ChileanJAR

Shearing of ewe lambs was studied as a way to increase the growing rate of sheep in Magallanes Province. The work was carried out at Otway Research Field, Estación Experimental Magallanes. 222 Corriedale ewe lambs were divided into two treatments with 111 animals each. One group was shorn on february 15th 1971. Sheep were managed as one mob with a stoeking rate of 0.5 ewe hoggets/ha/year on a native pasture asociation of Festuca pallescens and Chilliotricum diffusum.
There were no significative differences on liveweight at mating time on may 1972, getting 44.1 and 44.0 Kg for the control group and the shorn one respectively.
Wool production as ewe lambs was 1.44 Kg. The accumulated wool production from birth till, 14.5 month old was 5.19 and 4.81 Kg for the shorn as ewe lambs and control groups respectively. The difference of 0.4 Kg on wool production, in favour of the shorn group was non significant.