Review of sheep body condition score in relation to production characteristics

Kenyon, P. R.; Maloney, Shane K.; Blache, Dominique

doi:10.1080/00288233.2013.857698

Cited by 254 publications

(260 citation statements)

References 87 publications

(163 reference statements)

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“…Animals that are too thin could produce lambs with lower MLLT100 or BT100. Similarly, low BCS was negatively associated with animal welfare (Kenyon et al, 2014). On the other hand, overly fat ewes were detected to have problems with decreased reproductive and productive traits (Kenyon et al, 2014;Ptáček et al, 2017), which is negative as well.…”

Section: Factors Affecting Lambs' Birth Weight Survivability and Grmentioning

confidence: 95%

“…Similarly, low BCS was negatively associated with animal welfare (Kenyon et al, 2014). On the other hand, overly fat ewes were detected to have problems with decreased reproductive and productive traits (Kenyon et al, 2014;Ptáček et al, 2017), which is negative as well. Culling sheep with regard to the published results should help to improve lambs' birth weight, their survivability, and growth performance traits.…”

Section: Factors Affecting Lambs' Birth Weight Survivability and Grmentioning

confidence: 95%

“…The moderate heritability (in the range h 2 = 0.33-0.77) of birth weight (Assan et al, 2002;Everett-Hincks et al, 2014) has been detected, and thus its importance in the selection process as one of the criteria employed has been confirmed. Birth weight is also influenced by external or internal factors, such as the year of birth (Gardner et al, 2007), the ewe's age (Thomson et al, 2004), the mature ewe's nutritional status (Kenyon et al, 2004(Kenyon et al, , 2014, litter size, or the sex of the lamb (Morris et al, 2003;Gootwine and Rozov, 2006;Schiller et al, 2015;Fazio et al, 2016). All of these factors also affect subsequent survivability traits and lambs' growth performance, as referred to by the abovementioned authors.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Analysis of multivariate relations among birth weight, survivability traits, growth performance, and some important factors in Suffolk lambs

et al. 2017

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Abstract. The aim of this study was to describe the relationships among lambs' birth weight, survivability traits, growth performance, and selected factors in Suffolk lambs kept under a specified extensive management system. Data were collected regarding 1012 Suffolk lambs born during a 3-year period (2012)(2013)(2014) in one flock. Statistical analyses were conducted using the SAS and CANOCO program software. Birth weight was found to be an important factor influencing survivability and growth performance traits. Lambs with too low a birth weight (< 2.9 kg) had the worst results of practically all the survivability and growth performance traits. A significantly lower percentage of live-born lambs (5.2 to 6.1 %; P < 0.05) was also observed amongst overweight lambs at birth (> 6.0 kg) compared to lambs with a birth weight of 4-5.9 kg. Generally, the highest results of growth performance traits were detected in groups of lambs with a birth weight of 5.0-5.9 and 6.0-9.0 kg. Therefore, the optimal birth weight of Suffolk lambs was in the range of 5.0 to 5.9 kg in the evaluated flock management system. Litter size was found to be the dominant factor influencing birth weight, survivability, and growth performance traits, such that singles tended to have the highest birth weight and growth performance traits, while higher survivability traits were found in twins. The results of multivariate relations also clearly indicated that the selection of lambs should be focused on twins with regard to the monitoring of mature ewes' live weight at mating, which helped to improve the lambs' survivability traits, in particular. The monitoring of ewes' mature live weight at mating should also serve as a tool for flock management to shorten the lambing period in the flock and to improve the birth weight and growth performance traits of lambs. The mature ewe body condition score at mating should be monitored to ensure that lambs are adequately meaty and fatty. This study confirmed the importance of keeping records of birth weight and suggested practical implications of some important factors when improving flock profitability.

