Abstract

There is a paucity of published information in New Zealand (NZ) sheep on milk production in commercial-scale dairy enterprises. Much of the early research involved small numbers of animals focused on traditional breeds, with the Dorset breed considered the most suitable dairy-type sheep (e.g., Geenty & Jagusch 1974). Importation of East Friesian sheep in the mid-1990s provided new opportunities for sheep dairying (Allison 1996). Since that time, there appears to be a limited number of papers published in NZ on the milking performance of animals of East Friesian origin (e.g., Newman & Steiffel 1999; Peterson et al. 2005)...

WH, McMillan, SJ McLachlan, IS Hercus, and N Lopez-Villalobos

Proceedings of the New Zealand Society of Animal Production, Volume 74, Napier, 52-54, 2014