Awassi and Assaf are local Israeli sheep breeds with prolificacies of ~1.30 and ~1.65 lambs born/ewe lambing (LB/EL), respectively. Introgressing the B (Booroola) allele of the FecB locus into these breeds led to the formation of prolific strains designated 'Afec Awassi' and 'Afec Assaf', in which lamb production under both intensive and semi-intensive conditions is higher than in the respectiv...

This study investigated potential carry-over effects of increased growth rates prior to breeding at seven months age on mammary glands two-year-old ewes bearing one or two lambs, and examined the association between ewe structures their progeny. Ewe live weight ultrasound measures were recorded 119 days pregnancy, 29 lactation (L29), weaning progeny (L79) in 64 selected from treatments. The hea...

A total of 378 ewe lambs were evaluated for signs of pregnancy using five methods of detection. The methods used were breeding mark, rectal-abdominal palpation, an intrarectal Doppler instrument and two ultrasonic devices, the Scanoprobe and Scanopreg (Model 738) for sheep. Accuracies of pregnancy diagnosis based on grease marks at mating vs lambing results were 65.7% in 1976 and 75.5% in 1977 ...

Bacterial isolations were attempted from milk samples taken from 242 range ewes in a southwestern Idaho shed lambing enterprise. Eighty-five percent of the ewe milk samples had no pathogenic bacterial growth at lambing and 3 weeks later. The few organisms that were isolated did not appear to affect udder condition of the ewe or contribute to lamb mortality. Shed conditions did not affect the fr...

Performance of 1/2-Suffolk, 1/2-Rambouillet (Western) and 1/2-Suffolk, 1/4-Rambouillet, 1/4-Finnsheep (1/4-Finn) ewes was compared in three different lamb production systems over 3 yr. System 1 (56 ewes) involved late fall lambing over 84 d. System 2 (51 ewes) involved January and February lambing for 60 d. System 3 (47 ewes) involved March and April lambing for 45 d. Pregnancy rates for yearli...

The present study was conducted to examine the effects of offering a single diet rationed to 80% (80% ME), 100% (100% ME), or 120% (120% ME) of recommended ME requirements from d 119 of gestation to lambing, with concurrent changes in other dietary nutrients. The effects on pre- and postpartum ewe performance, including estimated milk yield and milk fatty acid concentrations, were monitored. Si...

Informing conservation and management decisions for habitats frequented by species of high interest often face the challenge limited resources conducting wildlife surveys. When surveys are focused on local areas or sparsely distributed species, it may also be difficult to obtain counts sufficient implementing abundance models that account imperfect detection. With replicated aerial collected wi...

This study was designed to evaluate the impact of weaning age on lamb and ewe productivity in an accelerated lambing system. St. Croix White (STX) and Dorper × St. Croix White (DRPX) lambs were assigned at birth based on breed, gender, and litter size to be weaned at 63 (Early-1; 106 lambs and 68 ewes) or 90 d of age (Late-1; 99 lambs and 60 ewes) in Exp.1 or at 63 (Early-2; 77 lambs and 57 ewe...