Culture techniques of Han Sheep with High legs and small tail

High-legged and small-tailed Han sheep is an excellent meat sheep, which is known as "world super sheep" by our predecessors in raising sheep. In particular, it has high reproduction rate, early maturity, rapid growth and development, large physique, delicious meat, extremely resistant to rough feeding (as long as non-toxic plants eat), and stable genetic performance. Due to the local house feeding and captive breeding for many years, the habit of eating trees has been lost, and the contradiction between forest and animal husbandry has been solved.

Breed characteristics and characteristics of Han Sheep with High legs and small tail

1. Appearance features

The coat of Han sheep with high legs and small tail is white, and some ewes have black spots on the head, and the length of the coat is more than 10 cm. It can be divided into coarse wool type, semi-fine wool type and fur hair type. The coarse hair is thick, the flower curve is large; the semi-fine hair type is dense, the hair strand is not clear, the flower curve is small, irregular; the fur type hair stock is clear, the flower curve is more, and the flower spike is beautiful, which is suitable for making fur. Head, abdomen, limbs without villi, mostly coarse bristles. Among them, coarse hair type has the advantages of strong physique, resistance to rough feeding, strong adaptability and rapid growth and development.

The Han sheep with high legs and small tail are characterized by high and thin legs, protruding nose, drooping ears, round fan-shaped fat tail, tail tip close to the longitudinal groove, tail length not exceeding the hock, large head, thick spiral angle (gills), stout three-spindle-shaped horn, thick and short neck, well-developed forechest, high bun nail and long hair. Adult rams can be as tall as 95cm and 110cm. Ewes have small heads, thin necks, mostly horned, small horns and different shapes, including sickle, deer horn and ginger bud.

2. Production performance

The main results are as follows: (1) Han sheep with high legs and small tail mature early. In general, sexual maturity is reached at the age of 4-5 months, and the female lambs can be mated and reproduced at 6-7 months. The first estrus occurs at 30-40 days after delivery, and pregnancy can be achieved after mating.

(2) the reproduction rate is high. Ewes can breed in estrus all the year round without seasonality. Under good feeding conditions, ewes can give birth to 2 or 3 lambs a year. Except for the single lamb rate of 10% / 20%, ewes generally give birth to 2 / 4 lambs, with a maximum of 7 lambs. The average lambing rate of ewes after giving birth can reach more than 280%, and the lambing rate is among the highest in the world. Therefore, it is regarded as a "national treasure".

(3) fast growth and high meat production performance. The average birth weight of lambs is 3.14 kg for males and 2.91 kg for females, and the birth weight of lambs for twin lambs is more than 5 kg. After scientific breeding, the 4-month-old male lamb weighs 50 kg and the female lamb weighs more than 40 kg. The weights of one-year-old rams and ewes are more than 90 kg and 60 kg respectively. Adult rams and ewes weigh 120 kg and 65 kg respectively, and some rams weigh more than 150 kg. The slaughtering rate is 55%, and the net meat rate is more than 41%.

The living habits of Han Sheep with High legs and small tail

1. Gentle temperament, but poor climbing and cross-country ability

The high-legged small-tailed Han sheep belongs to the quiet type, with warm temperament, cowardice, slow response and slow movement. the masses say that the small-tailed Han sheep do not have "monkey feet" and call them "tired sheep". Therefore, the construction of the sheep house can be simplified because of bad reasons, as long as the height of the sheep is the same as that of the sheep, the sheep will not run around when they are out of grazing, and the sheep will never be far away from the herdsmen. The trained sheep can act according to the herder's password, which is very convenient in management. But the sudden shock will cause the sheep to run around in panic, and it is easy to "blow up the flock", especially the pregnant ewe is very easy to cause miscarriage, often panic the flock, and hinder the growth of the lamb. Although the ram has strong horns, it has no resistance. Therefore, we should try our best to keep the environment quiet and prevent the invasion of other beasts. The high-legged and small-tailed Han sheep have large bodies and high legs, so they are not suitable for climbing high slopes and long-distance sports, so they can't do long-distance grazing if they don't climb mountains, otherwise they will have enough to eat, run thin or reduce their feeding ability because of mountain climbing fatigue, affecting their growth and development.

