New Zealand Journal of Agricultural Research abstracts
Effect of sire breed on growth, carcass, and wool characteristics of lambs born
to Merino ewes in New Zealand
G. H. SCALES
Te Awa
Private Bag
Rangiora, New Zealand
A. R. BRAY*
D. B. BAIRD
D. O'CONNELL
T. L. KNIGHT
AgResearch
Canterbury Agriculture and Science Centre
P.O. Box 60
Lincoln, New Zealand
Email: braya@agresearch.cri.nz
Abstract Sire breed effects were studied in 1080 lambs born
over three years to Merino ewes and 6-10 sires each of Merino, Poll Dorset,
Border Leicester, Texel, Oxford Down, and Suffolk breeds. Ewes bearing
crossbred lambs required more assistance at lambing than those with purebred
Merino lambs. Poll Dorset cross lambs grew fastest and purebred Merinos slowest
from tailing until they were 12 months old (P < 0.05). While purebred
Merinos tended to have less carcass fat throughout the trial, differences
between the other crossbreds changed with time. Texel and Poll Dorset cross
carcasses generally had larger eye muscle size (P < 0.05) than other
sire breeds. Carcasses were "blockier" for crossbreds, particularly Texel and
Oxford Down, but weights of individual cuts were similar for all breeds. At 12
months of age, greasy fleece weights were heaviest (P < 0.05) in
Border Leicester cross lambs (4.4 kg) and least in Suffolk crosses (3.1 kg). It
is concluded that Merino cross lambs can produce 20-kg carcasses by 9 months of
age under improved pasture conditions. Local sire breeds were competitive with
more recently imported sire breeds for meat production.
Keywords sheep; sheep breed; lamb meat; carcass traits; wool
production
New Zealand Journal of Agricultural Research, 2000, Vol. 43: 93-100
0028-8233/00/4301-0093 $7.00/0 (c) The Royal Society of New Zealand
2000
PDF file of entire paper: medium quality (675K); (scanned from paper original: notes about this process)
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