Correlations were estimated from a total of 7740 lamb records, collected from 1943 to 1990, from the progeny of 215 sires of the registered Elsenburg Dormer sheep stud. Phenotypic correlations were generally positive and medium to high except for a very small negative correlation (-0.06) between birth weight (BW) and Kleiber ratio (KL) (ADG/ WW0.75). A moderate negative genetic correlation (-0.279) between BW and KL was obtained. The estimated genetic correlations between weaning weight (WW), average daily gain (ADG), and KL were close to unity and had small standard errors. Correlated responses in WW and ADG associated with a 10% increase in KL were 20.4% and 24.6%, respectively. Birth weight is also expected to decrease by 7.5% with an increase of 10% in KL. A curvilinear model was fitted to represent the relationship between WW and KL. The results suggest that animals should initially be culled on low WW and finally selected on important post-weaning traits.
