9. GENERAL
CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS
Many trials with Finn sheep have been
carried out over the last two decades albeit in isolation from each other. Such rich experiences were not exchanged between countries of the region, especially
in view of the lack of reports in many of
these trials. Causes of failure, when they existed, were common among these trials. Sharing experiences between
countries in the region would be useful to avoid duplicated efforts in these trials. General conclusions on the
introduction of Finn sheep which may
be drawn from different trials reported in this paper are as follows:
- All
the trials aiming at breeding pure Finn sheep under subtropical
conditions in the region
were not successful. Pure Finn sheep
faced
problems of adaptability
to prevailing environmental conditions and
had some health problems,
especially pneumonia. Bad management
contributed
significantly to the failure of some of these trials.
- On
the other hand, all the crossbreeding trials with Finn sheep in the
region were quite
successful. They showed that genetic
factors
responsible for high
prolificacy and good fertility in this breed were
transmitted to their
crosses with different native subtropical sheep
in the same way as with
temperate breeds.
- Pure
Finn rams, or nucleus flocks, involved in these crossbreeding
trials should not be
walked for long distances to the pasture or
exposed to direct solar
radiation.
- Difficulties
of Finn rams in mating with fat-tail ewes were frequently
reported. AI was used
successfully to overcome this problem. In some
instances it seems easier
to train these rams on hand serving the
native fat-tailed ewes. Docking of native
ewe-lambs is not practical,
except on an experimental scale.
- Prolificacy, defined
as number of lambs born/ewe lambed, was improved
in the Finn crosses as compared to the
native sheep in the region from
33 to 56 percent in the 1st cross and from 19 to 32 percent in the 1/4
Finn. However, most of the Finn crossbred ewes reported had not
attained maturity to show their full
potentiality.
- It
was interesting to note that Finn crossbred ewes with subtropical
sheep showed encouraging
results in their ability to breed more than
once/year, especially
those with lower Finn blood.
- The
preliminary results obtained on the interbred groups of the Finn
crosses did not show much drop in ewe reproductive performance. More
data are still needed to
clear that point.
- Crossing
with Finn rams greatly decreased the fat-tail in the progeny,
especially in the first
cross. This point should be considered
carefully from the point
of view of lamb marketability. Crossing
with Finn sheep also
decreased the amount of subcutaneous fat, but
increased internal and
intermuscular fat.
- Results
on using terminal sires in the Finn crossbred ewes were not
encouraging. Furthermore, it complicated the
crossbreeding system for
implementation under small farmer conditions
and with less educated
producers.
- The
utilization of Finn embryos and/or frozen semen in the cross
breeding trials with native sheep is worthy of
investigation to avoid
problems of adaptability of imported Finn
rams/sheep and as a possibly
less expensive procedure.
- Evaluation of the
results of Finn crosses under breeder conditions is
essential before recommending its wide
implementation in each country.
- The ongoing trials should be
monitored and evaluated constantly to provide an answer on points which are still
obscure.