Influence of clipping of North Caucasian Meat and Wool breed sheep before lambing on wool productivity of ewes and their offspring

Abstract

Over the past 20 years, various scientists have conducted a number of researches on the effect of clipping before lambingon the wool productivity of sheep of different breeds and in different climatic conditions. The authors studied the effect of clipping before lambing on the milk production of ewes, studied the growth and development of lambs, the dynamics of live weight and the livability of young animals. The accumulated data allowed us to conclude that the use of clipping before lambing increases the productive performance of animals. However, these studies were fragmentary and did not have a systematic nature, so for these and other reasons they were not adopted by sheep breeders. The work on the infl uence of clipping before lambingon the wool productivity of the sheep of North Caucasian Meat and Wool breed has been carried out in the experimental division of the All-Russian Research Institute of Sheep and Goat Breeding. The purpose of the research was to determine the effect of late-autumn (November) insemination and clipping before lambing (3 weeks before lambing) of the sheep of North Caucasian Meat and Wool breed on the quality characteristics of the wool of ewes and their off spring. In accordance with the research methodology 2 groups of pregnant ewes have been selected, the formation of which has been carried out on the principle of analogues in age and live weight. In the 1st group (control) 100 heads were selected and have been clipping in the traditional terms after lambing (early June), in the 2nd group (experimental) 100 heads that were clipping three weeks before lambing (early April). It has been found in our studies that clipping ewes 21 days before lambing has a positive effect on the wool productivity of the resulting off spring. As the result of better growth and development of young animals, more intensively receive nutrients to the hair follicles, so most of them produce wool fiber.