The Meatmaster is a breed of domestic sheep

Domestic sheep

Sheep are quadrupedal, ruminant mammals typically kept as livestock. Like all ruminants, sheep are members of the order Artiodactyla, the even-toed ungulates. Although the name "sheep" applies to many species in the genus Ovis, in everyday usage it almost always refers to Ovis aries...

 native to South Africa

South Africa

The Republic of South Africa is a country in southern Africa. Located at the southern tip of Africa, it is divided into nine provinces, with of coastline on the Atlantic and Indian oceans...

. Bred in the early 1990s from various hair sheep breeds, the Meatmaster was created with the goal of improving the meat characteristics of African fat-tailed sheep

Fat-tailed sheep

The fat-tailed sheep is a general type of domestic sheep known for their distinctive large tails and hindquarters. Fat-tailed sheep breeds comprise approximately 25% of the world sheep population, and are commonly found in northern parts of Africa, the Middle East, Pakistan, North India, Western...

 breeds in mind. Today Meatmaster bloodlines may be a composite of any number of breeds, such as Van Rooy

Van Rooy (sheep)

The Van Rooy, also known as the Van Rooy White Persian, is a breed of domestic sheep native to South Africa. The Van Rooy was first developed in 1906 by J. C. van Rooy, a South African Senator and farmer in the Bethulie district. The Van Rooy is cross between indigenous Ronderrib Afrikaner sheep,...

 or South African Meat Merino

South African Meat Merino

The South African Meat Merino or SAMM is a wool and meat sheep originating in South Africa, but now found throughout the world.The SAMM is derived from Deutsche Fleisch Merino animals imported into South Africa from Europe in 1932, to improve the quality of wool and meat from sheep in South Africa...

, but must contain Damara

Damara (sheep)

The Damara is a breed of domestic sheep and was originally from Eastern Asia and Egypt. The breed then moved down to the present day Namibia and Angola. For many years the sheep were in an isolated region of Namibia and thus remained free of influence from other breeds...

 breeding.

Meatmasters are hair sheep (meaning they lack wool which requires shearing), come in a diverse array of colors, and may be both horned and polled

Polled livestock

Polled livestock are livestock without horns, of species that normally have them. The term refers both to breeds or strains which are naturally polled through selective breeding and also to naturally horned animals which have been dehorned...

. The focus in breeding is mostly on meat production, but they are also very hardy and with good mothering instincts (inherited from their Damara breeding). Rams weigh from 85 to 105 kilograms and ewes 60-70 kg. Meatmasters have been exported to Namibia

Namibia

Namibia, officially the Republic of Namibia , is a country in southern Africa whose western border is the Atlantic Ocean. It shares land borders with Angola and Zambia to the north, Botswana to the east and South Africa to the south and east. It gained independence from South Africa on 21 March...

, Australia

Australia

Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...

, and Canada

Canada

Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...

.