The South African Dorper is an important terminal meat sire breed in Africa that was recently imported into the United States. The objective of this study was to evaluate the Dorper as a terminal meat sire breed for U.S. production. Semen from purebred Dorper sires was used to artificially inseminate Columbia ewes to produce F1 crossbred lambs. Growth and carcass characteristics of F1 Dorper-Co...

The aim of this study was to evaluate the influence weaning and concentrate supplementation on characteristics carcass cuts longissimus muscle Suffolk lambs finished a Tifton 85 (Cynodon spp.) pasture. Weaning strategies were evaluated in four finishing systems: i) non-weaned non-supplemented lambs; ii) supplemented with creep feeding; iii) weaned iv) concentrate. In systems weaning, at 46 ± 6 ...

Crossbred females and male progeny of three terminal sire breeds, namely Charollais, Suffolk and Texel, out of Mule ewes (Bluefaced Leicester sires x Scottish Blackface or Swaledale dams) were compared. Analysis of variance revealed that breed, sex and the year of birth were significant sources of variation (P<0.05) for birth weight. Suffolk sired lambs were significantly heavier than the Charo...

The study was conducted to evaluate and compare the effects of feed additives on ruminal fermentation, nutrient digestibility and performance of lambs fed diets containing 60% wet brewers grains (WBG). In Experiment 1, two simultaneous trials were conducted. Fifty intact (20.2±0.8 kg BW) lambs were used in a feedlot trial and 10 (rumen cannulated; 32±1 kg BW) in a digestion trial. The pH, volat...

The study examined the effect of raw and roasted cereals (corn, oat and barley) and soybean in diet on growth performance and blood parameters of lambs fattening. Totally 60 lambs after ablactation at average of 50 days, were tested and equally divided into three groups: an experimental I (E I), experimental II (E II) and a control (C) group. The fattening period lasted 56 days. Lambs of the C ...

The number of sheep flocks in Brazil is increasing. It is known that lambs must be slaughtered when young for producing quality meat. The current study evaluated the inclusion of protected methionine, protected lysine, lysophospholipid and amylolytic enzymes in a diet to lambs and their effects on weight gain and quantitative carcass traits at slaughtering. Eighty non-castrated male crossbred D...

Reproductive traits from 7642 ewes were recorded from 1975 to 1983. The ewes were of five breeds (Dorset (D), Finnsheep (F), Rambouillet (R), Suffolk (S) and Targhee (T)) and two composite lines [C1 (1=2F þ 1=4R þ 1=4D) and C2 (1=2F þ 1=4S þ 1=4T)]. Genetic parameters were estimated for six basic and seven composite traits. The basic traits were conception rate (CR), total number of lamb born (...

The ability to authenticate the feed given to animals from the animal products has become a major challenge for scientists, monitoring bodies and commercial entities alike. This study compared two methods based on the use of the visible reflectance spectrum of the fat to discriminate pasture-fed (P) from stall concentrate-fed (S) lamb carcasses. A total of 307 (143 P and 164 S) Limousine lambs ...

We studied the influence of vitamin E on intramuscular collagen characteristics and on metacarpal growth plate evolution in suckling lambs. Twenty-four 5-d-old Ile de France suckling male lambs were divided into four equal weight groups, and weekly i.m. injections of DL-alpha-tocopheryl acetate (Control group, 0 IU; Group 1, 625 IU; Group 2, 1,000 IU; and Group 3, 1,500 IU) were given until the...