Figure 4.

Effect of parity on birth weight in Mule ewes. (A) Values represent the REML coefficients with s.e.m. or (B) Δ, change in the coefficient from the preceding year with parity in grams. There was a significant increase in birth weight with parity up to the fourth pregnancy, thereafter weight declined. Excluding litters for which there was no birth weight data, there were: 2055 valid cases of birth weight at parity (1), n = 1279 (2), n = 945 (3), n = 682 (4), n = 442 (5), n = 199 (6), n = 104 (7), n = 39 (8), n = 23 (9), n = 15 (10) and n = 5 (11).