For estimating genetic parameters for body weight traits in Kourdi sheep data were collected from 1996 to 2013 in Kourdi Breeding Station in Northern Khorasan province of Iran. Studied traits were birth weight (BW), weaning weight (WW), six-month weight (6MW), nine-month weight (9MW) and yearling weight (YW). The fixed effects in the model were lambing year, sex, type of birth and age of dam. (...

Abstract Farm diversification is mainly driven by risk mitigation effects and economic gains related to complementarities between production activities. By combining these two aspects, we investigate economies in a sample of French mixed sheep farming systems rank using stochastic dominance criteria. Partially diversified (Sheep-Grass, Sheep-Crop, Sheep-Landless) fully (Sheep-Grass-Crop-Landles...

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 ...

Serum samples from 697 Rocky Mountain bighorn sheep (Ovis canadensis) from North America were examined for antibodies to Toxoplasma gondii by the modified agglutination test incorporating mercaptoethanol and formalin-fixed tachyzoites. Antibodies to T. gondii were found in 25 of 697 (3.6%) sheep in titers of 1:25 (8 sheep), 1:50 (4 sheep), 1:100 (7 sheep), 1:200 (1 sheep), 1:400 (1 sheep), 1:80...

Previous studies demonstrated that bighorn sheep (Ovis canadensis) died of pneumonia when commingled with domestic sheep (Ovis aries) but did not conclusively prove that the responsible pathogens were transmitted from domestic to bighorn sheep. The objective of this study was to determine, unambiguously, whether Mannheimia haemolytica can be transmitted from domestic to bighorn sheep when they ...

The aim of this study was to determine the effects of 8 h of road transportation on physiological responses and meat quality traits of sheep at 6, 12, and 24 mo of age. Seventy-two male sheep were equally divided into transported (TRANS) and nontransported (CON) treatments (n = 36), and each treatment was subdivided into 3 groups by age (n = 12). Sheep in CON groups were weighed, blood sampled,...

The Qira black sheep and the Hetian sheep are two local breeds in the Northwest of China, which are characterized by high-fecundity and low-fecundity breed respectively. The elucidation of mRNA expression profiles in the ovaries among different sheep breeds representing fecundity extremes will helpful for identification and utilization of major prolificacy genes in sheep. In the present study, ...

With climate change bound to affect food and feed production, emphasis will shift resilient adapted indigenous livestock sustain animal production. However, comprise several varieties, strains ecotypes whose genomes are poorly characterized. Here, we investigated genomic variation in an African thin-tailed Desert Sheep sampled Sudan, using 600K genotype data generated from 92 individuals repres...

Introduced infectious diseases pose a significant threat to wildlife populations and are exceptional conservation challenges, in part because they can precipitate much more rapid and devastating population declines than habitat encroachment. Pneumonia epizootics have played a major role in the dynamics and conservation challenges of bighorn sheep (Ovis canadensis) populations. A large proportio...