| dc.description.abstract | An easy care sheep is a sheep that requires minimal shepherding, sheds its fleece, is a non-selective eater, has excellent mothering ability and has a higher resistance to common diseases such as fly strike. Easy care shedding sheep tend to come in two types, they either have a hair coat that is moulted yearly similar to other mammals or they have a short wool and hair fleece which is shed in early summer. These shedding sheep account for 10% of the world’s sheep population and include a large number of different breeds. In recent years there has been an increased interest by the lamb production industry for an easy care sheep. Due to the low price of wool, especially wool of dual purpose breeds, over the last thirty years and the increasing resistance of blowfly to chemical agents there has been a desire for a sheep that does not require shearing and therefore has a lower likelihood of being affected by fly strike.
In this thesis I focused on the increasing popularity of the composite easy care shedding breeds which are produced solely for meat and leather production. These breeds have been developed all over the world. Using the genetics of the Wiltshire Horn, a native English naturally shedding sheep, a number of different composites breeds have been developed such as the British Easycare and Exlana, as well as the Australian Wiltipoll. The genetics of hair sheep have also been used. Such as the Blackhead Persian, an African fat-tailed hair sheep was used in the development of the South African Dorper, and the Caribbean hair sheep were used in the development of the Katahdin, a composite breed developed in the USA. Some research has been undertaken into the traits of the easy care sheep with more needing to be performed. | en |
