Performance of hair breeds and prolific wool breeds of sheep in southern Illinois: lamb production of F1 adult ewes
1995
Bunge, R. | Thomas, D.L. | Nash, T.G.
Two- and three-year-old F1 crossbred ewes produced from Suffolk and Targhee dams and sires of the prolific wool breeds of Finnsheep, Combo6, and Booroola Merino and the hair breeds of St. Croix and Barbados were pasture-mated to Dorset rams over a 4-yr period at the Dixon Springs Agricultural Center in southern Illinois. Booroola Merino sires were homozygous for the FecB allele for high number of ovulations. The effects of age of ewe, sex of lamb (where appropriate), breed of dam, and breed of sire on condition score, breeding weight, ovulation rate, breeding to lambing interval, fertility, prolificacy, lamb survival, weaning weight, and ewe productivity were estimated. All traits were analyzed using mixed-model methodology. Crossbred ewes from Suffolk dams had a higher (P < .01) condition score, heavier (P < .01) breeding weight, higher (P < .01) ovulation rate, shorter (P < .01) breeding to lambing interval, greater (P < .01) prolificacy, heavier (P < .01) lambs at weaning, and greater (P < .05) ewe productivity than crossbred ewes from Targhee dams. Ewes from hair-breed sires had lighter (P < .01) breeding weight, lower (P < .05) ovulation rate, shorter (P < .05) breeding to lambing interval, higher (P < .05) fertility, higher (P < .05) lamb survival, lower (P < .10) lamb weaning weight, and higher (P < .05) ewe productivity than ewes sired by the prolific wool-breed rams. The breed of sire x breed of dam interaction was a significant source of variation for breeding weight, fertility, lamb survival, and ewe productivity. The results indicated a definite advantage of hair-cross ewes over wool-cross ewes for lamb production in southern Illinois. Even though the Booroola Merino-sired ewes were heterozygous for the FecB allele, their apparent poor adaptability to the environment resulted in them achieving the lowest lamb production of any of the sire breed groups.
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