2. Like to be dry and clean, afraid of heat and damp

High-legged and small-tailed Han sheep are suitable to live in dry and cool places, like cleaning, and do not like to eat forage and drinking water with peculiar smell, pollution or trampling. Hot and humid environment will make sheep feel uncomfortable and reduce their feeding ability. It will also cause infectious diseases, parasites and other diseases, so do not graze in low-lying, humid pastures, avoid hot noon in summer, and pay attention to blowing under the shade of trees. When raising or replenishing feed, lift the grass or put it in the grass rack for feeding; the trough should be clean before feeding, and the drinking water should also be clean to avoid supplying dirty water and sewage. The sheepfold should be well ventilated, change the cushion frequently and keep it dry and hygienic.

3. Strong gregariousness

The high-legged and small-tailed Han sheep have a strong gregariousness, gather together, do not separate from each other, and lie in the same place to rest after rest or harvest. Although the new sheep are driven by other sheep, they still do not leave the flock. When grazing, as long as the head sheep cross the bridge and wade, climb mountains or enter and leave the fence, the rest of the sheep must follow them and carry out group activities. In order to save manpower, the local people often concentrate the sheep of the scattered farmers in a special area for grazing, and after the harvest, they each go home to replenish the sheep for the night, commonly known as "blocking the flock." because the sheep are easy to fit in with the flock, the farmers release the sheep out of the pen in the morning, and the sheep will go to the flock on their own. In this way, it not only solves the difficulty that the sheep is not worth feeding or raising sheep, but also can replenish the forage in time.

4. it is useful for feed, but it doesn't eat trees.

The high-legged small-tailed Han sheep are resistant to rough feeding and use plant feed more widely than other domestic animals. When grazing, they walk slowly, eat fast, can gnaw on low and small forage grasses, can pick up leaves on the ground, and feed on about 80% of the feeding plant species, especially legumes and gramineous grasses. During the withering period, hay, straw, leaf vine, blighted shell and agricultural by-products can be fully used as feed. Han sheep with high legs and small tails have no habit of gnawing on the bark, that is, they do not gnaw trees in the forest, so they can graze or rest in the woods with more forage grass; in this way, they can not only feed the sheep, but also add some manure to the trees, and they can also watch the trees to protect the forest and kill more with one stone.

5. Strong adaptability

The high-legged and small-tailed Han sheep have a wide range of adaptability to the living environment, have strong tolerance and disease resistance, and can be raised in any area suitable for human habitation, which has been as far as Heilongjiang and Inner Mongolia in the north. It has been confirmed by the successful breeding of sheep introduced from Dongping County of Shandong Province in the south to Yungui area. However, due to the slow response of the high-legged and small-tailed Han sheep and their poor sensitivity to the disease, it is already a serious condition when it is found that the sheep do not eat, ruminate, lie on the ground, and so on. Measures should be taken immediately, treatment should not be delayed, and in the process of daily feeding, pay attention to observe the performance of sheep and do a good job in disease prevention.

6. Rams like to fight at the top

Han sheep with high legs and small tail are large, with stout horns, strong in nature and good at fighting. When the two sheep meet, they will win or lose. The winners are mostly rams with strong body, high sexual desire and strong breeding ability. The local people have the habit of fighting sheep, making use of spring fairs, bazaars and fallow seasons to carry out "fighting sheep" activities to select breeding rams and to improve the breed quality of high-legged and small-tailed Han sheep. The trained ram can also take care of the home, and outsiders are not allowed to enter.

Grazing of Han Sheep with High legs and small tail

High-legged and small-tailed Han sheep are not only suitable for scattered households in rural areas, but also suitable for group husbandry in pastoral areas. Different areas should be combined with local conditions and adopt different grazing methods to make effective use of local forage resources and improve the economic benefits of raising sheep.

Grazing method

Scattered household raising in rural areas, with small groups of grazing or lead, tie, it is appropriate to change places frequently, so that sheep have enough to eat. Cluster grazing is dominant in pastoral areas to improve the utilization rate of pastures.

1. Grazing group. Each flock of sheep in rural areas should have less sheep than more sheep. The principle is not only to facilitate grazing management, but also to make sheep full. Breeding rams alone is not suitable for herding. The pastoral area is raised and grazed according to ram flock, adult ewe flock, ewe flock, lamb flock and breeding core group. There are usually 200,300 ewes and 20,30 rams in each herd, and more sheep can be bred.

