Sheep Industry - US and Michigan

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Sheep Industry - US and Michigan
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Michigan Sheep Production

• Purebred production
• Greatest proportion of the industry
• Produce and sell seedstock
• Youth projects
• Commercial production
• Greatest proportion of animals
• Market animals for meat production
• Lamb feeding

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Whats happening in the industry?

• Expanding / Shrinking?
• Good Markets / Poor Markets?
• Meat
• Wool
• Wide use of technology / limited use?
• Imports / Exports
• Commercial agricultural sector / hobby industry?

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Useful Sheep Facts and Figures

• Sex classifications
• Ewe - female, any age
• Ewe lamb - female less than 1 year of age
• Ram - intact male, any age
• Ram lamb - intact male less than 1 year of age
• Wether - castrated male any age

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Useful Sheep Facts and Figures

• Typical weights
• Birth - 8-15 lbs
• 90 day weights - 70 - 120 lbs
• Mature weights -
• Ewes - 100 - 200 lbs
• Rams - 120 - 275 lbs
• Market weight - 135 lbs

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Useful Sheep Facts and Figures

• Wool characteristics
• Fleece weight (grease) - 4 - 12 lbs
• Staple length - 2- 6 inches
• Fiber diameter - 19 - 40 ?m (microns)

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Useful Sheep Facts and Figures

• Reproductive characteristics
• Age at puberty - 5-6 months
• Age at first lambing - 1 year
• Estrous cycle - 17 days
• Estrus (standing heat) - 30 hours
• Gestation - 147 days
• Lambing rate - 1-5 lambs born/ewe/year
• Season breeders

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Useful Sheep Facts and Figures

• Seasonal breeders
• Seasonally anestrous - not cycling
• Short day breeders
• Some breeds much more seasonal than others
• Most fertile - October, November
• Both ewes and rams are seasonal breeders

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Useful Sheep Facts and Figures

• Economically important production traits
  (commercial flock)
• conception rate
• lambing rate
• age at puberty
• pounds lamb weaned/ewe/year
• pounds lamb sold/ewe/year
• average daily gain
• cost/pound of gain

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Useful Sheep Facts and Figures

• Marketing characteristics
• 90 of market lambs sold will grade choice or
  better
• value at marketing - based on weight, fatness
• Presently - value based marketing not available
  for most producers (carcass merit, grade and
  yield)
• 2 processing plants account for 40 of domestic
  harvest of lamb, next 6 plants account for
  another 44 (1999 USDA)

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Useful Sheep Facts and Figures

• Niche marketing opportunities exist
• Fiber
• Freezer lambs
• Ethnic markets
• Replacement breeding stock
• Dairy sheep
• Others

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Production Systems

• Range Production
• Farm Flock Production
• Characteristic differences between them
• Location
• Size of flocks
• Management

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Range Flock Production

• Lambing ewes with or without attendant care in
  small pastures or unattended on rangelands.
• Typically found in western US, TX, etc.
• Large flock sizes
• Low facility investment
• Sheep - white faced ewes - Rambouillet

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Range Flock - contd

• Lambing -
• Range, shed or drift
• Rates low (100-150)
• Reduced disease problems
• Predators a problem
• Feeding -
• Native range, little supplementation
• Record keeping difficult
• Shearing - 1X year
• Seeing shift to more emphasis on multiple births
  and meat production

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Farm Flock Production

• Primary production in midwest and eastern US
• Flock sizes -
• small in comparison to range production
• vary from few to several hundred ewes
• Facility requirements
• barn, feeders, waters, fenced pastures
• Breeds
• great diversity - purebred production
• commercial production - crossbred ewes X meat
  breed rams
• Intensive management compared to range production
• Predators

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Farm Flock Production - Contd

