Fertility in Clun Forest sheep

Abstract

The ages of the Clun ewes considered in the survey were ranged from between 1 and 4 years in practicbreeding ally every case. They had thus not attained their maximum fertility which probably occurs at the age of from 4 to 6 years. A consideration of the fertility in the breeding flocks does not provide an estimate of the maximum for this breed, which can only be obtained from older draft ewes which are used in crossbreeding flocks with the object of fat lamb production. Barrenness is relatively unimportant in ewes, but affects approximately one-third of all breeding ewe lambs each year. Abortion was insignificant amongst ewes but was more common amongst ewe lambs.