Xiaowei Han sheep is an excellent sheep breed native to the southwest region of Shandong Province, with hundreds of years of breeding and breeding history in the local area, before the introduction of foreign specialized meat sheep breeds, it has always been the most excellent domestic comprehensive production performance of sheep breeds. The first head is large enough, the adult ram can reach more than 300 pounds, the adult ewe can reach more than 180 pounds; the second grows fast enough, the average daily weight of the lamb fattening can reach more than 0.7 pounds; the third lamb is enough, in the case of proper feeding management, at least 3 births can be produced in two years, and the ewe can produce at least 2 to 3 lambs per litter, and more than 5 lambs.
As early as the 1980s and 1990s, many areas introduced small-tailed cold sheep for breeding, or cross-breeding with local sheep for improvement, it can be said that a considerable number of sheep contain the genes of small-tailed cold sheep, which shows the love of sheep farmers for small-tailed cold sheep at that time. However, with the continuous transformation of sheep breeding models and more and more foreign sheep breeds to choose from, many sheep farmers have eliminated or intend to eliminate small-tailed cold sheep, believing that small-tailed cold sheep are not as good as other breeds of sheep.
Although the small tailed cold sheep has many advantages, but the disadvantages are also very obvious, that is, the feed mouth is not good, in layman's terms, it is picky eating, and some coarse, hard and inferior grass cannot be eaten and used well. If it is under grazing conditions, the small tail cold sheep can freely eat the young and tender grass with good palatability, as long as the grazing comes back with some concentrate, it can have a good growth potential and fat, but now for most sheep farmers, there is no grazing condition, completely live in captivity with straw as the main forage, only by feeding a large amount of refined feed will be fattened, and after each feeding there will always be some slag left to eat without feeling. In addition, there are more sheep in the house, but often because of the problem of feeding management, the survival rate of lambs weaned is not good. In general, the small-tailed cold sheep are not very suitable for livestock and captivity, so sheep farmers are now reluctant to raise small-tailed cold sheep.
Although sheep farmers are reluctant to raise small-tailed cold sheep, in the process of meat sheep breeding, small-tailed cold sheep is an inseparable breed, and no sheep breed can completely replace small-tailed cold sheep.
First of all, compared with Dubo sheep, Australian white sheep, Suffolk sheep and other foreign specialized meat sheep breeds, although the feed conversion rate and slaughtered meat rate are very high, especially suitable for the production of high-quality lamb meat, but it is not suitable for China's national conditions, the first of its breeding rate is far less than that of small tail cold sheep, most foreign specialized meat sheep breeds are single-season estrus, that is, only one child can be produced a year; the second specialized meat sheep breed is generally small, the early growth rate is relatively fast, but the growth is slow in the later stage.
Secondly, compared with the lake sheep, although the lake sheep have been fried in recent years, although it is relatively hot, it is not inferior to the small tail cold sheep in terms of reproductive rate, and it is more suitable for breeding and captivity than the small tail cold sheep, but the lake sheep have an obvious disadvantage, that is, the individual is too small, the growth is too slow, and it does not negate the existence of large individual lake sheep in the lake sheep population, but most of the lake sheep are relatively small, the adult ewe is only about one hundred and twenty pounds, and its breeding offspring are also relatively small, and the growth rate will be relatively slow.
Now most sheep farmers are raising Duhan hybrid sheep, Ao Han hybrid sheep, which is better than the small tail cold sheep, and can get more benefits, but the production of Du Han hybrid sheep, Australian hybrid sheep, you must use high-quality small tail cold sheep to do the mother, so although the sheep farmers are not willing to raise small tail cold sheep, it is an inseparable breed.