My name is John Redwine. Together with my wife, Chris, son John-Cole and daughter, Kelsey, we operate Tower View Dorpers. I was born and raised on a farm but we were primarily a Beef Cattle Operation. I grew up in 4-H and FFA, but like most people in our county, had little experience with sheep. In the mid 1900’s there were black faced wool sheep in Scott County, raised primarily for wool. With the decline of the wool market as synthetic replacements came on, lack of availability of shearers, and problems with predators, the wool sheep slowly phased out and there were basically no sheep in the county. My Brother, David, brought the first Katahdin Hair Sheep to Scott County in 1997, and soon people began to develop interest in these sheep and began purchasing sheep for their own operations. These sheep were raised for meat production and had coats that shed every year. I clung to cattle exclusively until 2004 when I began to realize that sheep were an attractive option for revenue, especially to a small farm.

         Tower View began in 2004 after we bought a group of registered Katahdin ewes and began raising commercial meat sheep. We had the normal start-up costs the first year as we added and upgraded fencing, but still basically broke even after our first group of lambs sold. During this time, we began to read about Dorper and White Dorper Sheep being raised in the western United States. These White Dorper Sheep were also “hair sheep” in that they didn’t need shearing and were raised for their meat.

         In 2005, David and I traveled to Eldorado Texas and bought several high percentage White Dorper ewes from Karoo Genetics. Also that year, I bought a Fullblood White Dorper Ram from Crane Creek Dorpers in Iowa. Using this Ram and crossing with the Katahdin ewes, I began getting a 50% White Dorper lamb, while getting higher percentages from the Texas ewes. Since that time, we have continued to upgrade, eventually buying some purebred and fullblood ewes. In 2009 Tower View Dorpers used Ram (RF4769) from Riverwood Farms in Ohio, and had an exceptional group of lambs this past winter. For 2010 we will be using BF 0869 from Broadmead, in Amity Oregon. We have high expectations of this gentleman.

Tower View Dorpers are proud members of the American Dorper Sheep Breeders Society, The Scott County Hair Sheep Association and are a Voluntary Scrapie Eradication Flock. Superb genetics while maintaining and promoting flock health are primary factors that drive our day to day decision making.

Our Guarantee     

All sheep purchased are guaranteed as breeders. Rams are guaranteed fertile if handled correctly. If a ram is found to be infertile by a licensed veterinarian within six months of purchase, he will be replaced. The ram must be returned, at the buyers expense, and tested by our veterinarian to determine that he is in fact infertile. If found infertile the ram will be replaced. Ewes are guaranteed to breed and deliver a lamb. If an ewe will not breed she must be returned, at the buyers cost, and then given an opportunity to be bred by our rams. If the ewe will not conceive she will be replaced. Ewes sold as open are not guaranteed to be open but are in my best estimation to not have been bred.

We do not guarantee against faults that may develop over time that were not detectable at time of purchase.