2. Grazing technology. Small groups or lead, tie or graze at the head of the village, by the river, in the field, by the road, and change places frequently, so as to prevent sheep from reducing their feed intake because they stay in one place for a long time. Grazing in pastoral areas should reasonably adopt the formation of "one whip" or "full of stars" according to the advantages and disadvantages of pastoral land, topography and season. And to achieve "three diligence", "three diligence", that is, "three diligence", that is, diligent eyes, mouth and legs; "three stability" means stable grazing, stable entry and exit, and steady drinking water. Secondly, it is necessary to grasp the principle of walking less and traveling slowly, so that sheep "walk slowly, walk less, eat well," and, in particular, walk slowly and steadily, so as to prevent sheep from picking grass and running fast, resulting in the phenomenon of walking too much and not having enough to eat. In pastoral areas, rotational grazing should be carried out in planned areas, and pastures should be used rationally. Pay attention to the training of head sheep, a good head sheep will be conducive to grazing management.

3. Matters needing attention in grazing

(1) as the high-legged and small-tailed Han sheep are not suitable for climbing and long-distance running, they should neither go to the high mountains nor long-distance grazing, and the daily grazing distance should not exceed 2.5 km. As the saying goes, "if the sheep take a trip, they will be released in vain." Especially pregnant ewes should pay more attention to avoid affecting fetal growth or even causing miscarriage.

(2) pay attention to counting the sheep and count the sheep before going out of grazing and during grazing every day to prevent loss.

(3) when sheep eat dewy grass and grass after rain, they are easy to suffer from flatulence, especially legume grass with dew. Sheep eating grass with frost is easy to cause diarrhea, abdominal pain, pregnant sheep will also cause abortion, so grazing should be careful not to let sheep eat dew grass, rain grass and frost grass.

(4) the hungry belly does not allow sheep to eat castor leaves, flowers, sorghum seedlings and corn seedlings to avoid poisoning. Legume stubble grazing should go when the sheep are almost full, otherwise it will cause rumen distension due to eating large amounts of beans.

(5) it is necessary to master different grazing times in different seasons, go out late and return early in the cold season, make up feeding appropriately after harvesting, go out early and return late in the hot summer, and drive the sheep to a place with ventilation, cool and adequate drinking water at noon to have a rest.

(6) do not graze in low-lying areas and puddles with vertebral snails to prevent parasitic diseases such as Fasciola hepatica and metacercaria.

(7) pay attention to feeding salt after grazing, do not feed salt on an empty stomach, and drink water after feeding salt. The amount of salt is usually 10 grams per sheep per day.

(8) to make sheep drink enough water, and pay attention to clean drinking water, summer grazing, before drinking water to stop the sheep, rest for a while before drinking, to prevent sheep from wheezing and choking into the lungs.

Feeding of Han Sheep with High legs and small tail

High-legged small-tailed Han sheep have strong adaptability and resistance to rough feeding, can not only graze but also house feeding, do not have high requirements for feeding, do not pick up forage grass, the local people concluded: "High-legged small-tailed Han sheep eat all kinds of grass, can be found everywhere, do not need to be short, do not need to wash waterlogging, feeding is convenient, and fattened when full."

1. General feeding methods

High-legged and small-tailed Han sheep are raised in pastoral areas, mainly grazing in groups, feeding grass after grazing in the withered period, and feeding concentrate to ewes, lactating ewes and breeding rams in the later stage of pregnancy.

High-legged and small-tailed Han sheep are raised in agricultural areas, mainly grazing in summer and autumn, and house feeding in winter and spring when forage is scarce, making full use of hay, crop straw, leaf vine, silage, blighted grain, cottonseed skin and other agricultural and sideline products. at the same time, provide an appropriate amount of mixed concentrate. Generally, each forage is 1.5-2.5 kg per day, 0.1-0.2 kg of mixed concentrate, 0.3-0.5 kg of breeding ewe and breeder ram. The ratio of mixed concentrate: corn 45% 50%, wheat bran 20% 30%, bean cake 10% 20%, virus-free cottonseed cake 3% 50%, bone meal 1.5% 2%, salt 0.5%. The concentrate is soaked in water and wet in the trough or basin and fed twice a day; the forage should be placed on the straw rack or basket to avoid waste or pollution; the hard straw and blighted shells (dry corn straw, bean straw, peanut shell, etc.) can be crushed (coarse powder) mixed with a small amount of concentrate and then wet with water for better effect. For lactating ewes, concentrate can also be mixed and fed in drinking water. Drinking water should be adequate, generally, each sheep needs to drink 2 kilograms of water per day, and it is appropriate to drink 2 or 3 times a day, and then supply water after eating.

