The microstructural orientation and tenderness of edible offal and the psoas minor muscle from Dohne Merino sheep were compared in this study. Following evisceration and cleaning, fresh meat samples were collected from slaughtered lambs and ewes of different age groups…
Motility is an important criterion in the assessment and quantification of the quality of ejaculated and epididymal sperm samples. Ovine sperm spermatozoa are particularly susceptible to cryodamage, and shortening the interval from collection to cryostorage may potentially minimize the negative…
Relatively rapid and cost-effective genotyping using the OvineSNP50 chip holds great promise for the South African sheep industry and research partners. However, SNP ascertainment bias may influence inferences from the genotyping results of South African sheep breeds. Therefore, samples from…
The effect of abattoir type, age, sheep breed and sex on avoidance-related behaviour and bleeding times at slaughter were determined. Castrates and ewes of different age groups and breeds were used. From the commercial abattoir, 90 castrates and 110 ewes…
Dagginess predisposes sheep to breech strike and can be controlled with management practices (e.g. mulesing, crutching) or by treating the animal with an anthelmintic. The effect of regular treatment with crystals derived from Aloe spp as a natural anthelmintic was…
The repeatability of the reproduction rate of commercial Merino ewes. The repeatability of the reproduction rate of 143 and 423 Merino ewes in two commercial flocks was investigated. Ewes from flocks were grouped as those that failed to lamb and…
Effect of feed restriction in the early life of young Merino sheep on growth performance and wool characteristics. The effect of feed restriction on the relative performance of young Merino sheep was investigated. Lambs were separated from their mothers between…
Production differences between Merino ewes from different regions and between their progeny as determined at a central testing centre. The first Merino championships for measured production took place in 1984. A total of 31 breeders each sent 12 ewes which…
Data of 224 Merino breeding ewes, kept on artificial pasture in a favourable environment in the South Western Districts, were analysed. Means of greasy wool mass at 16, 28 and 40 months of age were respectively 8,41, 9,14 and 8,79…
Individual inbreeding coefficients were computed in three lines of a selection experiment by using the algorithm of Quaas (1976). The mean inbreeding was about 2% at the end of the experiment and no significant difference was found among lines selected…
Genetic and phenotypic parameters were estimated in the control line of the Klerefontein Merino sheep selection experiment. The heritability estimates of 0,247 for body mass, 0,229 for clean fleece mass and 0,369 for fibre diameter are generally lower than other…
The effect of divergent selection for ewe multiple-rearing ability over a 15-year period on mutton quality was examined on the M. longissimus dorsi and M. semimembranosus of entire rams (R) and ewes (E) derived from two Merino lines. The selection…
A total of 497 Merino ewes were allocated to one of four experimental groups for the period 1996 to 1998. The treatments were designed to provide data on the effect of shade during an autumn lambing season and the effect…
This study was conducted to evaluate direct and correlated selection responses to selection for total weight of lamb weaned per ewe joined (TWW), number of lambs born (NLB), number of lambs weaned (NLW) and weaning weight (WW). Data from the…
