A Dorper sheep's health records have to serve two scales at once: the flock, which is vaccinated and handled as a mob, and the individual ewe, whose lambing history and past troubles decide whether she stays in the breeding flock. Organising vaccination and health records for a Dorper means building a three-layer system — a flock vaccination log, an individual card for each breeding ewe, and a lambing record that ties the two together — all keyed to one thing: the ear-tag number. Get the numbering consistent and the rest of the system nearly runs itself.
The Ear Tag Is the Filing Key
Every entry in a Dorper's records must carry her ear-tag number, because in a flock of white-bodied, black- or white-headed sheep, memory cannot tell last year's problem ewe from her sister. Before improving anything else, make sure each sheep's tag number is written the same way in every book, notebook, and phone note you keep — one format, no nicknames in official entries. When a sheep is sold, culled, or dies, close her line in the records with the date and reason rather than deleting it; a Dorper flock's culling decisions are only as good as the history they are based on, and deleted history cannot inform anything.
The Flock Vaccination Log Carries Most Entries
Most vaccination and routine health work on Dorpers happens mob-wide, so the flock log is a single chronological record: date, which group was handled, what the handling covered, who did the work, and any sheep held back or flagged on the day. Dorpers are hair sheep, raised for meat rather than wool, and their health calendar turns on the breeding cycle — pre-lambing handling, lamb marking, weaning — so organising the log around those fixed flock events keeps it complete almost automatically. Note the weather and the yards used if they were unusual; when a mob later shows a problem, the log is where you look first for what was different about that day.
Individual Cards for the Ewes Who Earn Them
Not every Dorper needs an individual health card, but every breeding ewe with a history does. Start a card when a ewe has a difficult lambing, a recurring foot problem, a lamb rejected, or any treatment beyond the routine — and record it under her tag number with dates and outcomes. Dorpers are valued as easy-care, fertile mothers, often lambing out of season, which makes the ewe card a fertility record as much as a health one: lambs born, lambs weaned, intervals between. Over two or three seasons these cards quietly sort the flock into keepers and culls with evidence instead of impressions, and they are the first pages a vet will want when a ewe presents with something new.
Lambing Records Link the Whole System
The lambing record is the piece that joins a Dorper's vaccination log to her individual card. For each lambing, note the ewe's tag, the date, lambs born and their sexes, any assistance given, and the lambs' own tag numbers when they are marked. That single line connects a lamb's later health entries back to its mother and its birth circumstances. File vet visit summaries behind the flock log in date order, and review the whole system once a year — most usefully just before the main joining — retiring sold sheep to an archive page. Records kept this way turn flock health from folklore into evidence, and KinsLe's Pet Passport keeps an individual Dorper's records together in one portable packet when she is sold, shown, or moved between properties.