A diallel cross involving three Moroccan breeds of sheep (Sardi, Beni Guil, and D'man) was analyzed by least squares procedures. A total of 456 ewes were mated to 22 rams and this resulted in 528 lambs born from 412 ewes. D'man ewes had by far the highest general performance as measured by total weight of lamb weaned, even though the average live weight per lamb was the lowest for the three bre...

The effects of melengestrol acetate (MGA) and P.G. 600 on ewe fertility outside the natural breeding season were evaluated. Rambouillet ewes were assigned to one of four groups: (1) control (C; n=92); (2) PG600 (n=86); (3) MGA (n=99); and (4) MGA+PG600 (n=92). A pellet with or without MGA (0.3mg/ewe/d) was fed at 0.15kg/ewe/d for 7d. On the last day of pellet feeding, ewes were given either sal...

introduction: gonadotropin inhibitory hormone (gnih) has been known as a key inhibitor of the secretion of gonadotropin releasing hormone (gnrh). ewe has estrous cycles comprising of follicular and luteal phases. follicular phase is in turn divided into proestrous and estrous phases. blood level of lh increases in follicular and decreases in luteal phases. the aim of the present study was to ev...

Production data from 681 yearling ewes were evaluated for the effect of ewe breed and management system on fertility, prolificacy, lamb birth weight, lamb survival, lamb weaning weight, ewe fleece weight, and total lamb weight weaned per ewe exposed. Two hundred seven straightbred Targhee (T) and 474 1/4 Finn-1/4 Dorset-1/2 Targhee (FDT) crossbred ewes managed in a range or farm flock system we...

The aim of this study was to evaluate effects of free ferulic acid (FA) supplementation on productive performance, some blood metabolite concentrations, and carcass characteristics of ewe lambs finished in a feedlot. Dorper×Pelibuey ewe lambs (n=20; BW=28.5±0.5 kg; age=5 mo) were individually housed in pens and assigned under a randomized complete block design to the following dietary treatment...

Parental care promotes offspring survival and, for livestock species, this care is provided solely by the mother. Maternal behaviour in the sheep has been exceptionally well-studied compared with other species and many of the underpinning biological processes leading to the expression of maternal care are known. In this review the current state of play with regard to the biology of maternal car...

Two experiments were conducted with Polypay ewes nursing twin lambs to evaluate the effects of supplementing fat (calcium salts of palm oil fatty acids or hydrogenated tallow) on ewe lactation. In Exp. 1, ewes were fed a 52% concentrate:48% hay-based diet (as-fed basis) consisting of alfalfa hay (n = 4), endophyte-free fescue hay (n = 4), or fescue hay with 3.7% fatty acids (n = 4) from d 4 to ...

the aim of this study was to determine the effect of ewe breed on the reaction time and semencharacteristics in the ram. for this purpose, from the native sheep breeds in iran, seven lory rams and fourewes (two lory and two ghezel breeds) were selected. seven rams were individually subjected to 4 weeklytrials in which one of the following two treatments was applied alternately. all of rams were...