Key Technical Points and Feeding Management Methods for Small-tailed Han Sheep Breeding
The Small-tailed Han sheep has advantages such as early maturity, multiple pregnancies, multiple lambs, fast growth, large body size, high meat yield, good fur quality, stable heredity and strong adaptability. It can be fattened and sent to market at 4 months of age, with an annual slaughter rate of over 400%; it can be mated and conceive at 6 months of age, producing 2 litters per year, with 2-6 lambs per litter, sometimes as many as 8; the average lambing rate reaches over 266% per litter and over 500% per year; body weight can reach 50 kg at 6 months of age, 100 kg at one year of age, and adult sheep can reach 130-190 kg.
Among sheep breeds in the world, the Small-tailed Han sheep has high production, large size and good benefits. It has been designated by the state as a famous fine breed of livestock, and is praised by people as China's "national treasure", the world's "super sheep" and the "long-legged sheep" breed. It eats green grass and straw, and offers mankind "deliciousness" and "beauty", and gives breeders "gold" and "silver". It is not only one of the best projects for farming households to escape poverty and become better off, but also the most reliable project in the government's poverty alleviation work, and an important measure for the state to close hillsides for afforestation, return farmland to grassland, plant grass to raise sheep and build ecological agriculture. Therefore, in recent years all parts of the country have been vigorously developing Small-tailed Han sheep, and their number has now reached more than 2 million.
Common Feeds for Small-tailed Han Sheep
Green fodder: forage corn, sorghum, forage barley, oats, ryegrass, smooth bromegrass, alfalfa, sweet clover, Chinese milk vetch, etc. can be fed directly, or made into hay or silage.
Roughage: hay, straw (corn stalks, wheat straw, rice straw, millet straw, soybean stalks, etc.), chaff (bean pods, grain husks, cottonseed hulls, etc.).
Silage: green-cut corn with cobs, green corn stalks, various green grasses.
Key points for silage raw materials: fine-stemmed forage grasses are best at 7-8 cm, and thicker stalks such as corn should preferably not exceed 1 cm.
Basic Requirements for Sheep House Construction
1. Floor. It is required to be dry, level and easy to clean. Generally a clay floor is used, which is easy to remove the surface layer and replace with new material, but it is prone to dampness and difficult to disinfect; the indoor floor should be slightly higher than the outdoor ground to prevent rainwater from flowing back in.
2. Walls. Brick-and-stone walls or earthen walls are both acceptable, and can be decided according to local conditions and economic conditions. The height is generally 2-3 m, lower in cold areas and higher in areas with high temperatures.
3. Doors and windows. Generally the door is about 1.5 m wide and about 1.8 m high. The window area is generally relatively large (it can be smaller in lambing rooms) to facilitate ventilation. The specific area can be determined according to local climatic conditions, and the windowsill is 1-1.2 m from the ground. The sheep house should be sheltered from the wind and face the sun, and be close to a water source.
4. Exercise yard. An exercise yard should be set up outside the sheep house. The height of the enclosing wall is 1.2-1.5 m, and the area is 2-2.5 times that of the sheep house. The terrain should slope slightly toward the south, and sandy soil that drains easily is preferable.
5. Area of the sheep house. It can be determined according to the number of sheep. If it is too crowded, the interior will be damp and the air foul, which is harmful to the health of the sheep. Therefore, the sheep house should have sufficient area so that the sheep can move freely. Generally, the floor area per sheep should not be lower than the following: 1.1-2.0 sq m for lambing ewes, 4-6 sq m for breeding rams, 0.7-0.9 sq m for young rams, 0.7-0.8 sq m for one-year-old replacement ewes, and 0.4-0.6 sq m for lambs aged 3-6 months.
Feeding Management
1. Measures to improve lamb survival. Normal birth and lamb delivery: when the ewe is close to giving birth, it swells, and a small amount of yellow colostrum can be squeezed out by hand; this is more obvious 2-3 days before delivery. The vulva is swollen and red, sometimes with thick mucus flowing out. The flank sinks, especially 2-3 hours before delivery. Movement is difficult, urination frequency is more than half, the temperament is docile, the animal is restless when standing and lying, sometimes looks back at the abdomen, often lies in a corner with the four legs stretched out and strains, and during grazing often falls behind or leaves the flock to lie down and rest. Sometimes it paws the ground with its four legs, showing restlessness, poor spirits, reduced appetite, even stopping rumination, and bleating from time to time. At this time the birth attendant should observe the ewe at all times. If the above conditions are seen, especially sinking of the flank, straining and the amniotic membrane appearing outside, the ewe should immediately be sent to the lambing room or a quiet place to prepare for delivery. For a normal delivery ewe, after the amniotic membrane breaks, the lamb is usually delivered in about 10-30 minutes. For a lamb in normal fetal position, at birth generally the two forelegs and the head come out first; a few come out hindlegs first. In this case it is best to assist manually immediately to prevent the fetus from suffocating to death.
