Due to the different mother-bases (Texel, Merinoland, German Black Head, Suffolk) in the existing Nolana population, no uniform performance can be expected at present time. However, when purebred, uniform and well through-bred ewes were used as a mother basis, the results point in the right direction.

 

 

Adult rams	115 – 130 kg
Yearling rams	90 – 110 kg
Adult ewes	75 – 90 kg
Young ewes at first mating with 8 months	55 – 65 kg
Birth weights	4 – 5 kg

 

The daily gains (110 days in-field) are 300-400 g. Sometimes, higher growth-rates were achieved.

 

Breeding Aim for Nolana Hill-Type 

 

 

 

Friedrich Melchior in Bünde, Westfalia, developed his Nolana (NOL) flock on the basis of Suffolk ewes, back-crossing them with Wiltshire Horn-rams (WH). When reaching the R₁ and R₂-generations, he practised inter-se-mating to stabilise the population. The following performance data from Friedrich Melchior’s Nolana flock show exemplary performance levels. These performance levels clearly show the aim of the Nolana project with regards to Nolana meat sheep.

 

The weighing of the adult sheep on 01.10.03 showed the following results:

 

 

WH ewes (1.5-8 years)	79 kg (69-88 kg)
NOL ewes (1.5-6 years)	94 kg (75-114 kg)

 

 

The birth weights and the weights after 100 days show the interesting growth potential of the lambs. Only the lambs from ewes from the 2. lambing onwards were considered. All data originate from the first half of 2003. 

 

Birth weights (lambing period: 27.02. - 22,03.) of the Nolana lambs were as follows: 

 

The birth weights (lambing period: 10.-30.03.) of the Wiltshire Horn lambs were the following: 

 

The weight development of the lambs is taken from the weight after 100 days. The data was collected in a field performance-test on June 14, 2004. In this field-performance test, ewes, along with their lambs, were released from their lambing/holding pens. Until the beginning of the pasture period, on May 10, 2004, the lambs were given ad-libitum access to a concentrate creep in the stables with a farm produced concentrate mixture. Thereafter, the lambs ate only pasture. The good daily gains were remarkable. Judging from the two extremes of 167 g/day and 430 g/day, it is clear to see that the latter result is a great improvement.

 

On the day of weighing (14.06.04), the Nolana lambs (m + f) were on average 101 (90-112) days old. The weights of the Nolana lambs after 100 days were as follows:

 

19 NOL male lambs: 38.1 kg. Dayly gains: 329 g/day (243-430 g/day)

6 singles, 4 twins, 8 triplets, 1 quadruplet

19 NOL ewe lambs: 34.7 kg. Daily gains: 294 g/day (237-349 g/day)

1 single, 2 twins, 13 triplets, 3 quadruplets

 

On the day of weighing (14.06.04), the Wiltshire Horn lambs (m + f) were on average 92 (87-101) days old. The weights of the Wiltshire Horn lambs after 100 days were as follows:

 

12 male lambs 32.8 kg. Daily gains: 306 g/day (167-420 g/day)

2 singles, 7 twins, 3 triplets

18 ewe lambs 27.8 kg. Daily gains: 259 g/day (191-313 g/day)

15 twins, 3 triplets

The weights of the yearling ewes born in 2004 amounted on November 01, 2004 to:

NOL ewe lambs: 61.5 kg (58-67 kg) and WH ewe lambs: 55.2 kg (52-65 kg)