• Lambing -
• indoors - winter and/or spring most common some
  pasture lambing being tried
• lambing rates - 150 - 250
• supervised lambing
• Feeding -
• pasture used during part of year, harvest forage
  also
• supplementation during gestation and lactation
• Record keeping varies - none to genetic
  evaluation programs
• Shearing - usually 1X year
• Emphasis for increased production levels, carcass
  quality

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Breeds of Sheep

• Meat Breeds
• Known for growth rates and carcass quality.
• Also known as sire breeds
• Examples Suffolk, Hampshire, Dorset
• Ewe Breeds
• Known for maternal traits - prolificacy, milk
  production, mothering ability, wool
• Examples Rambouillet, crossbreds

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Breeds of Sheep

• Other Classifications
• Wool breeds
• Long Wool - (larger fiber diameter), Romney,
  Lincoln
• Fine Wool - (small fiber diameter), Merino,
  Rambouillet
• Hair Sheep
• Prolific
• Natural Colored Sheep

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Management Calendar - Breeding Flock
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Management Calendar - Breeding Flock

• Prebreeding
• Ewes
• Cull poor producers, unsound ewes
• Provide health maintenance - prevent / treat
  internal parasites, vaccinations,
• Flush ewes
• Rams
• Evaluate for breeding soundness
• Observe recommended ramewe ratio
• ram lambs 15 - 30
• mature rams 25 - 50

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Management Calendar - Breeding Flock

• Breeding
• Ewes
• Moderate condition, gaining weight
• Heat stress - negative impact shearing in high
  heat and humidity may help
• Rams
• Moderate condition, monitor libido
• Mark ram to monitor cyclic activity of ewes

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Management Calendar - Breeding Flock

• Early Gestation
• Maintain ewes in moderate condition
• During 1st 100 days - ewes should gain 10 pounds
• Late Gestation
• 2/3 of fetal growth occurs during last 6 weeks
• Adequate nutrition essential
• Vaccinate ewes for enterotoxemia (overeating)
• Shear ewes

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Management Calendar - Breeding Flock

• Lambing Management
• Observe ewes frequently
• Assist only when necessary
• Iodine Navel
• Open teats
• Move ewe and lamb(s) to pen
• Identify lambs
• Collect data - birth weight, birth dates etc.
• Post-lambing Management
• Dock tails
• Castrate
• Vaccinate
• Start on creep feed

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Management Calendar - Breeding Flock

• Lactation
• Highest nutrient requirements
• Peak milk production - 21-28 days of lactation
• Ewes suckling twins require additional feed

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Management Calendar - Breeding Flock

• Creep Feeding
• Increases lamb gains
• Lambs efficiently use feed
• Lambs can be marketed at younger age
• Weaning
• Age varies greatly
• 60 days of age or 45 pounds
• Management system will dictate

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Management Calendar - Lamb Feeding

• Drylot or feedlot
• Pasture followed by feedlot phase
• Feedlot Management
• Hand-fed or self-fed
• Start lambs on higher roughage diet
• Gradually increase the amount of concentrate in
  the diet
• Feed additives not widely used
• Enterotoxemia vaccinations
• Observe, isolate sick, weak lambs immediately

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Management Calendar - Lamb Feeding

• Pasture Management
• Lambs used to harvest forages - grasses, legumes,
  turnips, corn stubble, small grains
• Expect gains to be slower than lambs on high
  concentrate diet
• Cost of gain should be reduced to compensate for
  lower gains
• Enterotoxemia vaccinations still important
• Internal parasite burden must be prevented
• Lambs removed from pasture to finish in feedlot
  are then managed as feedlot lambs

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Lamb feeding

• Feeding weaned lambs to market weight
• Availability greatest in fall - Aug. and later
• May incorporate pasture in system, usually grain
  based in this part of country, byproduct feeds
  used in some areas
• Feedlots - few hundred to several thousand head
  capacity
• Lambs fed as means to market grains - corn, wheat
  belts
• Initial weights - 65 pounds - 110 pounds
• Final weights - 120 pounds - 140 pounds
• Average daily gain - .5 - 1.0 pounds/day