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Breed structure and genetic analysis of Border Leicester sheep

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 October 1962

G. B. Young  and
A. F. Purser
G. B. Young
Affiliation:
A.R.C. Animal Breeding Research Organisation, Edinburgh, 9
A. F. Purser
Affiliation:
A.R.C. Animal Breeding Research Organisation, Edinburgh, 9
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Extract

Since the year 1900 the number of Border Leicesters has been fairly stable, between 3,000 and 5,000 females being registered each year. The number of flocks, however, has shown a fairly steady increase from 200 to over 600. There has been a decline in the number of ewes registered per flock from 16 to about 6 to 8. The important flocks would seem to number 15 to 20; only a few flocks persist for any appreciable length of time. Generation intervals are short, being only about 2 years on the sire side and 3½ years on the female side.

As with other breeds, relatively few rams have an importance out of proportion to their numbers—14 rams and 2 ewes with direct coefficients of relationship greater than 5% were found. Inbreeding per generation was only 0·32%, and there was no evidence of strain effects.

Type
Research Article
Information
Animal Production , Volume 4 , Issue 3 , October 1962 , pp. 379 - 389
Copyright
Copyright © British Society of Animal Science 1962

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References

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