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

Heterosis did not seem to intervene on the milk production of the sheep and the production of
Awassi x Merino ewes was intermediate between those of the two parent breeds. For this reason
we also compared the production of milk from higher Awassi crosses (Table 1).
Table 1. Daily milk production (g/day), total lactation yield (kg) and total lactation length
(weeks) of Awassi crossbred ewes.
Cross (n) Daily production Lactation yield Lactation length
1/2 (16) 383±26.0 33.4±7.83 21±2.1
3/4 (13) 515±42.9 45.0±12.87 21±2.6
7/8 (11) 557±38.7 50.3±16.06 22±3.4
15/16 (7) 606±56.5 65.3±16.17 25±3.5
Although back-crossing to the Awassi increased milk production, it appears that the years
spent in Cyprus under harsh conditions as well as the seven years spent in quarantine in Australia
were sufficient to undo all the genetic improvement achieved by the Israeli on the Awassi sheep.
After these first experiments we have milked a lot more sheep and the results are still showing
that the Awassi that was imported in Western Australia is not capable of the 1000 litres of milk
per lactation quoted by Epstein (1982). Anecdotal evidence suggests that the Awassi sheep
imported to new South Wales produce more milk that the Western Australian Awassi, but the
results are still unpublished. Within each flock we have observed exceptional individuals producing
large quantities of milk. Therefore it is possible to recommence selection for dairy
production.
Currently we are milking East Friesian x Awassi and East Friesian x Merino ewes. Preliminary
results indicate that the East Friesian x Awassi ewes produce more milk than Awassi ewes,
while the East Friesian x Merino ewes produce less milk than Awassi ewes (Table 2).
Table 2. Milk production (g/day) on 20 September 2001, of Awassi, Awassi x Merino, East
Friesian x Awassi, East Friesian x Merino
Breed (n) Daily production Standard Error
Awassi (18) 745 112.0
Awassi x Merino (5) 483 80.1
East Friesian x Awassi (9) 1222 184.9
East Friesian x Merino (15) 525 67.3
Merino (19) 386 55.2