The number of lambs sold per ewe mated in the breeding flock has a considerable impact on sheep operation profitability. This depends primarily on fertility, prolificacy (# of lambs), and lamb survival, mothering ability, milk production of the ewe and lamb growth rate. Optimal reproduction does vary by environment and management system – some sheep operations don’t want a lambing rate over 200...

Range ewes are commonly evaluated for milking ability by producers to determine the ewe's ability to rear lamb(s). The U.S. Sheep Experiment Station has subjectively scored (low, average, high) a ewe's milking ability within 24 h of lambing for many years. The relationship of subjective milk scores with lamb production was investigated using lambing records of Columbia (n = 1,731), Polypay (n =...

Any producer contemplating the prospect of sheep dairying will face the problem of breeds: which breeds or what type of animals to purchase (or develop) in order to have the most economical commercial milk production? The problem is not an easy one to solve because there is not a single breed that combines all favorable traits. Some breeds are better than others in producing milk and others are...

Crossbreeding between indigenous and exotic sheep breeds is the fastest method of increasing the performance of sheep in the tropics. The aim of this work was to assess the performance of Cameroon sheep (C) and their crossbreds (Cameroon x Mutton, F1) and (F2 from Cameroon x Milk sheep) under different housing and feeding conditions. The following traits were analysed: Pre-weaning performance d...

The organisation of the domestic bovid genomes is very similar, thus ovine and caprine genome mapping may benefit from the most advanced bovine map. At present, there have been identified over 2000 markers in the sheep and over 700 in the goat. Recently, several spectacular examples of the genome map application for the identification of loci controlling important traits have been reported, for...

In a 2-year longitudinal study of adult animals on 15 dairy farms and four sheep farms in Lancashire, UK. C. jejuni was isolated from all farms, although not on every occasion. Faecal samples were collected and cultured using standard techniques for isolation of Campylobacter. Assignment to species was via PCR assays. Peak prevalence of C. jejuni in both cattle and sheep was observed during the...

By definition, mammals are those animals that suckle their young and they comprise the highest class of vertebrates. Thus lactation is one important distinguishing characteristic of this class of animals. Mammals are born at markedly different stages of maturity and if it is assumed that their nutritive requirements correspond to their physiological maturity, one may reason Ideologically that t...

Aim of this work was to analyse some microbiological, chemico-physical and organoleptic parameters of sheep milk yogurt during and after its declared shelf-life. Five samples of a sheep's milk yogurt of the same lot, collected from a short supply chain ovine dairy farm of the Roman province, were analysed. Declared shelf-life of the product was 30 days. The products were examined at 2, 14, 30, ...

The present study focused on gaining a better insight into how subclinical mastitis at the gland level in dairy sheep and goats affects milk yield and compositional changes in relation to curd yield. Animals chosen for the study had one udder half infected with identified coagulase-negative staphyloccocci (CNS) species and the contra-lateral gland was free of bacteria. Udder halves were tested ...