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Evaluation of Rambouillet, Polypay, and Romanov-White Dorper x Rambouillet ewes mated to terminal sires in an extensive rangeland production system: Lamb production

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dc.contributor.authorNotter, David R.en
dc.contributor.authorMousel, Michelle R.en
dc.contributor.authorLewis, Gregory S.en
dc.contributor.authorLeymaster, K. A.en
dc.contributor.authorTaylor, J. Breten
dc.contributor.departmentAnimal and Poultry Sciencesen
dc.date.accessioned2020-03-19T17:36:15Zen
dc.date.available2020-03-19T17:36:15Zen
dc.date.issued2017-09en
dc.description.abstractEwe productivity (i. e., total number or weight of lambs weaned per breeding ewe) is a key indicator of lamb production efficiency. This study compared various measures of ewe productivity and ewe and lamb performance among ewes of 3 breed types mated to rams of 4 terminal-sire breed types in an extensive rangeland production system. Purebred Rambouillet (n = 212), purebred Polypay (n = 236), and crossbred Romanov-White Dorper x Rambouillet (RW-RA; n = 231) ewes were produced from locally adapted Polypay and Rambouillet ewes and then annually mated to Columbia, Suffolk, Columbia x Suffolk, or Suffolk x Columbia sires for up to 4 yr, beginning at 1 yr of age. The cumulative number and weight of lambs weaned through 4 yr were greater for RW-RA (5.9 lambs and 153 kg, respectively) and Polypay ewes (4.9 lambs and 123 kg, respectively) than for Rambouillet ewes (2.9 lambs and 99 kg, respectively) and also were greater for RW-RA ewes than for Polypay ewes (all P < 0.001). Greater productivity of RW-RA and Polypay ewes, compared with Rambouillet ewes, was driven by greater lambing rates (ewes lambing per ewe exposed) as ewe lambs (87 and 77 vs. 31%, respectively; P < 0.001) and greater (P < 0.001) litter sizes as ewe lambs (1.3, 1.3, and 1.0, respectively) and adult ewes (2.1, 2.0, and 1.6, respectively). The RW-RA ewes also had greater longevity (P < 0.01) and cumulative lambing rates (P < 0.001) than Polypay and Rambouillet ewes. Lamb BW at birth and weaning in adult ewes favored less-prolific Rambouillet ewes (P < 0.001), but after adjustment for type of birth and rearing and weaning age, differences in weaning BW among ewe breed types were small and not significant (P = 0.08). Effects of sire breed type on measures of cumulative ewe productivity were not significant (P > 0.74), but Suffolk-sired lambs had the heaviest adjusted birth weights (P = 0.01) and Columbia-sired lambs tended to have the lightest adjusted weaning weights (P = 0.12). Combined effects of heterosis and additive breed effects were associated with greater lambing rates in ewe lambs, larger litters at all ages, and substantially greater number and weight of lambs weaned for Polypay and RW-RA ewes than for Rambouillet ewes.en
dc.description.adminPublic domain – authored by a U.S. government employeeen
dc.format.mimetypeapplication/pdfen
dc.identifier.doihttps://doi.org/10.2527/jas.2017.1619en
dc.identifier.eissn1525-3163en
dc.identifier.issn0021-8812en
dc.identifier.issue9en
dc.identifier.pmid28992021en
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/10919/97378en
dc.identifier.volume95en
dc.language.isoenen
dc.rightsCC0 1.0 Universalen
dc.rights.urihttp://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/en
dc.subjectbreedsen
dc.subjectewe productivityen
dc.subjectgrowthen
dc.subjectlambing rateen
dc.subjectprolificacyen
dc.subjectsheepen
dc.titleEvaluation of Rambouillet, Polypay, and Romanov-White Dorper x Rambouillet ewes mated to terminal sires in an extensive rangeland production system: Lamb productionen
dc.title.serialJournal of Animal Scienceen
dc.typeArticle - Refereeden
dc.type.dcmitypeTexten
dc.type.dcmitypeStillImageen

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