Horned Dorset continuity alongside the polled population

The Continental Dorset Club’s history reports Horned Dorset imports to the American West Coast in 1860. Horned animals remained the dominant American Dorset type until the development of Polled Dorsets in the 1950s.

The club describes the American polled strain as arising from a genetic mutation. Both populations share important Dorset characteristics, including maternal performance and reproductive flexibility beyond the usual sheep breeding season. Their shared breed name does not make their horn status or conservation populations interchangeable.

The preservation subject here is the horned population. Growth of the broader Dorset registry, which also includes polled animals, cannot alone establish the security of Horned Dorsets. Their distinctive identity combines the visible horns with the ancestry and working traits maintained within that population.