Milk and lamb production of East Friesian-cross ewes in the north central United States

摘要

Two 1/2 East Friesian (EF), one 3/4 EF, one 7/8 EF and several Dorset rams were mated to crossbred ewes from 1993 through 1996. Growth, reproduction and lactation performance of their progeny were compared. EF-cross lambs had greater birth, weaning and postweaning weights than Dorset-cross lambs. When lambing at one and two years of age, EF-cross ewes gave birth to and reared more lambs per ewe mated, had longer lactation lengths, produced more milk, fat and protein and had lower percentage of milkfat and protein than Dorset-cross ewes. With the levels of EF breeding evaluated in this study (up to 50 percent), EF-cross sheep are superior to Dorset-cross sheep for lamb and milk production in the north central U.S.