Some Growth, Reproduction and Lactation Characteristics of Hamdani Sheep

Abstract

This research was conducted to determine some growth reproduction and lactation characteristics of fat tailed Hamdani sheep in extensive farm conditions in the Çığlı village of Çukurca district of Hakkari Province in Turkey. It was found out that average of birth weight, weaning weight and 6th month live weight were 4.13, 21.78 and 35.09 kg respectively. The average daily gains from birth to weaning and from birth to the 6th month were 171.98 and 196.30 g respectively. Hamdani, sheep giving birth between December to February, it’s reproduction characteristics such as lambing rate, infertility rate, fecundity, twinning rate and litter size were found to be 92%, 8%, 1.04, 13.05% and 1.13 respectively. The survival rates of lambs until the 7th and 90th (until weaning) days were 98.5% and 94.6% respectively. The means of lactation milk yield and lactation length for ewes were 83.96 L and 170.98 days respectively. Consequently, it was concluded that Hamdani sheep had a better performance over performance for traits in question compared to Turkish native sheep breeds and some certain cross breeds developed and recently known in Turkey. © 2018, Centenary University. All rights reserved.