Animal model evaluation of dairy traits in US sheep breeds, their crosses and three synthetic populations

Sakul, H.; Boylan, W. J.; Shrestha, J. N. B.

doi:10.1016/s0921-4488(99)00048-6

Cited by 16 publications

(7 citation statements)

References 17 publications

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“…The first dairy sheep research program in North America was established by Dr. William Boylan at the University of Minnesota in 1984 [ 1 ], but this program ceased in about 1996 with his retirement. The dairy sheep program at the Spooner Station had its start in the summer of 1993 with the importation of two ½ EF rams from the flock of Hani Gasser, Chase, British Columbia, Canada.…”

Section: Brief History Of the Spooner Agricultural Research Stationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Dairy sheep production research at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, USA – a review

Thomas

Berger²,

McKusick

et al. 2014

J Animal Sci Biotechnol

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Commercial milking of sheep is a new agricultural industry in the United States starting approximately 30 yr ago. The industry is still small, but it is growing. The majority of the sheep milk is used in the production of specialty cheeses. The United States is the major importer of sheep milk cheeses with 50 to 60% of annual world exports coming to the United States during the past 20 yr. Therefore, there is considerable growth potential for the industry in the United States. The only dairy sheep research flock in North America is located at the Spooner Agricultural Research Station of the University of Wisconsin-Madison. The research program started in 1993 and has been multifaceted; dealing with several areas important to commercial dairy sheep farmers. The East Friesian and Lacaune dairy breeds were compared and introduced to the industry through the research program. Both dairy breeds produced significantly more milk than traditional meat-wool breeds found in the U.S., but the two breeds differed in their production traits. East Friesian-cross ewes produced more lambs and slightly more milk than Lacaune-cross ewes whereas Lacaune-cross ewes produced milk with a higher percentage of fat and protein than East Friesian-cross ewes. Lactation physiology studies have shown that ewes with active corpora lutea have increased milk yields, oxytocin release during milking is required to obtain normal fat percentages in the milk, large udder cisterns of dairy ewes can allow for increased milking intervals, and short daylengths during late pregnancy results in increased milk yield. In the nutrition area, legume-grass pastures and forages with a higher percentage of legume will result in increased milk production. Grazing ewes respond to additional supplementation with increased milk yield, but it is important to match the supplement to the quality of the grazing. Ewes on high quality legume-grass pastures that are high in rumen degradable protein respond with increased milk production to supplements high in energy and/or high in rumen undegraded protein.

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Section: Brief History Of the Spooner Agricultural Research Stationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Dairy sheep production research at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, USA – a review

Thomas

Berger²,

McKusick

et al. 2014

J Animal Sci Biotechnol

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“…The milk yield and composition of ''non dairy-type'' sheep breeds currently available in North America and selected for milk production were taken a decade ago and might vary from those presented in the present study. An alternative approach to increase milk production would be to capitalize on substantial variability in the ''non dairy-type'' breeds in North America by selecting for increased milk production (Sakul et al 1999) while accepting a slower genetic response.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Evaluation of sheep genetic resources in North America: Milk production and composition of purebred, crossbred and synthetic populations

Shrestha¹,

Boylan²,

Rempel³

2008

Can. J. Anim. Sci.

