The Afrikaner sheep or Cape Fat-tailed is a breed of fat tailed, hair sheep indigenous to

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...

History

Afrikaner sheep are one of the oldest native sheep breeds in South Africa, along with sheep such as the Damara,

Blackhead Persian The Blackhead somali sheep (also known as Swartkoppersie) is a fat-tailed breed of domestic sheep from Africa. The sheep is originally from Somalia and a direct descendant of the Somali sheep. The breed is also a type of hair sheep, meaning they ...

, Pedi, and Zulu (Nguni). Their ancestors were brought down from the middle east by the Khoikhoin people. Ronderib Afrikaners are thought to be the first sheep imported to Australia, with the

First Fleet The First Fleet were eleven British ships which transported a group of settlers to mainland Australia, marking the beginning of the History of Australia (1788–1850), European colonisation of Australia. It consisted of two Royal Navy vessel ...

in 1788, but today are very rare in the country.

Varieties

There are two varieties of Afrikaner sheep; the Namaqua Afrikaner and the Ronderib Afrikaner. The long, fat tail is an energy store which helps them survive long dry seasons. The Namaqua Afrikaner is known for its hardiness in extreme environmental conditions. It is a slender, lanky sheep with a fat tail, and is not particularly favoured for modern lamb production. Namaqua Afrikaners are generally white with a red or black head, and large fat tails. What the breed lacks in market meat desirability, it makes up for in its foraging ability and hardiness in desert conditions. The Ronderib Afrikaner is one of the larger breeds of South African indigenous sheep. There are two known sub varieties of this breed, one that has soft, fine, shiny hair being the Blinkhaar Ronderib Afrikaner, and the Steekhaar Ronderib Afrikaner having coarse hair, which was thought to be extinct. However, twenty animals were found in 1995 on a farm near

Upington Upington () is a town founded in 1873 and located in the Northern Cape province of South Africa, on the banks of the Orange River. The town was originally called Olijvenhoutsdrift ('Olive wood drift'), due to the abundance of olive wood trees i ...

. The ribs of both are oval in cross section rather than flat. It is these two characteristics of coat and rib shape which distinguish this distinctive breed. Like the Namaqua Afrikaner (mentioned above) the breed is very adept to desert conditions and is remarkable for the long seasons it can survive with little or no water. The Ronderib Afrikaners show further characteristics of desert animals in that, similar to the

gemsbok The gemsbok (''Oryx gazella''), or South African oryx, is a large antelope in the genus '' Oryx''. It is endemic to the dry and barren regions of Botswana, Namibia, South Africa and (parts of) Zimbabwe, mainly inhabiting the Kalahari and Nami ...

, their heels are close together. The aim of the old Ronderib breeders was to develop sheep with shiny coats suitable for making of skin blankets.

History

Varieties

References

Further reading