After the lamb is delivered, the mucus in the lamb's mouth, nose and ears should be quickly removed to avoid death from breathing difficulty and suffocation, or inhalation into the trachea causing foreign body pneumonia. The mucus on the lamb's body must be licked clean by the ewe. If the ewe has a weak maternal attachment to the lamb, the fetal mucus can be smeared on the ewe's mouth to induce her to lick and eat it. If the weather is cold, use a clean cloth or dry grass to quickly wipe the lamb's body dry to prevent it from catching a chill. Sometimes the lamb shows apparent death after birth; the lamb can be immersed in warm water at about 40°C while performing artificial respiration, patting both sides of the chest, or blowing air into the nostrils to revive it. The umbilical cord of the lamb breaks naturally after birth; apply 5% tincture of iodine to the end of the umbilical cord for disinfection. If the umbilical cord has not broken, at a thin part about 10 cm from the base of the umbilical cord, strip the blood away from both sides of the umbilical cord with the fingers and then twist it off, or cut the umbilical cord with scissors, then disinfect with 5% tincture of iodine. Ligating the umbilical cord will affect the discharge of exudate and easily cause omphalitis.
After delivery is completed, if hair around the area and on the inner side of the thighs is found not to have been cut, it should be cut in time. Then wash with mild disinfectant water, wipe dry, squeeze out the first few drops of colostrum, assist the lamb in suckling, and then weigh the lamb. After delivery, move the lamb and ewe into the mother-and-lamb pen and raise them separately from other sheep.
2. Let the lamb eat colostrum well and to satiety as early as possible. After the lamb is born and the ewe has licked the mucus dry, when the lamb can stand on its own, it should be manually assisted to take colostrum.
3. Do a good job of shed and pen hygiene. If the sheep house is too small, dirty, rotten, dark and damp, unbearably stuffy, and poorly ventilated, it can cause a large number of lamb diseases. Therefore, shed and pen hygiene must be done well, along with disinfection of the surrounding environment and utensils.
4. Strengthen supplementary feeding for lambs lacking milk: this is extremely important for the multiparous Small-tailed Han sheep. For single lambs, supplementary feeding is generally not needed; for 2-3 lambs or more than four lambs, supplementary feeding must be strengthened. When artificially supplementing cow milk or other sheep milk to lambs lacking milk, strictly control the temperature, feeding amount, time and sanitary conditions. Note that newborn lambs must not be fed corn paste or millet porridge.
Precautions
1. Pay attention to the quality of breeding sheep. Although some breeders are in the production area and the Small-tailed Han sheep they raise are also authentic, they lack scientific knowledge of sheep raising, and long-term inbreeding has caused breed degeneration, gradually forming degenerated groups or relatively primitive populations. Although there is no obvious difference in appearance from Small-tailed Han sheep, they develop slowly, have a small size, shorter legs and fewer lambs; while Small-tailed Han sheep selected and bred for quality grow fast, have a large individual size, produce many lambs and have good meat quality. Therefore, when purchasing breeding stock, be sure to buy from units with a formal license to operate breeding stock.
2. Pay attention to authenticity. The Small-tailed Han sheep, with its good performance, many lambs, fast growth, large size and good meat quality, is famous at home and abroad, is popular in the high-efficiency breeding market, and has quickly attracted a large number of people of insight to introduce and develop it. But in development it is inevitable that the good and the bad are mixed together, and a small number of swindlers are also among them. They pass off fakes as genuine, causing buyers who are eager to get rich but unable to tell true from false to be cheated and suffer economic losses. Mainly pay attention to the differences between Shaanxi "Tong sheep", ** "Hetian sheep", "Hu sheep" and the Small-tailed Han sheep. The Small-tailed Han sheep has higher legs, a larger individual size, a straight back and loin, all-white coat, and a round and small tail type.
3. Pay attention to good versus inferior quality. Some lawless people stop at nothing to make money; for example, they pull out the middle 2 incisors of old Small-tailed Han sheep that have already lost production capacity, then falsely claim they are young sheep that have just changed teeth, passing off old as young to deceive buyers
4. Pay attention to the characteristics of the Han sheep. The central production area of the Small-tailed Han sheep is located in the Yellow River alluvial plain, which is suitable for housed feeding and semi-housed feeding, and not suitable for excessive grazing.
5. Pay attention to the market. The Small-tailed Han sheep has a narrow body, underdeveloped forequarters, not full hindquarters, and insufficient rib spread, thus affecting its meat production performance. In addition, in some areas there is insufficient understanding of the Han sheep, and people think mutton is gamey, resulting in a difficult market or low prices, affecting economic benefits.