Document Type

Full Issue

Publication Date

9-1950

Abstract

Sheep of predominately Rambouillet breeding have been most popular on southern Utah ranges because of their hardiness and wool-producing ability. In the early years of sheep production in Utah a major portion of the income was derived from the sale of wool. This situation has gradually changed over the past years and now income from the sale of lambs is greater than that from fleeces. Rambouillet rams with improved mutton qualities have been used by some range operators to increase the mutton producing abilities of their ewes. Other operators have used Corriedale, Panama, Columbia, and other white faced crossbred-type rams to achieve more speedily the desired mutton qualities.

Because of the interest of Utah sheepmen in the problem of improving their range ewes, the Utah Agricultural Experiment Station, in cooperation with the Branch Agricultural College at Cedar City, established a range sheep unit at Cedar City in 1943 and 1944. This unit has been used to conduct controlled breeding studies aimed at the determination of the type or breed of sheep most desirable for southern Utah range conditions. This bulletin reviews the initial results and gives attention particularly to the qualities of the lambs produced by mating Columbia rams to grade Rambouillet range ewes compared to those produced by mating Rambouillet rams to ewes similar to those bred to the Columbias.

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