The Effect of Herbage Availability and Season of Year on the Rate of Liveweight Loss during Weighing of Fasting Ewe Lambs

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Application of Machine Learning Algorithms to Predict Body Condition Score from Liveweight Records of Mature Romney Ewes

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The effect of nutrition and body condition of triplet-bearing ewes during late pregnancy on the behaviour of ewes and lambs

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Mammary Gland Structures Are Not Affected by an Increased Growth Rate of Yearling Ewes Post-Weaning but Are Associated with Growth Rates of Singletons

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Growth of early weaned lambs on a plantain-clover mix compared with lambs suckling their dam on a plantain-clover mix or a grass based sward

Plantain-clover mixes have high metabolisable energy content and have been shown to support greater liveweight gains in lambs both pre- and post-weaning when compared with grass. The aim of this experiment was to determine if a plantain-clover mix could be used as a means to wean lambs earlier. Twin-bearing ewes (n=67) with both lambs at a minimum live weight of 16 kg each were allocated to one of three treatments; 1) ewe and lambs together on grass, 2) ewes and lambs together on plantain- clover mix, 3) lambs weaned at approximately 8 weeks of age onto a plantain-clover mix and ewes on grass. Lambs that were weaned early were lighter (P<0.05) at approximately 14 weeks of age than those which remained with their dam on either a plantain-clover mix or grass (32.3±0.43 vs 34.7±0.44 vs 33.7±0.45 kg, respectively). However, ewes which had their lambs weaned early were heavier (P<0.05; 79.7±1.73 vs 75.5±1.68 vs 75.9±1.64 kg, respectively) and in better body condition score (P<0.05; 3.1±0.05 vs 2.9±0.05 vs 2.9±0.05, respectively) than those which remained with their lambs on either a plantain-clover mix or grass. This suggests early weaning improved ewe condition but did not improve lamb performancefalsePublishe

The Effect of Herbage Availability, Pregnancy Stage and Rank on the Rate of Liveweight Loss during Fasting in Ewes

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Does ewe nutrition during pregnancy affect the neonatal behaviour of twin-born lambs?

In this experiment the effects of feeding treatments from mid pregnancy until lambing on the behaviour of twin-bearing ewes and their lambs were investigated. Fifty seven four-year-old Romney ewes were offered a medium (1164 ± 31.6 and 819 ± 16.0 kg DM/ ha pre- and post-grazing pasture mass, respectively) or ad libitum (2181 ± 47.6 and 1431 ± 24.6 kg DM/ha pre- and post-grazing pasture mass, respectively) feeding treatment from day 76 of pregnancy until after lambing. At ear-tagging the time taken for the lambs to stand, make contact with, suck from and follow their dam was recorded. A maternal behaviour score based on the distance the ewe moved away from her lambs during tagging was also recorded. Survival analysis showed that lambs born to ewes offered the medium feeding treatment from mid pregnancy until lambing were quicker to stand, suck and follow compared with lambs born to ewes offered the ad libitum feeding treatment (P<0.05). It is unclear whether these behaviours indicate that lambs born to ewes in the medium treatment were more vigorous or that they had unmet needs that prompted the apparent increase in vigour. Ewe feeding treatments did not affect the maternal behaviour of the ewes.falsePublishe

Live weight and body composition associated with an increase in body condition score of mature ewes and the relationship to dietary energy requirements

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 < 0.0001). As expected, the amount of energy required to gain one unit of BCS increased at a non-linear rate (P < 0.01), such that more energy was required at higher BCS to gain an additional unit of BCS. Increases in BCS above 3.5 are associated with increased heat energy loss and only a small proportion of energy is retained. The data indicated that from an energetic efficiency perspective there is little advantage in gaining BCS above a BCS of 3.5.The authors are grateful for funding from the Massey University and Lincoln University Partnership for Excellence