2. Breeding ewes

Ewes undertake heavy tasks such as mating, pregnancy and lactation, and corresponding feeding measures should be taken according to different physiological periods of ewes. Especially in the later stage of pregnancy, the growth and development of the fetus is accelerated, the ewe itself also needs to accumulate a lot of nutrients, and the high-legged and small-tailed Han sheep is a high-yielding sheep, so it should be raised with special care. When grazing, do not graze with large groups, give priority to house feeding, and provide 0.3-0.5 kg of mixed concentrate every day. Supply 1.5 kg of hay and 1 kg of silage or juicy material in winter and spring. And pay attention to moldy, deteriorated, frozen forage can not be fed, otherwise it will cause abortion, in and out of the enclosure or supplementary feeding to prevent extrusion, collision.

Ewes after lambing in the early stage of lactation, in order to ensure adequate milk, to provide more abundant feed, every day to supply 0.5 kg of mixed concentrate, 2.5 kg of hay, while feeding a certain amount of succulent feed and adequate drinking water. To the middle and later stages of lactation, concentrate can be reduced to 0.3 kg, daily feeding hay 1.5 kg. The ewes were raised in the circle within 1 week, and grazed in the nearby pasture after 1 week. They returned 2 or 3 times a day to breast-feed the lambs, and the mothers and offspring were breastfed freely in the evening.

The sheds of lactating ewes should be cleaned frequently, kept clean and dry, disinfected frequently, and the placentas, wool balls, stones and rotten grass should be removed in time, so as to avoid diseases caused by lamb licking.

To often check ewes breasts, such as milk hole closed cold, breast inflammation, milk abnormalities, timely measures to be dealt with. Lambs should be weaned a few days in advance to reduce the amount of juicy and concentrate feed to prevent breast inflammation.

3. Raising of lambs

A lamb from birth to weaning (3 months old) is called a lamb. The newborn lamb is weak and has poor resistance, so it is necessary to strengthen nursing care. First, the delivery room should be warm in winter and cool in summer, especially in winter to keep warm, shelter from the wind, clean and sanitary. Timely let the lamb eat colostrum, colostrum contains antibodies, can enhance the physique of lambs and the ability to adapt to the environment, and reduce the occurrence of disease. Colostrum also contains magnesium, which can promote the excretion of meconium and prevent constipation. As the saying goes: "feces are impassable, all diseases are born." Second, if the amount of milk is insufficient or it is difficult for multi-lamb ewes to feed, they should adopt artificial breast-feeding or foster feeding. Millet Congee and brown sugar can be used for artificial feeding, and some fried soybean powder can be added one week later. Every 2 hours within 10 days of age, it is fed once every 2 hours, each time is 40 to 50 milliliters. Later, the number of times is reduced and the amount of feeding is increased. The local people feed multiple lambs with dairy goats or artificial milking and then feed them, which has achieved good results. Third, lambs are easy to suffer from dysentery within a week, so we should pay attention to observe feces and prevent them as soon as possible. Artificial feeding, the bottle should be washed at a time, can not feed cold food and spoiled milk. Lambs can not be fed with milk powder, because milk powder is easy to cause indigestion, and prone to lamb dysentery and death. Fourth, we should pay attention to early eating, training to eat forage, in order to promote gastrointestinal digestive function, and increase adequate nutrition. In general, lambs should be trained to feed on tender grass or high-quality green hay after 10 days of age. at 15 days old, lambs are fed with mixed concentrate (corn, wheat, barley, sorghum, soybeans, cakes, etc.). After crushing and cooking into porridge, they can be changed to wet raw feed mixed with water after 30 days. The amount of feed should not exceed 50 grams at the age of 1 month and 100 grams at the age of 1-2 months. At the same time, high-quality forage should be provided and should be fed less frequently to improve the appetite of lambs. Lambs are generally weaned or weaned early at the age of 3 months.

