Dairy Sheep Symposium - the Department of Animal Sciences ...

Disease in the U.K. and subsequently in some other European countries in 2000, it will be impossible
to import new dairy sheep genetic material from much of Europe for several months
(maybe several years) to come.
The East Friesian breed is now available in fairly large numbers from breeders in both
Canada and the U.S. In addition, there is a fairly large population of East Friesian sheep in New
Zealand and Australia that were first imported into New Zealand from Sweden. Live sheep, ram
semen, and sheep embryos can be imported from both New Zealand and Australia due to their
favorable animal health status. The East Friesian is generally regarded as the highest milkproducing
breed in the world with yields of 550 to 650 kg reported in northern Europe (Sonn,
1979; Kervina et al., 1984). It was developed in the East Friesland area of Germany. Mature
rams and ewes weigh 90 to 120 kg and 65 to 75 kg, respectively, and their face and legs are
white and free of wool. A distinguishing characteristic is a long, thin “rat” tail, which is free of
wool. A 230% lamb crop can be expected from mature ewes (Kervina et al., 1984).
A second dairy sheep breed, the Lacaune from France, is now available in North America.
Josef Regli imported Lacaune embryos to Canada from Switzerland in 1996 (Regli, 1999), and
the University of Wisconsin-Madison imported semen from three Lacaune rams into the U.S.
from the U.K. and two Lacaune rams from Josef Regli in 1998. The Lacaune is the native breed
of south central France where their milk is manufactured into the world-famous blue Roquefort
cheese. They are white-faced with long ears. The upper part of the body is covered with wool,
but the head, underside of the neck, lower half of the sides, the belly, and the legs are often free
of wool (Kervina et al., 1984). They are moderately prolific with a lambing rate of 150%. The
Lacaune breed in France has a well-organized and very successful genetic improvement program
that utilizes sophisticated milk recording of elite flocks (166,000 ewes), and the use of artificial
insemination of progeny tested rams on ewes in both the elite flocks and the commercial flocks
(560,000 ewes). Due to this genetic improvement program, average lactation milk yield in the
elite flocks has increased from 176 lb. in 1960 to 594 lb. in 1999 (Barillet et al., 2001). Ewes in
commercial flocks have average lactation milk yields of approximately 506 lb.
Awassi sheep or embryos have been exported from Cyprus to Australia and from Israel to
New Zealand. Therefore, Awassi sheep are now found in countries that can export sheep genetic
material to North America. To date, no Awassi sheep have been imported from these countries.
While the Awassi is a noted milk producer, it produces a coarse, colored fleece and is fat-tailed.
These traits would be undesirable for wool and lamb production. However, they should be
evaluated in North America, perhaps in crosses with either East Friesian or Lacaune to minimize
their undesirable characteristics.
Evaluation of Dairy Sheep Breeds in North America
The University of Wisconsin-Madison initiated a comparison of the East Friesian dairy breed
with the Dorset breed in 1993 (Thomas et al., 2000). East Friesian was chosen because it was
the only dairy breed available and Dorset because several of the current dairy sheep producers
were milking Dorset or Dorset cross ewes. When the study was started, only crossbred East
Friesian rams were available. We mated four crossbred rams (two 1/2 East Friesian, one 3/4 East
Friesian, and one 7/8 East Friesian) and several Dorset rams to crossbred non-dairy ewes and
evaluated the ewes for first and second lactation performance at one and two years of age, respectively.
Ewes nursed their lambs for 30 days and were then milked twice daily for the remainder
of lactation.