Hair Breed Crosses Make Good Commercial Ewes
Livestock Update, July 1997
Steve Umberger, Animal and Poultry Sciences, Virginia Tech
A study comparing the performance of crosses of hair and wool breeds of sheep was conducted at the University of Illinois Dixon Springs Agricultural Center located in southern Illinois. Hair-breed rams (St. Croix and Barbados Blackbelly) and prolific wool-breed rams (Finnsheep, Booroola Merino, and Combo-6; a composite breed developed by the University of Illinois) were mated to Suffolk and Targhee ewes. Crossbred ewe lambs from those matings were bred to Dorset rams in September and October of 1987 through 1990, and lambed at approximately two and three years of age from 1988 through 1991. The reproductive traits measured on the crossbred ewes were fertility, prolificacy, lamb survival, lamb weaning weight, and total weight of lamb weaned per ewe exposed. Ewes sired by hair-breed rams had significantly shorter breeding to lambing intervals (7.1 fewer days), higher fertility (11.5% more ewes lambing), higher lamb survival (9.3% more lambs from birth to weaning), and weaned more pounds of lamb per ewe (10.3 pounds) than ewes sired by wool-breed rams. This study clearly indicates that hair-breed crossbred ewes have a number of advantages that might be considered useful in Virginia commercial flocks. During the 1980's, a small group of Dorset x Barbados Blackbelly ewes were lambed during the fall at Virginia Tech over a 5-year period. They exhibited pregnancy rates in excess of 90% and lambing percentages over 150%. From a reproductive standpoint, this would be very difficult to beat using other breeds or breed crosses.