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Made available in DSpace on 2018-11-26T15:44:22Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 0 Previous issue date: 2017-06-01 International Sheep Research Centre and Massey University National Research Centre for Growth and Development Over a three year period the performance of lambs being finished on three sward treatments were compared. The three treatments included (i) 'Grass-clover mixture'; perennial ryegrass (Lolium perenne L.) and white clover (Trifolium repens) (ii) 'Plantain-clover mixture'; plantain (Plantago lanceolata), white clover and red clover (Trifolium pratense) (iii) 'Chicory-plantain-clover mixture'; plantain, chicory (Cichorium intybus L.), white- and red-clover. Each year was divided into five grazing periods namely; winter, early spring, late-spring, summer and autumn with only the Grass-clover mixture being utilised in the winter due to the growth profile and management requirements of the herb species. Over the three year period, a total of 3353 kg live weight per ha was produced on the Grass-clover mixture, which was less (P < 0.05) than the 3838 kg/ha produced with the Plantain-clover mixture or 3768 kg/ha on the Chicory-plantain-clover mixture. Similarly over the three year period, 1270 kg of carcass weight gain per ha was produced on the Grass-clover mixture, which was less (P < 0.05) than the 1706 kg/ha produced with the Plantain-clover mixture or 1732 kg/ha with the Chicory plantain-clover. This indicates that farmers aimed at lamb finishing can have some confidence that when utilising these herb-clovers mixtures they can increase lamb and meat productivity for at least three years. Massey Univ, Int Sheep Res Ctr, Inst Vet Anim & Biomed Sci, Private Bag 11-222, Palmerston North 4442, New Zealand Sao Paulo State Univ, Dept Anim Sci, Sao Paulo, Brazil Coconut Res Inst, Bandirippuwa Estate, Lunuwila, Sri Lanka Sao Paulo State Univ, Dept Anim Sci, Sao Paulo, Brazil

Ewe lamb breeding is a means for farmers to further increase the number of lambs available for sale each year while concurrently increasing the ewe lamb’s lifetime productivity. This study included 7666 replacement ewe lambs from two commercial New Zealand sheep farms that were presented for breeding during their first breeding season (aged 7–8 months) and were subsequently identified as pregnant. Ewe lambs were weighed and body condition scored (BCS) immediately pre-breeding, at pregnancy diagnosis (PD) and immediately prior to lambing (set-stocking). Logistic regression models were developed to assess the effect of liveweight and liveweight changes (both conceptus adjusted and non-adjusted) and BCS at breeding, PD and set-stocking on the risk of failure to rear a lamb (dry) to tail removal and castration (docking) where lambs are three to six weeks of age. There was no effect (p > 0.05) of breeding weight on the risk of being dry. There was an effect (p

This study describes the effect of maternal nutrition and body condition score (BCS) during pregnancy on the behaviour of twin-bearing ewes and their lambs as assessed 3 h to 18 h after birth. Ewes (n = 274) of BCS 2.0, 2.5 or 3.0 were offered either pregnancy maintenance requirements (fed to allow for foetal but not maternal weight gain; ‘medium’) or ad libitum feeding from day 112 until day 136 of pregnancy for experiment 1 and from day 128 until day 141 of pregnancy for experiment 2. Lamb vigour behaviours (time to stand, suck, make contact with and follow their dam) and bleating behaviour of ewes and lambs were recorded for 5 min, following handling at 3–18 h. A subgroup of lambs in experiment 1 was tested in a maternal-recognition test. A lesser percentage of ewes in the ad libitum treatment than in the medium treatment high-pitched bleated (86.9% [95% CI 77.4–92.8%] versus 80.0% [69.2–87.7%], and 95.4% [86.5–98.5%] versus 86.9% [70.0–90.5%], in experiments 1 and 2 respectively, P 0.05) in the 5-min observation period immediately following handling at 3–18 h after birth. Behaviour of twin-bearing ewes of BCS2-3 in mid pregnancy, and their twin-born lambs, showed very few changes 3–18 h after birth in response to ad libitum versus pregnancy-maintenance feeding during mid to late pregnancy.

The body condition score (BCS, on a 0–5 scale) for sheep was developed in the 1960s as a management tool to quickly assess body nutrient reserves. To quantify how live weight, chemical body composition and energy partitioning changes as BCS increases in mature ewes, a total of 28 mixed-age Romney-cross ewes were slaughtered at different BCS (1.5, 2.0, 2.5, 3.0, 3.5, 4.0 and 4.5) and the whole body chemical composition (skin, head, organs and carcass) was determined. The live weight increased linearly with BCS with an extra unit of BCS requiring 7.74 kg in live weight. The concentration of protein and inorganic matter in the whole body did not differ between BCS groups (P > 0.05). The concentration of water, fat and energy in the whole body increased as the BCS increased (P

One of the limiting factors to the adoption of breeding 7-month-old ewes is that their lambs are lighter at birth and weaning than lambs born to mature ewes. The present study tested the hypothesis that the live weight and body condition score of 7-month-old ewes at breeding and during pregnancy would influence the live weight of their singleton-born lambs to weaning. Data was collected on one commercial sheep farm from 591 ewes across two years. In 2011 and 2012, during pregnancy the ewes gained 14.6 and 10.1 kg of total live weight, respectively. Multiple regression analysis indicated that live weight of ewes at breeding had a positive effect ( P P R -square of the model for lamb birth weight was small ( R 2 = 0.01) indicating, that live weight of the ewe was not a major contributor to the live weight of lambs at birth. The live weight of ewes in late pregnancy had a positive impact on both the live weight of lambs at approximately 18 days of age and at weaning ( P R 2 value for the multiple regression was small (0.01). Body condition score of the ewe at breeding and in mid-pregnancy had no effect ( P > 0.05) on lamb birth weight. In contrast ewes with body conditions scores of 3.5 and 4.0 or greater in late pregnancy gave birth to lighter lambs (4.9 ± 0.1 and 4.7 ± 0.2 kg, respectively) than ewes with body condition scores of 2.5 or less (5.3 ± 0.1 kg) or 3.0 (5.2 ± 0.1 kg, P P > 0.05) of ewe body condition score on lamb live weight at approximately 18 days of age or at weaning. Therefore, under the conditions of this study ewe live weight and condition score during pregnancy had a minimal effect of lamb live weight from birth to weaning.