Early weaning of Merino lambs during drought

Abstract

Merino lambs were weaned successfully at an early age by complete hand feeding on simple mixtures of roughage and grain.Significantly heavier losses occurred in groups weaned when 4 weeks old than in those weaned when 6, 8 and 12 weeks old.Mean birth and weaning weights of lambs that survived were significantly greater than mean weights of lambs that died after weaning.There was no significant difference between mean growth rates of lambs after weaning or between mean final body weights of lambs in the various groups at 22 weeks of age.The minimum weaning weight for survival of Merino lambs weaned under pen-feeding conditions appears to be about 7 kg. In subsequent field observations, using the pen-feeding technique for early weaning, it was shown that Merino lambs could be weaned successfully under drought conditions at ages ranging from 8 to 16 weeks.