Dorpers have fast-growing meat lambs, with the meat in the back end where the money is.

Some Dorpers are full shedders, and all Dorpers need minimal shearing and crutching. Most shed well around the breach, and avoid the dung and dags that are the usual cause of flystrike.

Dorpers are year-round breeders, so you can choose when to lamb. Lambing in early winter in dry areas helps lambs to get up to breeding or slaughter weight before the feed browns off. On better pasture, it may be possible to lamb three times in two years, rather than once a year. Spaced batches of lambs throughout the year can provide a regular cash flow.

Dorpers are hardy South African sheep. They do well in dry areas, and are willing to eat feed usually considered to be 'unpalatable'.

Some (but not all) farmers find it particularly hard to keep Dorpers on the right side of a fence.

Dorpers are not the best shedders. For show, they are usually shorn along the backline. It can be surprisingly hard to breed out the last of their wool.

Dorpers can do well enough on poor feed to eat it out completely, almost like goats.

Dorpers tend to run to fat as they get older. Even lambs need monitoring if they are on good feed.