Hostname: page-component-76fb5796d-vfjqv Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-25T13:42:28.452Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The development and structure of, and seasonal change in, the coat of some Wiltshire sheep

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 September 2010

M. L. Ryder
M. L. Ryder
Affiliation:
A.R.C. Animal Breeding Research Organisation, West Mains Road, Edinburgh EH9 3JQ
Get access

Summary

Coat and skin samples were taken monthly from three Wiltshire ewes for two years, and then fortnightly between the spring equinox and the autumn equinox of 1968.

The fleece comprised kemp and wool, having a weight of 1·1 kg and a length of 50 mm. In summer all the primary fibres had a latticed medulla, and although the secondaries were smaller than the primaries, they were relatively coarse and often medullated, over one-third having a latticed medulla at the peak period. The overall mean S/P ratio was 3·5.

Follicle development was studied in four lambs from birth to 84 days. Only 27% of the secondaries lacked fibres at birth, and all had fibres at 14 days. There was a trend of increasing medullation in the primary fibres. Shedding primary follicles were seen from birth onwards, and shedding secondaries from 28 days, although obvious casting of the birth coat did not begin until 84 days (at the beginning of June).

There was a basic seasonal cycle of follicle activity starting in March and lasting until September; inactivity began in September, reached 100%, and continued at this level until March. Subsidiary cycles suspected from the monthly samples were confirmed by the fortnightly samples. Thus peaks of inactivity in June and August separated three cycles of growth of two months duration. Only 80% of the primaries and 50% of the secondaries became inactive in June, with 50% of the primaries and 30% of the secondaries, in August.

Type
Research Article
Information
Animal Production , Volume 11 , Issue 4 , November 1969 , pp. 467 - 477
Copyright
Copyright © British Society of Animal Science 1969

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

Burns, M. 1953. Observations on the follicle population of Blackface sheep. J. agric. Sci., Camb. 43: 422–431.Google Scholar
Burns, M. 1954a. The development of the fleece and follicle population in Herdwick sheep. J. agric. Sci., Camb. 44: 443–464.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Burns, M. 1954b. Observations on the development of the fleece and follicle population in Suffolk sheep. J. agric. Sci., Camb. 44: 86–99.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Carter, H. B. 1955. The hair follicle group in sheep. Anim. Breed. Abstr. 23: 101–116.Google Scholar
Dry, F. W. 1965. Lamb fibre types. In The Biology of Skin and Hair Growth (eds. Lyne, A. G. and Short, B. F.). Angus and Robertson, Sydney.Google Scholar
Hart, D. S. 1961. The effect of light-dark sequence on wool growth. J. agric. Sci., Camb. 56: 235–242.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rougeot, J. 1961. [The comparative effects of annual and semi-annual periodic variations of day length on the follicle cycles of short kemp fibres of the fleece of Limousin ewes. Relationship with their reproductive cycles.] Annls Biol. anim. Biochim. Biophys. 1: 385–402.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ryder, M. L. 1956. Observations of nutritional and seasonal changes in the fleeces of some Masham sheep. j. agric. Sci., Camb. 47: 129–144.Google Scholar
Ryder, M. L. 1957. A survey of the follicle populations in a range of British breeds of sheep. J. agric. Sci., Camb. 49: 275–282.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ryder, M. L. 1960. A study of the coat of the mouflon Ovis musimon with special reference to seasonal change. Proc. zool. Soc. Lond. 135: 387–408.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ryder, M. L. 1966. Coat structure and seasonal shedding in goats. Anim. Prod. 8: 289–302.Google Scholar
Ryder, M. L. 1968. Fleece structure in some native and unimproved breeds of sheep. Z. Tierzucht ZuchtBiol. 85: 143–170.Google Scholar
Ryder, M. L. 1969a. Post-natal fleece development in some primitive breeds of sheep and crosses. Z. Tierzücht ZüchtBiol. (in press).Google Scholar
Ryder, M. L. 1969b. The skin. In Nature Conservancy Monograph on Soay sheep (in press).Google Scholar
Ryder, M. L. and Stephenson, S. K. 1968. Wool Growth. Academic Press, London.Google Scholar
Slee, J. 1959. Fleece shedding, staple-length and fleece weight in experimental Wiltshire Horn—Scottish Blackface crosses. J. agric. Sci., Camb. 53: 209–223.Google Scholar
Slee, J. 1963. Birthcoat shedding in Wiltshire Horn lambs. Anim. Prod. 5: 301–316.Google Scholar
Slee, J. and Carter, H. B. 1961. A comparative study of fleece growth in Tasmanian Fine Merino and Wiltshire Horn ewes. J. agric. Sci., Camb. 57: 11–19.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Slee, J. and Carter, H. B. 1962. Fibre shedding and fibre-follicle relationships in the fleeces of Wiltshire Horn × Scottish Blackface sheep crosses. J. agric. Sci., Camb. 58: 309–326.Google Scholar
Youatt, W. 1840. Sheep. Baldwin and Cradock, London.Google Scholar