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Studies have been carried out in Athenry comparing the performance of Cheviot lambs with three different Scottish Blackface strains: Connemara-Mayo, Lanark and Perth. All lambs were castrated, started on the study at a similar liveweight of 29kg and retained on the intensive finishing diet for 62 days.
The Cheviot lambs recorded the best daily liveweight gain, with 24g higher daily performance, and the highest kill-out of 45% returning a favourable carcase weight of 19.2kg, significantly above the three Scottish Blackface breed strains.
The Lanark and Perth lambs had slightly higher performance than the Mayo-Connemara lambs, but a higher kill-out percent for these meant they returned an 18.3kg carcase compared with 17.8kg and 17.7kg for Lanark and Perth lambs respectively.
However, Connemara-Mayo lambs tended to be more prone to going overfat and had a lower conformation score, which was similar for the other three groups.
This trial is ongoing, with lambs currently on feeding in Athenry and results will up updated on an ongoing basis.
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Lamb finishing study 1: light lambs
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