Maquivar Martin G, Smith Sarah M, Busboom Jan R
Department of Animal Sciences, College of Agriculture, Human and Natural Resources Sciences, Washington State University, Pullman, WA 99164-1067, USA.
Grant-Adams County, Extension, Washington State University, Moses Lake, WA 98837-9753, USA.
Animals (Basel). 2021 Aug 26;11(9):2503. doi: 10.3390/ani11092503.
In sheep farms, achieving economic and productive efficiency and sustainability goals is directly related with the reproductive management of the animals. Genetically, the male contribution to the offspring is 50%, but in practical terms, there is a greater potential impact of the ram on reproductive results, because one male has the potential to affect a large group of females and therefore greatly affects the entire flock. Unfortunately, the selection of males for breeding in the US sheep industry has been traditionally conducted based on phenotypical traits, without a genetic/reproductive evaluation, and/or health assessment or records. Therefore, it is important to establish integrative management practices to select the rams and ram lambs to be used in the breeding season. Among these practices are genomic testing, a comprehensive breeding soundness evaluation and assessment of health status and records of the males before the breeding season, to detect and correct potential issues.
在养羊场中，实现经济、生产效率和可持续发展目标与动物的繁殖管理直接相关。从基因角度来看，雄性对后代的遗传贡献为50%，但实际上，公羊对繁殖结果的潜在影响更大，因为一只公羊有可能影响一大群母羊，从而对整个羊群产生重大影响。不幸的是，美国养羊业传统上选择种公羊是基于表型特征，而没有进行遗传/繁殖评估、健康评估或记录。因此，建立综合管理措施来选择繁殖季节使用的公羊和青年公羊非常重要。这些措施包括基因组检测、在繁殖季节前对公羊进行全面的繁殖健全性评估以及健康状况和记录评估，以发现并纠正潜在问题。
