Improving the reproduction efficiency of ewe lambs (lambing at 12-15 months)
| Project start date: | 29 January 2010 |
| Project end date: | 13 June 2013 |
| Project status: | Completed |
| Livestock species: | Sheep |
| Relevant regions: | Southern Australia |
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Summary
The sheep industry is facing serious issues which revolve around a flock that has declined to record low levels and varying returns for wool and meat.
The overall aim of this Producer Demonstration Site (PDS) was to improve the reproductive efficiency of ewe lambs in both cross-bred and Merino sheep leading to improvements of at least 10% in flock reproductive performance.
It was demonstrated that mating merino and crossbred ewes at 7 to 10 months was an effective way of lifting lamb production by more than 10% in the flocks participating for multiple years in this project. These flocks achieved a 60% conception rate in merino ewe lambs and a 75% conception rate in crossbred ewe lambs.
Objectives
The objectives of this PDS were to:
• increase the lamb production of flocks in the PDS by 10% through the joining of ewe lambs at 7 to 10 months
• develop best practice management guidelines for improving the reproductive performance of ewe lambs.
Progress
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. In fact the combined analysis of PDS flocks indicated that on average a 1 kg increase in live-weight at joining was associated with a 3.7 and 2.6% increase in reproductive rate (foetuses per 100 ewes joined) for merino and crossbred ewe lambs respectively.
There were also significant additional effects of condition score of ewe lambs at joining on reproductive rate, over and above correlated changes in live-weight, suggesting that early maturing ewes achieve higher reproductive performance when mated as ewe lambs. At a given live-weight an extra condition score at joining increased reproductive rate by 31 and 26% for merino and crossbred ewe lambs respectively.
