Original scientific paper
Exterior characteristics of Rab sheep
Boro Mioč
Vesna Pavić
Zdravko Barać
Velimir Sušić
Zvonimir Prpić
Ivan Vnučec
Daniel Mulc
Abstract
The purpose of this research was to assess the exterior features of Rab sheep. Thus, 382 Rab sheep were picked out from 15 flocks and divided into four age groups according to the teeth: 50 ewe lambs about 14 months old, 91 young ewes between 2 and 3.5 years old, 232 adult sheep older than 3.5 years and 9 adult rams. The exterior of Rab sheep was evaluated by a commission according to body measurments. The mean crest height of adult sheep was 56.83 cm, the trunk length 64.60 cm, the chest width 16.60 cm, the chest depth 28.29 cm, the circumference of the chest 82.28 cm, the circumference of the leg 7.51 cm and the body weight was 35.55 kg. Ewe lambs had 98.47% of an adult sheep’s crest height and 98.56% of an adult sheep’s length of the trunk. Rab sheep is small, but well-proportioned and of strong constitution. Its fleece is mostly white, but it can also be black, brown and grey. Its head and legs are also mostly white, but they can have black, grey and brown spots of various form and size. They also have 90.42% of their terminal body weight. It was found that Rab sheep were smaller than Cres sheep and Dubrovnik sheep-ruda, they were bigger than Krk sheep and similar to Pag sheep. A significant influence of sex on body size was determined; rams were more developed than adult ewes.
Keywords
Rab sheep; exterior; body measurements; trunk conformation
Hrčak ID:
4511
URI
Publication date:
10.7.2006.
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