The objective of this experiment was to determine whether post-mating progesterone (P4) supplement improves pregnancy and lambing rates in ewes bred during the seasonal anestrous period. In June, 39 synchronized to estrus Awassi ewes were allowed with four harnessed fertile rams immediately following CIDR-G device removal (day 0 and 0 hour). Five days following ram introduction, ewes were rando...

The objective of this study was to determine the effect of castration on penile and urethral development in Awassi lambs. Twenty 1−2-weeks old Awassi lambs were divided randomly into 4 groups. Groups 1, 2, and 3 were castrated at 2 weeks, 3 and 5 months of age, respectively. Group 4 was not castrated (control). To assess penile and urethral development, penile length, penile diameter and urethr...

Eighteen spring-born Columbia ram, wether, and zeranol-implanted ram lambs were examined to determine the influence of castration or zeranol implantation on collagen characteristics of skin, fell, and epimysium and possible relationships between collagen properties of each tissue and difficulty of pelt removal. Pelt removal force was lower in wethers than in rams (P < .05) and intermediate for ...

In order to determine the possible effects of udder traits on milk yield and milk composition a serial of experiments were carried out on five different sheep farms, between 1998-2000. Ten breeds and genotypes were included in these experiments: Merino, (Merino x Pleven Blackhead) F1, Pleven F1 x Black East Friesian, Lacaune, (Merino x Lacaune) F1, British Milksheep, (Merino x British Milksheep...

An experiment was conducted to investigate the effect of different crude protein (CP) levels on the growth performance of Awassi lambs and Black goat kids. Forty lambs and 40 kids were randomly selected and allocated to separate pens of equal size for 75 days. Each group was fed one of four rations containing 12, 14, 16, or 18% CP. Final weights and gains for lambs were higher (P<0.001) than th...

Awassi and Assaf are local Israeli sheep breeds with prolificacies of ~1.30 and ~1.65 lambs born/ewe lambing (LB/EL), respectively. Introgressing the B (Booroola) allele of the FecB locus into these breeds led to the formation of prolific strains designated 'Afec Awassi' and 'Afec Assaf', in which lamb production under both intensive and semi-intensive conditions is higher than in the respectiv...