Investigation of accelerated lambing possibility of Anatolian Merino sheep

Abstract

Investigation of the possibilities to increase the number of lamb gained in a year via using the accelerated lambing method and, the profitability of a farm related to this is aimed with this study. As material, 525 Anatolian Merino ewes and 40 rams, aged at 2-4, in field conditions, and 199 ewes and 15 rams at Bahri Dagdaş International Agricultural Research Institute were used. Ewes in the field condition and at the Institute were divided in to two groups as accelerated lambing and control and, 200 ewes in the field condition and 75 ewes at the Institute were remained as control to get one lamb per year while 325 in the field condition and 124 at the Institute were formed treatment group. The control ewes were bred in August and September, the traditional breeding season, in a 12 month interval while 3 lambings in 2 years were applied to the ewes in the treatment group and they were bred for one month again following the period of 5 months of pregnancy, 40 days of lactation and 20 days of weaning. Ram effect, ram effect + flushing and some different protocols were used for induction and synchronization of estrus for accelerated lambing in the treatment group. As a result, more fecundity and lamb productivity achieved by accelerated lambing than once a year lambing. Synchronization methods were found to be effective on fecundity and lamb productivity in accelerated lambing applications. However, lamb yield obtained by synchronization methods used in this study were not profitable.