Response of additional ewe lamb liveweight during gestation on birth and weaning weight of offspring and liveweight of the ewe lamb at weaning
N. M. Schreurs A B C , P. R. Kenyon B , F. J. Mulvaney B , P. C. H. Morel A B , D. M. West B and S. T. Morris BA Institute of Food, Nutrition and Human Health, Massey University, Palmerston North, New Zealand.
B Sheep Research Centre, Institute of Veterinary, Animal and Biomedical Science, Massey University, Palmerston North, New Zealand.
C Corresponding author. Email: n.m.schreurs@massey.ac.nz
Animal Production Science 50(6) 528-532 https://doi.org/10.1071/AN09185
Submitted: 7 December 2009 Accepted: 20 April 2010 Published: 11 June 2010
Abstract
Increasing the liveweight of ewe lambs during gestation may have positive effects on lamb birthweight and weaning weight and also on ewe lamb liveweight at weaning. Specific times during the gestation period of the ewe lamb may be more responsive to improved nutrition and increases in liveweight. The objective of this work was to use a meta-analytic approach to investigate the effects of ewe lamb liveweight at mating and during pregnancy on lamb birth and weaning weights, and the ewe lamb’s liveweight at weaning. Increasing ewe lamb liveweight in early gestation and in particular before mating gave the greatest increases in the birth and weaning weight of the lambs, and also of the ewe lamb’s liveweight at weaning compared with increasing liveweight in the second and third trimester of gestation. This indicates that management practices for ewe lambs that generate higher liveweight at mating are likely to result in increased lamb survival, higher weaning percentages, greater lamb weaning weights and create rising 2-year-old ewes with better liveweight for mating in the subsequent season. Compared with ewe lambs that gave birth and reared singletons to weaning, those ewe lambs that gave birth to twins and reared twins had greater increases in lamb birthweights, lamb weaning weights and ewe lamb weights at weaning for each extra kilogram of ewe lamb liveweight during gestation. For ewe lambs, especially those that birth and rear twins, management options that increase the pre-mating weights will have the greatest response in lamb birthweight, weaning weight and liveweight of the ewe lamb itself at weaning.
Acknowledgements
Authors acknowledge the providers of funding for the experiments: Meat and Wool New Zealand, C Alma Baker Trust and Massey University.
Dove H,
Freer M, Donnelly JR
(1988) Effects of nutrition in early pregnancy on ewe and lamb performance in the subsequent lactation. Proceedings of the Nutrition Society of Australia 13, 111.
Everett-Hincks JM, Dodds KG
(2008) Management of maternal-behaviour to improve lamb survival in easy care sheep systems. Journal of Animal Science 86(ESuppl.), E259–E270.
|
CAS |
Crossref |
PubMed |
Kenyon PR,
Morel PCH,
Perkins NR, West DM
(2004a) Effect of ewe liveweight and condition score at mating, and mid-pregnancy shearing, on birthweights and growth rates of twin lambs to weaning. New Zealand Veterinary Journal 52, 145–149.
|
CAS |
PubMed |
Kenyon PR,
Morris ST,
Perkins NR, West DM
(2004b) Hogget mating use in New Zealand – a survey. Proceedings of the New Zealand Society of Animal Production 64, 217–222.
Kenyon PR,
Morel PCH,
West DM, Morris ST
(2006) Effect of liveweight and teasing of ewe hoggets prior to breeding on lambing pattern and weight of singleton lambs. New Zealand Journal of Agricultural Research 49, 341–347.
Kenyon PR,
Proctor L,
Morel PCH,
Morris ST, West DM
(2008a) The effect of breeding ewe lambs on subsequent two-year-old ewe performance. Livestock Science 115, 206–210.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |
Kenyon PR,
Morris ST,
Burnham DL, West DM
(2008b) Effect of nutrition during pregnancy on hogget pregnancy outcome and birthweight and liveweight of lambs. New Zealand Journal of Agricultural Research 51, 77–83.
Morel PCH,
Morris ST, Kenyon PR
(2008) Effects of birth weight on mortality in triplet born lambs. Australian Journal of Experimental Agriculture 48, 984–987.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |
Morel PCH,
Morris ST, Kenyon PR
(2009) Effects of birth weight on survival in twin-born lambs. Proceedings of the New Zealand Society of Animal Production 69, 75–79.
Morris ST,
Kenyon PR, West DM
(2005) Effect of hogget nutrition in pregnancy on lamb birthweight and survival to weaning. New Zealand Journal of Agricultural Research 48, 165–175.
Mulvaney FJ,
Kenyon PR,
Morris ST, West DM
(2008) Ewe lamb nutrition during pregnancy affects pregnancy outcome. Australian Journal of Experimental Agriculture 48, 1085–1089.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |
CAS |
Redmer DA,
Wallace JM, Reynolds LP
(2004) Effect of nutrient intake during pregnancy on fetal and placental growth and vascular development. Domestic Animal Endocrinology 27, 199–217.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |
CAS |
PubMed |
Schreurs NM,
Kenyon PR,
Mulvaney FJ,
Morel PCH,
West DM, Morris ST
(2010) Effect of birth weight and birth rank on the survival of single and twin lambs born to ewe lambs. Animal Production Science 50, 460–464.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |
St-Pierre NR
(2001) Invited review: integrating quantitative findings from multiple studies using mixed model methodology. Journal of Dairy Science 84, 741–755.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |
CAS |
PubMed |
