Milk yield of Karya ewes and its effects on lamb growth characteristics at rural farms

This study was carried out to determine milk yield and growth characteristics, and their associations in Karya sheep at extensive breeding conditions. Milk yield characteristics of 112 ewes and growth characteristics of 139 lambs were recorded in two private breeders' Karya sheep flock in Burunköy village belong to Söke district of Aydın Province. Milk recording of ewes were started 30 days after birth and performed twice a day with three weeks intervals. Least square means for average daily milk yield, lactation length and lactation milk yield were 615,11 g, 168,01 day and 103,08 kg, respectively. Least square means for lamb growth characteristics including birth weight, weaning weight, and average daly gain from birth to weaning were found as 4.13 kg, 19.30 kg and 197.35 g, respectively. The highest phenotypic correlation coefficient between milk yield characteristics of ewes and growth charecteristics of lambs were found for correlation of average daily milk yield of ewes and weaning weight of lambs as 0.361. Results obtained in the present study will help to future studies on breeding and improvement of Karya Sheep. Key words: Karya sheep, extensive condition, milk yield, growth characteristics