Grading of sheep: what is meant by it and varieties, rules for carrying out

Without improving the productivity of sheep and goats, it is impossible to increase the profitability of a farm or agricultural enterprise. To do this, the appraisal of sheep and goats is used, that is, a comprehensive examination on various grounds, after which they are divided into several groups. The procedure is carried out annually in order to select the optimal conditions of keeping and diet, select the most valuable specimens of animals, select the best sheep for the herd.

The valuation of sheep is understood as

The process of a comprehensive individual assessment of the performance of animals with subsequent classification, with the aim of further use in breeding, the creation of a rational, useful production technology, is called sheep evaluation.

This is an important process of agricultural production, as the breeding value of the flock is determined by the professionalism of the boniter. The procedure is usually applied to fine-wool and semi-fine-wool stock, after which the sheep are divided into classes.

Classification purposes:

• pick productive rams for mating;
• properly organize the process of keeping, feeding animals with the creation of the best conditions for the most valuable groups;
• divide sheep into classes according to useful productive traits.

Important! When examining livestock, close attention is paid to the direction in which the farm specializes. In the fine-wool direction, valuable sheep are isolated for wool production;

Varieties

The grading procedure is carried out individually or in groups (classes). Individual is the procedure applied to rams-producers for further mating. The results are recorded in the journal and the nominal breeding card of an individual animal.

Individual surveys are carried out by zootechnicians of farms and breeding farms in order to identify animals that:

• grown for transfer to third-party farms;
• designed to "repair" their own livestock;
• come from those rams that pass the test for offspring.

Sometimes the examination takes into account such qualities of animals as breed, productivity, constitutional features.At the same time, each head is assigned to the corresponding grading class without entering information or estimates into the journal. This is called class (group) grading.

Attention! Animals that do not undergo mandatory individual grading undergo this procedure. This applies to the livestock of commercial farms.

Rules

Mandatory appraisal, which is carried out once for each animal, determines its further use. The procedure is mandatory for the age when peer review is already possible:

• 8 or 9 months - the age of appraisal of fur coat sheep;
• 1 year - examination of fine-fleeced, semi-fine-fleeced livestock, carried out in the spring, before the start of the first shearing;
• 18 months - group grading of non-specialized, meat-fat herd, held in autumn, precedes mating.

The breeding part of the livestock begins to be graded even earlier in order to track the development of sheep, classify for fattening, breeding use.

Thus, at weaning, three-month-old lambs are evaluated by development, live weight, and at five months, before the first shearing, by the quality of bright wool.

Further animal care

After the grading process, the animals are carefully supervised. Monitoring the development, growth of animals, their behavior and relationships within the herd is the responsibility of the farm's specialists: boniters, livestock specialists, and breeders. It is important to provide sheep with quality fattening and he alth care.

Important! The results, deviations from the norm, the rate of development, other indicators of livestock technology, for better tracking, are entered in a special journal.

Scaling sheep is considered a difficult but necessary process in the management of the economy, since it simplifies the breeding of animals, and also, with the help of classification, makes it possible to cover all areas of sheep breeding.

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