Volume 23 • Issue 02 • 2019
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Magee and Hogue, but unfortunately these
never “took off” to become standard practice
in either testing or the selection of “fertility”
for increased production!
Ewes were managed according to
“synchronised nutritional demands” i.e.
ewes in different physiological states with
increased nutritional demands, like before
mating (flush feeding) and before lambing,
were grouped and managed together…
Despite all this I have also found little things
which I believe they could have done better or
differently:
1. There are other ways in which they could
have “solved” the problems which they
encountered with the CAMAL system.
One being by shortening the mating times
through intra-vaginal device synchronisation
or even just by having “one cycle mating
periods” of 17 – 21 days at a time, instead
of 30 day breeding periods. By using single
day mating utilizing laparoscopic AI or with
natural mating after synchronisation, we
have managed to bring down breeding and
lambing times to anything between 1 and
7 days. This changes the whole “ball game”
with longer recovery times and no “tail” in
which they got lower conception rates.
2. Even in the STAR-system their mating
periods were too long - they started with 5
mating periods of 30 days each which gave
150 “high intensity days” and were excited
when they managed to bring this down to
120 days. I now have STAR systems running
on a total of 41, 57 and up to 105 days in
total per year giving increased profits by
increasing productivity and also by lowering
input costs.
3. Methods of synchronisation will be discussed
in a separate article. It is the principle of
“ultra-short mating and lambing down”
which needs to be understood. Short mating
periods lead to short lambing periods with
shorter “high cost, high intensity feeding and
labour days”.
4. We now also remove lambs on day one after
birth for “fostering”, leading to a whole lot
of other changes. With improved methods
of hand- or foster rearing this has become
a definite option! By removing the lambs,
ewes can be maintained on a diet just
above maintenance levels instead of on a
“lactation diet” which is up to 2.5 times above
maintenance levels for ewes with multiple
lambs! Based on feed conversion rates (FCR),
it is cheaper feeding a lamb than feeding a
ewe to feed her lambs. This is a topic on its
own for later discussion.
5. Longer recovery times without lambs
at foot leads to better re-conception
rates – with both a higher conception as
well as a higher fecundity rate. This has
“unfortunately”, for the STAR system, lead to
us to start looking at even “faster systems”!
If we believe that a ewe must, or should, raise
her lambs though, the STAR system still is my
system of choice!
6. Although their system of giving credit to
the top ewes by identifying and naming
them STAR- and ALL-STAR ewes was a good
one, I have subsequently, and based on the
same principles, developed the Da-Jo and
Drover identification systems for the same
purpose which I believe are “slightly more
refined”. Should a Finnsheep ewe producing
a twin after a quadruplet and thereby still
giving 6 lambs in 2 mating opportunities,
not also be an “ALL-STAR ewe? Ewes giving
15 lambs in 3 years and thereby giving a
lambing% in excess of 500% became ALL-
STAR ewes and thereby ram mothers. Is a
ewe giving 16 or 17 lambs in the same time
span, but doing so in a different manner,
not superior even if it meant 2 quads
followed by a skip (as a “resting period in-
between”) and another 2 quads afterwards?
With ultra-short mating systems where ewes
are now given the opportunity to lamb down
6 times in 3 years with an inter-lambing
period (ILP) of 181days after re-mating at 35
days, I believe that we are going to get ewes
doing this (giving 15 lambs) in 2.5 years,
with others exceeding all previous “norms”.
Six sets of triplets will give 18
lambs in 3 years – something which
I now believe is “very possible”!
Although my systems are quite simple, I
believe that this should be discussed in a
separate article as well.
7. Even though they had extremely prolific
breeds Magee and Hogue realized that they
did not have the “ideal sheep” for their
system “yet” and strived to develop a new
breed which they named the “Polypay”. The
question arises whether or not we have the
right breeds and/or whether we should
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