Genetic parameters were estimated between current UK hill sheep breeding goals and lamb carcass composition and muscularity traits derived using X-ray computed tomography (CT). To produce these estimates, a total of 648 lambs from two hill farms were CT scanned at weaning (ca 120 days of age), over 3 years, and total weights of carcass muscle (MUSC), fat (CFAT) and bone (BONE) and internal fat ...

abstract: an investigation was under taken to evaluate the out of season reproduction performance of ewe. a flock consisting 119 ewes was synchronized via implementation cidr over a period of 12 days, following by injection of pmsg (400 iu). the ewes inseminated and divided to three experimental groups. group1: injection of gnrh (5ml) at day 12 post insemination, group 2: received cidr for 5 to...

Objective of this experiment was to evaluate the effect of partial substitution of barley grain with bread by-product (BB) on performance of Awassi ewes and their lambs. Forty Awassi ewes rearing single lambs were randomly allotted into four experimental diets containing various levels of BB. The experimental diets contained 0 (BB0), 10 (BB10), 15 (BB15), and 20% (BB20) of BB on dietary dry mat...

Two, 8-month-old Rambouillet half-sister ewes with signs of visual loss and decreased mentation were examined. Ewe No. 1 was necropsied at 10 months of age, and after being held under observation for a further 6 months, ewe No. 2 was necropsied at 16 months of age. At that time, the ewe was blind and severely depressed. Both ewes had deposition of an autofluorescent lipopigment, identified as c...

The incidence of positive CMT, indicative of subclinical mastitis, was studied in a flock of purebred Targhee ewes from four selection lines. The incidence of positive CMT was found to be random at lambing with respect to age and line of ewe, number of lambs born and weaned and sex of lambs, but at docking (3 to 7 weeks after lambing) increased with increasing age of ewe and number of lambs bor...

Forty-eight crossbred ewes were subjected to heat stress of short or long duration during the last third of gestation in a completely randomized design to determine the effects of maternal heat stress on lamb birth weight, lamb conformation and subsequent preweaning growth rate. Ewe treatments were spring range pasture, confinement on slotted floors in a heated room maintained between 28 to 38 ...

Factors affecting ewe prolificacy (number of lambs born per ewe lambing) were evaluated using records on 9705 Targhee, 12,721 Suffolk, and 7231 Polypay lambings from flocks participating in the US National Sheep Improvement Program. Factors considered were ewe age and season of lambing. Prolificacy was affected by age of the ewe (P<0.001) and was highest for ewes lambing between 4 and either 7 ...

Three groups of ewe lambs born in May (experiment 1; n=211) or April (experiment 2; n=174) were used to evaluate the effects of selection line and induction of estrus on pregnancy rate. Experiment 1 was a single factor experiment with induction of estrus as the main effect. In early December, May-born Targhee (n=82) and Rambouillet x Targhee (n=129) ewes were randomly assigned within body weigh...

The reproductive efficiency of the entire sheep flock could be improved if ewe lambs go through puberty early and produce their first lamb at 1 year of age. The onset of puberty is linked to the attainment of critical body mass, and therefore we tested whether it would be influenced by genetic selection for growth rate or for rate of accumulation of muscle or fat. We studied 136 Merino ewe lamb...