Comparative study on the average daily gain of Teleorman Black Head lambs reared on two farms in the NE of Romania

Abstract

Sheep flocks of the Teleorman Black Head breed started to grow and spread almost all over Romania since 2010 when this breed was homologated and a breeding programme was implemented to improve the productive traits of the animals within the breed, especially milk production. However, the animals of this breed have a large body size, a high growth gain for lambs and good carcass weights are obtained at slaughter. On the Romanian market, lambs that are not kept for fattening are destined for export, especially to Arab countries, or for slaughter and consumption during the period around Easter. Since average daily gain is a trait with medium heritability (h=0.16-0.45) [1], the environment in which animals are reared needs to be studied and optimized. The aim of this study is to identify the environmental factors that influenced the performance of young sheep from two farms in different areas in the NE of Romania. The biological material taken in the study was the lambs from the two farms, 277 in farm A and 380 in farm B obtained from the 2021 lambing campaign from a flock of 252 mother ewes in farm A and 376 mother ewes in farm B. The lambs were weighed according to the COP (Official Production Control) procedure, both at birth and at weaning. The average daily gain of lambs on farm A ranged from 229.5 g to 319.8 g, with an average of 273.23 g for females, and from 280.7 g to 405.7 g for males, with an average of 340.66 g, and on farm B from 243.2 to 275.2 for females, with an average of 259.43 g, and from 307.2 g to 408.5 g for males, with an average of 368.7 g.

Keywords

• daily gain
• lambs
• teleorman black head sheep