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Evaluation of sheep genetic resources in North America: Milk production and composition of purebred, crossbred and synthetic populations. Can. J. Anim. Sci. 88: 569Á576. Purebreds, crossbreds and synthetic populations of sheep in North America of divergent genetic types produced 47Á103 litres of milk for 121Á144 d, consistent with ''non dairy-type'' breeds; however, this was substantially less than the 200Á330 kg of milk per lactation characteristic of ''dairy'' type breeds in Europe and the Middle East countries. Among established breeds, the Suffolk (Su) breed produced significantly more total and daily milk yield, respectively, for a longer lactation (79 litres and 589 mL for 139 d), followed by the Rambouillet (Ra), Targhee (T) and Dorset (D) breeds (60Á62 litres and 422Á542 mL for 120Á132 d), while the Lincoln (L) breed produced significantly less (48 litres and 285 mL for 128 d). Among fecund-type breeds and their crosses, Finnsheep (F) and Romanov (Ro) breeds produced significantly less (50Á55 litres and 425Á463 mL, for 122Á129 d), while Ro )F produced significantly more milk (91 litres and 744 mL for 126 d), followed by F )Ro (60 litres and 505 mL for 128 d). Among other crossbreds, F)Ra produced significantly more milk (66 litres and 434 mL for America exhibited diversity that was substantial for milk yield, but negligible for lactation length, as well as fat, protein, lactose and solid-not-fat content. Lack of inherent potential for milk production continues to be a serious constraint towards development of commercial dairy sheep industry. In the absence of ''dairy-type'' breeds, superior milk production in the Rideau Arcott breed (with East Friesian lineage) and their crosses demonstrates considerable promise for further improvement, thus increasing the efficiency of sheep production.

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“…In the study of Boylan and Sakul (1988), purebred Finnsheep ewes had a 130-day milk yield of 64.0 l and it was 12% lower than the average milk yield of purebred Dorset, Lincoln, Rambouillet, Suffolk and Targhee ewes. At the same location of the previous study and using some of the same raw data, purebred Finnsheep ewes were estimated to have an average breeding value for milk yield that was 12.2 l lower than the average breeding value of Dorset, Lincoln, Rambouillet, Suffolk and Targhee ewes Short-tailed sheep breeds in North America (Sakul et al, 1999). The small differences between Finnsheep-cross and domestic or domestic-cross lambs for weaning weights observed in Table 5 may be due to greater milk production from the domestic breeding in the dams of the Finnsheep-cross lambs, allowing them to express their potential for growth more completely.…”

Section: Finnsheep Prolificacymentioning

confidence: 99%

Performance and utilization of Northern European short-tailed breeds of sheep and their crosses in North America: a review

Thomas

2010

Animal

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The five Northern European short-tailed sheep breeds present in North America are the Finnsheep, Romanov, Icelandic, Shetland and Gotland. The Finnsheep and Romanov were first imported in 1966 and 1986, respectively, for their high reproductive performance. The Shetland, Icelandic and Gotland breeds were first imported in 1980, 1985 and 2005, respectively, for the uniqueness of their physical appearance and their unique fleeces desired by fiber craftspeople. There have been no scientific studies conducted on the performance of the Shetland, Icelandic or Gotland breeds relative to other breeds of sheep in North America. However, the Shetland and Icelandic breeds have become very popular in the United States and ranked 9th and 18th, respectively, among 35 breeds of sheep for number of purebred animals registered in 2008. The performance of the Finnsheep breed in North America relative to domestic breeds has been thoroughly investigated. Compared to several domestic purebreds and crosses, sheep with Finnsheep breeding had a younger age at puberty, greater fertility to autumn mating, greater litter size, greater survival to weaning, similar growth rate, similar subcutaneous fat thickness, smaller loin muscle area and greater percentage of kidney and pelvic fat. Each 1% increase in Finnsheep breeding in ewes was associated with approximately 0.01 more lambs born per ewe lambing. In North American studies, Romanov ewes were superior to Finnsheep ewes for reproductive rate and lamb production per ewe under both autumn and spring mating. Lambs of the two breeds were similar for survival, growth and carcass traits. Romanov and Romanov-cross ewes produced fleeces that were heavily contaminated with medulated and colored fibers and were of very low commercial value. Three composite breeds containing 25% to 49% Finnsheep breeding (Polypay, Rideau Arcott and Outaouais Arcott) were developed in North America and are now more popular than the Finnsheep breed.

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Animal model evaluation of dairy traits in US sheep breeds, their crosses and three synthetic populations

Cited by 16 publications

References 17 publications

Dairy sheep production research at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, USA – a review

Dairy sheep production research at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, USA – a review

Evaluation of sheep genetic resources in North America: Milk production and composition of purebred, crossbred and synthetic populations

Performance and utilization of Northern European short-tailed breeds of sheep and their crosses in North America: a review

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