Impact of mature ewe weight on ewe lamb
| Project start date: | 14 April 2014 |
| Project end date: | 05 December 2014 |
| Project status: | Completed |
| Livestock species: | Sheep, Lamb |
| Relevant regions: | Victoria |
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Summary
The sheep industry is facing serious issues which revolve around a declining flock. Therefore, the challenge of meeting current and future demand for lamb, while sustaining a viable national ewe flock is becoming increasingly difficult.
The aim of this project was to determine if percentage mature weight is a better indicator for the likely success of a ewe lamb conceiving than actual joining weight.
Flocks that participated for more than one year achieved a 60% conception rate in merino ewe lambs and a 75% conception rate in crossbred ewe lambs mated at 7 to 10 months of age. It was found that both the weight and condition score of ewe lambs at joining significantly affected the reproductive rate in both merino and crossbred ewe lambs.
Objectives
The objectives of the producer demonstration site were to:
• establish the mature weight of trial ewes at condition score 3.0
• re-analyse ewe lambing joining data, based on joining weight, as percent mature weight
• develop guidelines on the percentage mature weight ewe lamb need to reach to join successfully at 7-9 months of age.
Progress
Although the effect of both weight and condition score were significant, there was a large variation in the weight range of ewe lambs which conceived.
It was found that percentage mature weight at joining only slightly improves the accuracy of predicting reproductive rate of ewe lambs mated at 7-10 months over their actual joining weight. Therefore, joining weight alone provides a robust approximation of the reproductive rate of ewe lambs.