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Section: Factors Affecting Lambs' Birth Weight Survivability and Grmentioning

confidence: 95%

Section: Factors Affecting Lambs' Birth Weight Survivability and Grmentioning

confidence: 95%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Analysis of multivariate relations among birth weight, survivability traits, growth performance, and some important factors in Suffolk lambs

et al. 2017

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“…Several authors have described techniques for body condition scoring in sheep as http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.smallrumres.2016.05.001 0921-4488/© 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. reviewed by Russel (1984) and recently by Kenyon et al (2014). Jefferies (1961) first described a useful body condition scoring system on a scale from 1 (very thin) to 5 (very fat).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Short term repeatability of body fat thickness measurement and body condition scoring in sheep as assessed by a relatively small number of assessors

Keinprecht

Pichler

Pothmann

et al. 2016

Small Ruminant Research

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“…To maintain production performance such as the conception rate and milk production, the BCS of ewes or cows at mating is normally at 2.5 -3.0, and at parturition is 3.0 -3.5 (Roche et al 2009;Kenyon et al 2014). Higher or lower BCS than normal range at mating or parturition could reduce the conception rate or increase the risk of toxaemia/ketosis in late pregnancy or early lactation and thereby increase the risk of mortality in the neonates and the dam and reduce subsequent milk production in the dam (Roche et al 2009).…”

Section: Nutrition In Late Pregnancymentioning

confidence: 99%

Response of ruminant health and growth to the probiotic Bacillus amyloliquefaciens

Le¹

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Probiotics are widely used to restore and maintain normal digestive flora to reduce metabolic disorders and improve health and productivity, especially in simple-stomached animals but less so in ruminants. Bacillus amyloliquefaciens strain H57 (H57) is a novel probiotic that has previously been shown in a pilot study to reduce the risk of hay spoilage and, over a relatively short term of a few weeks, improved dry matter intake (DMI) and the efficiency of nitrogen utilization in pregnant ewes fed the treated hay. The aim of the current study was to evaluate H57 over much longer periods of time than the pilot study, to confirm health and performance responses such as daily weight gain (DWG) at key stress periods in a ruminant's life. The effect of H57 on rumen fermentation, digestibility and concentration of metabolic hormones were also investigated to better understand the actions of H57 in ruminants.The first experiment (Chapter 2) investigated the effect of H57 during the transition from pregnancy to lactation when ruminants undergo a rapid change in metabolic demand.Twenty-four pregnant ewes were individually fed pellets, based on palm kernel meal, to meet their requirements for pregnancy and to gain 70g/d. They were then fed an ad libitum mixture of lucerne and oaten hay during lactation. The H57 improved DMI and DWG in late pregnancy and consequent lamb growth in early lactation. During late pregnancy, the ewes fed H57 ate 16.6% more pellets, retained 45% more nitrogen between 39 and 26 days prior to parturition, and were 17% heavier by parturition. H57 inoculated pellets did not change the digestibility of dietary energy or protein but did modify rumen fermentation toward an increase in the concentration of butyrate and valerate.In the second experiment (Chapter 3), the effect of H57 was investigated around the weaning process, another commonly stressful period in ruminant life. Twenty-four male or female calves were allocated into two groups, and between 4 and 12 weeks of age were individually offered 6 L/d of whole milk and ad libitum starter pellets impregnated with or without H57. Similar to the first experiment, calves fed H57 grew faster, tended to consume more pellets and were 14% more feed efficient compared to the Control calves. The duration of diarrhoea was 2 days less in the H57-fed calves compared to the Control calves. The H57-fed calves also weaned 9 days earlier and were 15.8% heavier at week 19. H57 also showed potential to stimulate rumen development by increasing plasma betahydroxybutyrate, which is an indicator of rumen development in young ruminants, and appeared to improve immunity by increasing the concentration of plasma globulin.iii Given the success of H57 in reducing the weaning age and incidence of diarrhoea in the dairy calves in the second experiment, it was considered there could be additional benefits if the H57 is added at the primary colonization time of the GIT microbiome, that is, as close to parturition as possible. Therefore in the third experiment (Chapter 4), ...

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Review of sheep body condition score in relation to production characteristics

Cited by 254 publications

References 87 publications

Analysis of multivariate relations among birth weight, survivability traits, growth performance, and some important factors in Suffolk lambs

Analysis of multivariate relations among birth weight, survivability traits, growth performance, and some important factors in Suffolk lambs

Short term repeatability of body fat thickness measurement and body condition scoring in sheep as assessed by a relatively small number of assessors

Response of ruminant health and growth to the probiotic Bacillus amyloliquefaciens

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