Factors Influencing Reproduction in Ewe Lambs

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Abstract
Increasing production efficiency is as much a challenge to producers of livestock as it is in the more mechanical forms of industry. Sheep producers are using rams which have demonstrated high rates of gain and feed efficiency in feedlot performance tests. Researchers are working with nutrition and hormones to increase conception rates, shorten the postpartum interval and increase the frequency of lambing. Ch'ang (1967) and Hulet, Wiggins and Ercanbrack (1969) have demonstrated that ewe lambs reaching puberty during their first breeding season possess a higher production potential than other ewe lambs even if they are not bred during that first year. Hulet et al. (1969) has also demonstrated that only 10 to 12 % of ewe lambs raised under Western range conditions reach puberty the first year. Ewes bred first as Iambs have been shown to produce more lambs or more kilograms of lamb during their lifetime than ewes bred first at 18 months of age (Bowstead, 1930; Griswold, 1932; Spencer et al., 1942; Longrigg, 1961). Copyright © 1971. American Society of Animal Science . Copyright 1971 by American Society of Animal Science.

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