Breeding possibilities of Booroola Merino in East-Europe

Booroola Merino (BM)rams and ewes were imported from New Zealand to Hungary and Czechoslovakia in the 1980’s. Part of the imported animals were proved to be homozygous for the F gene. Frozen semen of these has been used for spreading this gene to Hungarian (HM) and Czechish (CM) Merinos. The crossbred lambs were 4—7 % lighter at birth and at 30 d.,6—24 % lighter at 100 d. and 5—10 % lighter at 1-yr than HM. The 1-yr weight was 10—22 % lighter than that of CM. Greasy fleece weights were 5—10 % higher, staple lengths 7—11 % longer than in HM or CM, while fibres were finer. The litter size of BM x HM ewes at 1 st lambing was 1.42, at 2nd 1.52 and at 3rd 1.69, while the last figure for HM ewes was 1.15. The % of twins born to the BM x HM ewes was ca. 35 %, when HM ewes had 12%. The corresponding figures for triplets were 9 and 0.2 %. The BM x HM crosses had shorter anestrus periods after lambing than HM ewes, except after the first lambing. The BM x HM ewes produced 2.4 lambs/yr. in a continuous lambing system, while HM ewes gave 1.9 lambs