Comparison of Sumatra sheep and three hair sheep crossbreds. I. Growth, mortality and wool cover of F1 lambs.

摘要

Sumatran ewes were mated to Java Fat-tail [Indonesian Fat-tailed] (E1), Virgin Island [Virgin Islands White] (H1) and Sumatran (S) rams or were inseminated with semen form Barbados Blackbelly rams (B1) to produce crossbred lambs. A total of 882 lambs were born to 407 ewes in 568 lambings. Average litter size was 1.55 and lamb mortality to weaning at 3 months was 22.5%. Weights of lambs averaged 1.83 kg at birth and 8.7 kg at weaning. For female lambs, body weight averaged 14.4 kg at 6 months and 17.9 kg at 9 months of age. The average increases in weaning weight of the E1, H1 and B1 crossbreds compared with S were 10-13, 14-15 and 32% respectively. At 3 months of age all breed groups had similar wool scores, but the older animals ranked in the following increasing order: B1, H1, E1, S.