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Lactation in Improved Awassi sheep

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 November 2017

G. E. Pollott
Affiliation:
Wye College, Ashford, Kent TN25 5AH, UK
E. Gootwine
Affiliation:
The Volcani Centre, P. O. B. 6, Bet Dagan 50250, Israel
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Extract

Few authors have reported on the complete lactation of sheep, without suckling, and most reports deal with ewes under experimental conditions or of non-dairy types (Groenwald et al, 1995; Portolano et al, 1996). In recent years, the commercial Awassi flocks in Israel have weaned their lambs once the lamb has received colostrum from the ewe and so are ideal for studying the complete lactation curves of sheep, under commercial conditions. The objective of this paper is to describe the complete lactation curve of sheep and the factors which affect it.

The records for this analysis were taken from the Improved Awassi flock belonging to the kibbutz Ein Harod. This flock of intensively managed milking sheep has been previously described by Gootwine, Bor, Braw-Tal and Zenou (1995).

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Programme
Copyright
Copyright © The British Society of Animal Science 1999

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References

Gootwine, E., Bor, A., Braw-Tal, R. and Zenou, A. 1995. Reproductive performance and milk production of the improved Awassi breed as compared with its crosses with the Booroola Merino. Animal Science, 60: 109115.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
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