Abstract The U.S. sheep industry has experienced many changes over the last 50 years, most prominent being a 75% reduction in national breeding ewe inventory. Wool now accounts for ~10% of enterprise returns compared to ~80% from sale market lambs. Most objective work indicates greatest emphasis should be placed on traits associated with reproductive efficiency [e.g., number lambs born/weaned (...

Data from 364 ewes of Sardi (S), D'man (D), S x DS, DS x S, S x D, D x S (F1), F2, D x DS and DS x D breed groups mated to F1 rams were analyzed for fertility, number of lambs born alive, litter size at weaning, litter weight at weaning per ewe joined and mean lamb weight at 60 d. Each ewe was exposed in two seasons and had one or two lambings. Effects of breed group were significant for all tr...

Pedigree MatchMaker is an RFID panel reader system that collects sheep movements to and from watering points over a 2 week period to identify pedigree. While this system was primarily developed to identify the pedigree of lambs, it may also provide information relating to lamb and ewe behaviour traits which influence sheep performance. Traits were calculated from the Pedigree MatchMaker data to...

records of 2593 baluchi ewes, obtained from baluchi sheep breeding station in abbas abad, mashhad, were used to estimate genetic parameters for total weight of lamb weaned per ewe joined (tww/wj) in different parities. estimates of heritability for tww1/ej, tww2/ej, tww3.ej and tww4/ej were 0.112 ? 0.030, 0.028 ? 0.030, 0.075 ? 0.060 and 0.135 ? 0.120, respectively. direct additive genetic corr...

Reproductive wastage is a key issue for sheep producers, both regionally and globally. The reproductive output of farm animals can be influenced by physiological and environmental factors. Rapid and reliable quantification of physiological stress can provide a useful tool for designing and testing on-farm management interventions to improve farm animal welfare and productivity. In this study, w...

The present study was aimed at investigating the effect of experimental infection by Trypanosoma vivax in different stages of pregnancy, determining the pathogenesis of reproductive failure, and confirming transplacental transmission. We used 12 pregnant ewes distributed into four experimental groups: G1, was formed by three ewes infected with T. vivax in the first third of pregnancy (30 days);...

the present study was conducted with a view to know the productive and reproductive performance of jamunapari, black bengal and crossbred goats in chittagong district during the period of may to december 2012. the data on productive and reproductive traits were collected from 324 goats as a whole. in the present study, the birth weight of jamunapari goats was higher than other crosses. the adul...

The effect of level of dietary energy and protein intake on reproductive performance was studied in 110 Finn-cross ewe lambs and in 404 Finn-cross yearling ewes during late gestation. Nitrogen metabolism was studied in 26 ewe lambs and 23 yearling ewes. Increasing digestible energy and crude protein intake for ewe lambs and yearling ewes during late gestation increased (P<.05) ewe average daily...

The present study was conducted to investigate the impact of breeding season on the productivity and profitability of Barki flock. Simulation technique was used based on technical coefficients derived from statistical analysis of the basic data. Basic data utilized in this study were obtained from the accumulated records collected over 34 successive breeding seasons from 1972 to 2005 of Barki s...

Lifetime (5 yr) lamb production and wool production from 207 straightbred Targhee (T) and 474 1/4 Finn-1/4 Dorset-1/2 Targhee (FDT) crossbred ewes managed in a range or farm flock system were evaluated for ewe fertility, prolificacy, ewe fleece weight, and total lamb weight weaned per ewe exposed. Data included 2,620 ewe exposures, 2,384 parturitions, 4,638 lambs born, and 3,498 lambs weaned. E...