1. INTRODUCTION

1.1 Finnish Sheep, their origin and characteristics

Finnish Landrace (Finn) sheep originated in Finland and are descendants of the Mofloun. They are related to other Scandinavian short-tail sheep. The breed has been described by Goot (1973) as having a narrow head, straight nose and short ears, being usually polled, with fine legs and a short tail and white in colour. Some individuals are black, but the black colour is recessive to the white. Some ewes have four functional teats (Maijala, 1974).

The breed is characterized by its high prolificacy, fertility and early sexual maturity (Goot, 1973; Maijala and Osterberg, 1977). Both ewe-and ram-lambs can be used for breeding at 6-8 months. Conception rate of ewe-lambs in Finland averaged 95 percent (Goot, 1973). Litter size for 1-year old, 2-year old and adult ewes is about 1.8, 2.4 and 2.7, respectively. A good part of the ewes can conceive out of season (37 percent). Rams show high libido, large testes and good fertility. High gonadal activity is common to both sexes.

A small flock size and a very intensive flock management system have prevailed in Finland, where sheep raised indoors during the long extremely cold winter, contributed to the development of the breed. The breeders select intensively for more lambs from their small flocks, for which they are able to provide very intensive care.

Average litter weight at 150 days is 71 kg (Goot, 1973). Mature weight averages 62 kg for ewes and 88 kg for rams. Carcass yield of lambs is competitive with other European breeds but their quality is somehow poorer. Fat is located mainly in body cavities and subcutaneously. Fleece weight is inferior to most other breeds, averaging 2 kg;

1.2 Finnish Sheep in temperate countries

The first Finn sheep were exported from Finland in 1961 to the Animal Breeding Research Organization, Edinburgh, U.K. The first results on their performance and utilization out of Finland were published by Donald and Read (1967).

Since then, Finn sheep have been introduced to over 40 countries in different continents, and over 500 research papers and articles have reported on them. Prof. K. Maijala and his colleagues in Finland have reviewed their trials consecutively (Maijala, 1967; Maijala, 1974; Maijala and Osterberg, 1977; Maijala, 1980; Maijala, 1984). Further reviews on Finn sheep in comparison to other breeds were reported by Terrill (1974), Jakubec (1977) and Nitter (1978).

These reviews clearly showed that the high fertility of Finn sheep, both male and female, has expressed itself in many environmental conditions and proved to be heritable in different gene backgrounds. On the other hand, growth rate and carcass traits, especially for pure Finn, were poorer on the average than other temperate breeds. Also wool, milk yield and survival rate for the pure Finn were not satisfactory. Maijala (1980) reported that the results of these trials confirmed the original idea that such an extremely prolific breed should be utilized mainly through crossbreeding.

In the updated review of Maijala (1980 and 1984), Finn sheep and their crosses were compared with more than 40 different breeds and other crosses. Most of the breeds involved appeared only in one country, i.e. native breeds. Some breeds were used in more than two countries, and were used as reference breeds, i.e. Border Leicester, Cheviot, Dorset Horn, East Friesian, Ile-de-France, Merino, Romney, Scotch Blackface, Suffolk and Texel. To compare the results of various studies, the values of different traits of Finn sheep and their crosses were expressed as a percentage of the corresponding value of the reference breed or cross. Unweighted means for these relative values were estimated for 1/1, 3/4, 1/2, and 1/4 Finn groups (Table 1). The author summarized his findings as follows: a decrease of 1 percent in the Finn breed was associated with a decrease in litter weight weaned/ewe mated by 1.4 percent, number of lambs born/ewe mated by 1.2 percent, ovulation rate by 1 percent, litter size weaned by 0.9 percent and litter size born by 0.7 percent.

Table 1: Relative values of some reproduction traits of the Finn sheep and its crosses in temperate countries.

Source: Maijala (1984).

^* Numbers in parentheses are number of studies on which the average is based.

1.3 Finn Sheep imported from Finland

Table 2 gives the imports during the period from 1969 to 1986, according to the records of the Finnish Sheep Breeders Association (E. Hautkangus, personal communication). These do not include importations from a secondary country such as those imported from U.K. by the National Academy of Science and Technology in Egypt in 1974 (10 rams), and from Yugoslavia in 1975 which were consequently imported into Iraq by FAO project No 71/542 (25 ewes + 5 rams).

The most significant trial in respect of the number of animals involved, duration, available information, and impact on development plans is that of the Ministry of Agriculture in Egypt, followed by that of the Agriculture Research Organization in Israel. Those of Cyprus, Lebanon, ENAS and Iraq are of lesser impact. Very few reports are available on these trials, which ceased after a few years. The Libyan and Iraqi trials were large as far as the number of imported animals was concerned. However, the trials were ceased after a few years. Those of Algeria and Iran were carried out by private breeders and there was no way of tracing their results.

Table 2: Finn sheep imported from Finland