The effects of genotype and week of lactation on milk yield, udder dimensions and linear body measurements of non-dairy ewes

One hundred and ninety two records were taken weekly for twenty four (24) weeks from West African Dwarf (WD), the Yankasa (YN) X crossbred (XB) sheep. The traits evaluated milk yield (MK), linear body measurements (LB) such as height at withers, (HT), length (BL), heart girth (HG), shoulder width (SW), Tail (TA), Neck (NL), circumference (NC), Face (FA), Hind leg (HL), Foreleg (FL), Ear (EA), Head (HW) Rump (RH) together with following Udder dimensions (UD): (UC), Teat (TL) (TC). There was significant (P<0.05) influence of genotype on MK, WHT, HT, BL, TA, FL, HL, FA, EA RH. WD ewes produced more than either YN or XB enes. Average daily (ml) 122.25, 90.88 ana 108.8. superior in all LBs except SW NC three genotypes. Height withers 59.08, 69.21 61.81 cm; BL 48.54, 55.08 54.49 cm RH 62.88, 75.11 68.46 WD, enes respectively. Since offtake is related to weight some measurements, selection WT, HG, SW, NL NC, UC TL could lead higher mutton production.