The trial was conducted in 1974 by Al-Azhar University in collaboration with ENAS. The objective was to study intensive lamb production from local sheep. The breeding plan was to cross the three Egyptian local breeds; Rahmani (R), Ossimi (0) and Barki (B) with Finn rams and to use the first crossbred ewes as dam lines to be sired by Suffolk (SF) and Ile-de-France (IDF) for fat-lamb production. The first cross between SF and IDF with local sheep was also tested.
Some managerial problems caused the reduction of the initial size of the flock, and to move it to another farm. Also the delay in importing exogenous rams in the proper time affected the time schedule of the plan. Management problems also contributed to the delay in executing the plan.
According to the latest progress reports of the trial (Zahed 1988) F Finn crossbred ewes with different local breeds have started to reproduce under accelerated lambing system of mating each 4 months and those failed to conceive joined the next mating, their reproductive performance are presented in Table 16.
Table 16: Reproductive performance of Finn crossbred ewes vs. local ewes in the ENAS trial.
| Breed | No.
of records |
EL/EE* | LB/EL | L/yr | LB/EE/yr |
| R | 1951 | 0.41 | 1.10 | 1.04 | 0.86 |
| 0 | 2545 | 0.52 | 1.07 | 0.95 | 0.83 |
| B | 1903 | 0.40 | 1.07 | 1.02 | 0.64 |
| FR | 33 | 0.49 | 1.30 | 1.00 | 0.96 |
| F0 | 68 | 0.55 | 1.46 | 1.04 | 1.20 |
| FB | 78 | 0.52 | 1.25 | 1.19 | 0.98 |
*EL: ewe lambed; EE: ewe exposed; LB: lambs born; L: lambing
Finn crossbred ewes showed better fertility than B and R local ewes but comparable to 0. The low fertility of R and B was probably due to the induction of newly bought ewe-lambs. Finn crossbred ewes gave higher multiple births than the locals. Differences in LB/EL were 0.20, 0.18 and 0.39 for FR, FB and FO ewes from their corresponding local breeds. The advantage of Finn crosses over the locals were more detectable in LB/EE/yr to be 41, 45 and 53 for the three crosses, respectively.
Table 17 represents lamb performance of different Finn crossbred lambs (E.S.E. Galal, personal communication). FR and FO lambs were heavier at birth and of better growth performance up to weaning than Finn x Barki (FB) and commercial Finn cross (225, 253, 176 and 186 g/day, respectively). Growth performance of different Finn crosses diminished clearly after weaning to average only 164 g/day.
Table 17: Lamb performance of different Finn crosses in the ENAS trial.
| Trial | FB | F0 | FR | Commercial Finn cross | Overall |
| No. of lambs | 31 | 24 | 25 | 45 | 125 |
| Birth weight (kg) | 3.5 | 3.7 | 3.7 | 3.5 | 3.6 |
| Weaning weight (kg) (at 4 weeks) | 13.4 | 17.8 | 18.0 | 13.9 | 15.4 |
| Daily gain (g) (birth-wean.) | 176 | 153 | 255 | 186 | 210 |
| Weight at 12 weeks(kg) | 16.7 | 22.5 | 23.7 | 18.7 | 19.9 |
| Daily gain (g)(wean.-12 weeks) | 120 | 165 | 204 | 171 | 164 |
