat, less fat, and less wool to produce lean tender meat. The breed is disease-resistant. Royal White sheep outgain goats and produce more meat than Dorper and Katahdin sheep (wool-hair types). The meat is tender with a mild sweet flavour. The leather is of garment quality and can be split. The breed was created using traits of St. Croix and Dorper and then 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 fibre in the spring, thus the cost and expense of shearing are eliminated. This is the first new breed of sheep in the United States in over twenty-five years developed for high performance and low maintenance.
Characteristics
The Royal White is a hair breed of sheep, and the aim is to have a sheep with good proportions where the body is close enough to the ground so that the animal loses little heat to the environment in inclement weather. The sheep are pure white with the ears held horizontally and is naturally polled. Rams weigh between 185 and 235 lb and ewes between 175 and 210 lb.
The lambs of this breed are fast-growing, vigorous and lean, producing carcases with a high cutting out percentage which yield 54% meat at a weight of 50 kilograms (110 lb). Research into resistance to scrapie and other parasites is ongoing.