How to Select a GOOD Sheep Breeder?
What is Genetic Improvement in Sheep and Goats?
February 19, 2024
Indice
If your sheep association is not part of a global genetic evaluation system for a sheep breeder, don’t worry. The first priority should be characteristics that have economic value, meaning those that bring in money (e.g., hindquarters with a lot of meat), and secondly, those that can be objectively evaluated rather than based on subjective assessments.
How to Identify When a Sheep Won’t Be a Good Breeder at First Glance?
There are some characteristics to consider in a sheep to discard it as a breeding male for your flock. This way, you avoid the longer, more expensive evaluation process, since these evident characteristics depress productivity. In other words, they show aspects that do not align with the breed being analyzed, such as pigmentation, wool, head shape, presence of wool on the face, legs, tail, etc.
Another trait that depresses, for example, is a mouth defect, which makes it difficult for the animal to eat properly. For this, you don’t need to wait for objective assessments but can visually check it upfront. Similarly, a spot in an area where it shouldn’t be, which could decrease the value of the wool or the breed. In other cases, when the breed standards are not met at first glance, it’s best not to use that animal as a breeder in your production.
How to Identify a Good Sheep Breeder?
- Check the animal’s teeth to ensure they are in good condition.
- Inspect the ocular mucosa using the famacha technique to rule out parasites.
- Sit the animal down and quickly check the interdigital area (under the hooves) for any irregularities or deformities in all four limbs.
- Examine the level of meat in the hindquarters (the most valuable cut requested by the meat industry).
- Ensure the rear intercostal area is rounded, with no visible pointed bones.
- Check the animal’s testicles for good formation and mobility within the scrotum. This indicates that the animal has no pathologies and can regulate its temperature. It’s also important to push the testicles to the tip to view the tips of the epididymis, where sperm is concentrated. Both testicles should be symmetrical to each other.
- The animal’s prepuce should be in good condition, with no sores.
- Another important parameter is scrotal circumference, which varies with the age and activity of the males. A good breeder that is one year old should have a circumference exceeding 30 cm.
- Observe the dorsal line from the withers to the tail. The straighter it is, the better.
- Chest width should also be measured. One-year-old animals being evaluated for meat capacity should have a chest width of more than 28 centimeters.
- Animal weight. By recording the weight of your lambs month by month from birth, you can identify those that had the highest weight at slaughter age (3 to 6 months), meaning the outstanding ones. This will allow you to identify the sire that produced those heavy offspring, indicating that the animal can genetically fix this trait, which, as mentioned at the beginning of the article, is a factor that will put money in your pocket.
Conclusion
In conclusion, many of these objective evaluations can be carried out when the animal reaches its reproductive age, which will depend on the specific breed. Remember, at an early age, if the lamb already presents traits that devalue the breed, it’s best to discard it as a breeder.
At OvinApp, we have an exclusive panel for sheep reproduction.
We remind you that with OvinApp, you can view your sheep, identify your breeders, assign ewes for breeding, define breeding dates, and the application will tell you the probable birth dates. If you forget, it will send you notifications to keep you alert on those days when there is a high probability that births will begin. Additionally, you will be able to download reports of effective and non-effective matings (reproduction).
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