4. Breeding of ram

The high-legged and small-tailed Han sheep are in estrus all the year round, and the breeding ram should be kept in the middle and upper class all the year round, keeping a strong, lively, energetic physique and good breeding performance. It is best to raise the ram in a single circle, especially not to herd with the ewe, so as not to mismatch, consume physical strength, reduce the breeding ability, graze in the green grass period, or cut the grass and feed in the house, and feed 0.4 kilograms of mixed concentrate every day. Feed 1 kg of concentrate during withering period, properly feed some succulent feed such as carrots, free feeding of high-quality hay, 2-2.5 kg of hay per day. When the amount of seed is large, 1 egg or 2 eggs should be fed every day. The ram should be replenished three times a day so as not to cause abdominal enlargement and affect breeding.

Breeder rams should have about 2 hours of exercise every day to enhance their physique, sexual desire and breeding ability.

5. Lamb fattening

The fat lamb of Han sheep with high legs and small tail has light flavor, less fat, more refined meat, fresh and juicy, and easy to digest. Young sheep have the most vigorous growth, fast weight gain and high feed reward, which is an excellent breed for intensive fattening lamb production, especially the use of male lambs to carry out fat lamb production is an effective measure to improve the economic benefits of sheep industry.

(1) fattening time. Taking advantage of the characteristics of the fastest production and development, more meat production, low cost and good meat quality in the young stage of high-legged small-tailed Han sheep, the feeding management should be strengthened after 3-month-old weaning to promote its rapid growth and fattening. After rapid fattening, the body weight is more than 50 kg and slaughtered, the slaughter rate can reach more than 55%.

(2) fattening methods. Lamb fattening can be divided into two methods: the combination of grazing and supplementary feeding and house feeding, and the effect of the latter is the best.

① grazing is combined with supplementary feeding. In places rich in forage, after weaning, lambs are grazed in groups, supplemented with concentrate, and fed in full house in the later stage to increase the amount of concentrate and provide adequate forage. The mixed concentrate was 0.2-0.3 kg per day in the early stage and 0.4-0.5 kg in the later stage.

② house feeding fattening. After weaning, the lambs were kept in captivity, high quality forage and mixed concentrate were provided, and the forage was fed freely. Each lamb was fed 0.3-0.5 kg per day, divided into 2-3 times. The amount of cottonseed cake can account for 15% of the concentrate. If possible, we can adopt the way of mechanized house feeding and fattening, manually control the microclimate, all use full-price pellet compound feed, let sheep eat freely and drink water freely, which can greatly improve the production efficiency.

(3) Management of fattening lambs.

① clustering. After weaning, lambs are reared in groups according to body weight, sex and individual. The size of the flock is suitable for feeding and management. Generally, there are 30 lambs in each group, and each sheep occupies 0.6 to 0.8 square meters.

② castration. Fattening rams should be castrated 1-2 weeks after birth. the castrated lambs are gentle, easy to manage, easy to fatten and have good meat quality. There are three common methods of castration: knife cutting, ligation and hammering. The masses think that the better method is ligation, which is to squeeze the testicles into the scrotum at the age of 1 week, and tightly ligate the scrotum and the scrotum with a rubber band from the spermatic cord. After 10-20 days, the scrotum and testicles dry up and fall off on their own. This method is easy to operate and has no effect on the development of the lamb.

③ deworming. Fattening lambs should be dewormed twice in the early and middle stages of fattening, each time for two consecutive days, and the drugs can be used with Quechongjing, levamisole, trichlorfon, or "destroy" (made in the United States). According to experts, this product can be immune to deworming for life at one time, and the effect is very good.

④ sheep barn. Keep the sheep house as warm in winter and cool in summer as possible, and keep it dry and clean. After each batch of sheep comes out of the pen, it should be thoroughly cleaned, replaced with new soil, and sprayed and sterilized with 3%-5% laisu water or 5%-11% alkali water. Attention should be paid to the elimination of mosquitoes and flies in summer and autumn.