Lote de ovelhas F1 Romanov e White Dorper recem paridas

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Lote de ovelhas F1 Romanov e White Dorper recem paridas. http://whitedorper.com/whitedorper-25/index.php/flock-management-and-health

Nineteen two year old Romanov/W. Dorper F1 ewes were bred to a W. Dorper ram that was clean shedding and had good carcass EBVs. All ewes lambed producing two singles, eleven sets of twins and six sets of triplets. One triplet disappeared and was presumed dead..live lambing percentage was 216%.

The F1 ewes were not flushed before breeding. They were maintained on pasture through winter, supplemented with wheat hay and alfalfa. They lambed on pasture and none required lambing assistance. All these lambs were ear tagged at birth but not docked or castrated.

Another group of forty two ¼ Romanov, ¾ White Dorper ewe lambs were exposed to a slick W. Dorper ram to start lambing at approximately 13 months of age.

They have finished lambing on pasture with some supervision but no labor or input required. No lambing problems or stillborn lambs were observed. A fair number of twins were born. Ear tagging was not done to prevent disruption during lambing. At weaning this group will be gathered and lambs weighed and ear tagged to identify the group. Number of dry ewes and approximate group lambing percentage will be recorded.

We obtained these 3/4 WD yearling ewes by breeding a group of our purebred W. Dorper ewe lambs to a F1 Romanov/W. Dorper ram. We won't do this again because of the demand for purebred W. Dorper ewes. Instead we will maintain this ¾ flock by adding WD sired females from the F1 ewes above.

Our Conclusions from these very limited numbers:

The F1 Romanov/WD ewes carry too much wool and will probably require shearing. The ¾ WD ewes vary from hair to some wool and should not require shearing.

The lambs from the ¾ W. Dorper yearlings appear to be much closer to purebred W. Dorpers in body type and muscling despite being out of yearling ewes.

Both groups of ewes were flighty compared to W. Dorpers, but not unmanageable. Ewes had no trouble keeping track of twins or triplets and kept their lambs very close.

Newborns from both groups got up and nursed quickly and seemed to be tolerant of inclement weather. Ewes from both groups showed good defensive and maternal traits in caring for their lambs.

Probably the best market for the Romanov cross lambs of both groups would be ethnic markets, at the 80-90lb weight range. Taking them to heavier weights could require supplemental feeding or finishing on fall forage crops.

If possible we will try to get some carcass feedback when these lambs are marketed and also ultrasound some for eye-muscle depth when we have our purebred lambs scanned.

Labor required and numbers of lambs weaned per ewe are two of the most important factors for profitable sheep production.