Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-gbm5v Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-27T19:15:37.772Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

A study of the milk yield of three strains of Scottish Blackface ewes in two environments

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 June 1962

Joan Munro
Joan Munro
Affiliation:
Hill Farming Research Organisation, Edinburgh, 12
Get access

Extract

Milk yields of three strains of Scottish Blackface ewes (Lewis, Lanark and Newton Stewart) were recorded over periods of eight weeks on reseeded pasture and on hill pasture. There were no differences in milk yields between strains in the respective environments, but there were significant differences between environments in all three strains.

Relationships between udder width and milk yield were investigated in the Lewis and Newton Stewart strains.

Analyses of milk samples (taken by hand) showed there were no significant differences in the contents of fat or solids-not-fat. There was evidence that the percentage of fat and solids-not-fat in all groups tended to decrease initially and then to increase gradually as lactation advanced.

Live-weights of the ewes were compared and it was shown that the Lewis ewes were characteristically lighter than either of the other strains.

On the reseed all lambs were approximately equal in live-weight and condition. On the hill the Lewis lambs were inferior in weight and condition, and it is suggested this reflected the Lewis strain ewes' grazing preferences for higher ground.

Type
Research Article
Information
Animal Production , Volume 4 , Issue 2 , June 1962 , pp. 203 - 213
Copyright
Copyright © British Society of Animal Science 1962

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

Alexander, G., & Davies, H. L., 1959. The relationship of milk production to the number of lambs born or suckled. Aust. J. agric. Res., 10: 720.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Barnicoat, C. R., Logan, A. G., & Grant, A. I., 1949. Milk secretion studies with New Zealand Romney ewes. J. agric. Sci., 39: 44.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bonsma, F. N., 1944. Milk production studies with sheep. Fmg. S. Afr., 19: 311.Google Scholar
Coop, I. E., 1950. The effect of level of nutrition during pregnancy and during lactation on lamb and wool production of grazing sheep. J. agric. Sci., 40: 311.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Davies, H. L., 1958. Milk yield of Australian Merino ewes and lamb growth under pastoral conditions. Proc. Aust. Soc. Anim. Prod., 2: 15.Google Scholar
Thomson, W. & Thomson, A. M., 1953. Effect of diet on milk yield of the ewe. Brit. J. Nutr., 1: 263.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Munro, Joan, 1956. Studies on the milk yields of Scottish Blackface ewes. J. agric. Sci., 43: 131.Google Scholar
Owen, J. B., 1957. A study of the lactation and growth of hill sheep in their native environments and under lowland conditions. J. agric. Sci., 48: 387.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wallace, L. R., 1948. The growth of lambs before and after birth in relation to the level of nutrition. J. agric. Sci., 38: 93.CrossRefGoogle Scholar