Coopworth
Martha McGrath
HC 72 Box 14D
Franklin, WV 26807
Phone: 304/358-2239
Data Coordinator
Stephen Shafer
The Foundation of Performance
Coopworth is a highly productive sheep, intensively selected for easy care lambing, prolificacy, and good mothering ability. Multiple births are most common and the Coopworth ewe will provide an abundance of milk for her lambs. The lambs grow well on grass making this breed ideal for low-input, pasture-based systems. Rams are virile and settle the ewes quickly.
Coopworth sheep are a medium sized, dual purpose, longwool breed, with an alert but quiet disposition. The body is long with a good loin and hindquarter, light forequarter and a wide pelvis. The wool is relatively coarse and long and is popular with hand spinners.
It is not unusual to see differences in appearance between individual animals because selection is often based on measured performance, rather than phenotype. For this reason, several wool styles are considered acceptable. These would be similar to Border Leicester and New Zealand Romney wool types.
The Coopworth breed was developed on the foundation of performance recording and selection of registered breeding stock …
The American Coopworth Registry has been established to address the needs of all owners and breeders of Coopworth sheep, to preserve and improve the breed and to educate its membership. This new organization is also working to promote the breed and make these sheep known for all their notable qualities.
With the understanding that the Coopworth breed was developed on the foundation of performance recording and selection of registered breeding stock within fixed percentages, the ACR supports and continues the tradition of registering sheep by these standards. “Performance Designation” is noted on the registrations of these sheep which must also meet eligibility requirements and the breed standard.
History
It was shortly after WWII, in New Zealand, when Professor Ian Coop began to selectively crossbreed Border Leicester rams on Romney ewes. His purpose was to improve lambing percentages. The resulting crossbred sheep were interbred over several generations. Always, the selection and culling of progeny was based on recorded performance. By 1968, it was determined that the successive generations of the interbred sheep had produced a medium sized, highly prolific, dual purpose, adaptable sheep and it was officially recorded as the Coopworth breed.
Several large importations of Coopworths into the United States and Canada occurred in the 1970’s and 1980’s. These sheep were destined for both large, commercial operations and smaller, niche market producers and included white and natural colored animals. Today, due to costly quarantine regulations, artificial insemination is often used to obtain genetic diversity and continued improvement of the breed.