scholarly journals THE EFFECTS OF BREED AND CERTAIN ENVIRONMENTAL FACTORS ON BIRTH AND WEANING TRAITS OF RANGE SHEEP

1964 ◽  
Vol 44 (2) ◽  
pp. 215-219 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. A. Vesely ◽  
H. F. Peters

Data collected during a 4-year period from 830 lambs of the Rambouillet, Romnelet, Canadian Corriedale, and Romeldale breeds were used to estimate the effects of breed and certain environmental factors on birth weight, weaning weight, face cover, conformation, and condition score.Rambouillets ranked first in birth weight and weaning weight, had most wool on the face, and scored poorest in conformation. Romnelets ranked second in weaning weight, had least wool-covering on the face, and were judged superior to the other breeds in conformation and condition. Canadian Corriedales had heavier lambs at birth than Romeldales; however, the Romeldales were more open in the face and scored better in conformation and condition.Year was one of the major sources of variation in weaning weight and conformation. Breed and sex contributed largely to variation in face-cover score. Effects of birth and rearing type (single, twin, or twin raised singly) on birth weight, weaning weight, conformation, and condition were significant (P < 0.01) and accounted for a large part of the total variation in birth weight, weaning weight, and condition score. Age of dam had significant effects on birth weight (P < 0.01) and weaning weight (P < 0.05) but was relatively unimportant as a source of variation. Birth weight increased with advancing date of birth, and weaning weight, body conformation score, and condition score improved with age at weaning.The percentage of total variability (sum of squares) due to the fitting of constants for the factors studied was: birth weight, 47; weaning weight, 47; face cover, 19; conformation, 37; and condition, 24.

2020 ◽  
Vol 108 (4) ◽  
pp. 70-78
Author(s):  
S. Kramarenko ◽  
◽  
A. Kramarenko ◽  
S. Lugovoy ◽  
D. Balan ◽  
...  

The effects of breed, sire and environmental factors on the birth and weaning weight of lambs The aim of this study was to determine the effect of some important factors influencing on the birth and weaning weight variability in lambs. Data from 2603 ewes was included in the analysis, where 3961 lambs were obtained during the five years of the research. Data was tested using analysis of variance (ANOVA) with the GLM procedure of Minitab Release 13.1. Our results presented significant influence on the year of lambing, breed, ram genotype, age of a dam, type of a birth (litter size), sex of a lamb and on the birth weight and weaning weight of lambs. Keywords: birth and weaning weight of lambs; ram genotype; year of lambing; age of ewes; litter size (type of birth); sex of a lamb; the Ascanian fine-fleece breed.


Author(s):  
Erdal Yaylak ◽  
Hikmet Orhan ◽  
Alim Daşkaya

The present study was conducted to determine some environmental factors affecting birth weight, weaning weight and daily live weight gain of Holstein calves of a livestock facility in Izmir, Turkey. The data on 2091 calves born between the years 2005-2010 were used to assess the relevant parameters. Effects of calving year, calving month, calf gender and the interaction between calving year and calving month on calves’ birth weights were highly significant. The overall mean of birth weights was 39.6±0.15 kg. In addition, effects of calving year, calving month, gender, birth weight, weaning age, calving year x calving month, calving year x gender and calving year x calving month x gender interactions on weaning weight (WW) and daily live weight gain (DLWG) were highly significant. The overall means of WW and DLWG were respectively found to be 79.7±0.20 kg and 525±2.5 g. A one kilogram increase in birth weight resulted in an increase of 0.89 kg in weaning weight and a decrease of 1.26 g in daily live weight gain. Prenatal temperature-humidity index (THI) affected birth weight of calves (R2=0.67). Increasing THI from 50 to 80 resulted in 3.8 kg decrease in birth weight.


1955 ◽  
Vol 1955 ◽  
pp. 38-44 ◽  
Author(s):  
W. Thomson ◽  
I. McDonald

It is now a well established fact that high-level nutrition of the in-lamb ewe during the later stages of pregnancy results in heavy lambs of high vitality at birth and in good milking ewes. On the other hand, when ewes are poorly fed during the same period, or suffer a check, they produce underweight lambs of low vitality and have poor milk yields. While it is agreed that underweight lambs are undesirable, one is often asked whether the larger and sturdier lambs at birth maintain their superiority in later life, a problem on which relatively few results have been published. A study has therefore been made of a large number of birth and weaning weights collected as a normal routine at the Rowett Institute during the past few years.


1960 ◽  
Vol 54 (2) ◽  
pp. 170-178 ◽  
Author(s):  
E. S. E. Hafez

Gilts of the ‘Palouse’ breed were divided into two groups; one group was full fed from weaning to 1501b. and the other group was fed 70% of full feeding. After six generations, one-half of the pigs in each group were shifted to the other plane of nutrition, thus forming four groups: high-high (HH), low-high (LH), low-low (LL) and high-low (HL). F10 gilts were slaughtered 38 or 100 days post-coitum to study reproductive and prenatal phenomena.1. Ten successive generations of controlled feeding had no significant effect on: length of Fallopian tubes, weight of corpus luteum, percentage of implantation, number of viable foetuses, foetus weight, weight of placental membranes, volume of placental fluids or embryonic mortality.2. There were significant differences between the high and low planes of nutrition in: weight of pituitary, thyroid and adrenals, weaning weight, puberty weight, puberty weight to birth weight, puberty weight to weaning weight and puberty age. The effect of six generations of controlled feeding was not maintained when the plane of nutrition was changed from high to low or low to high.3. The frequency of silent heat and the number of services per conception was lower in the low planes than in the high planes.4. Ova migration occurred in both directions in 41% of the gilts; one to four ova migrated. The foetal sex ratio ranged from 4:0 to 1:7 with an average of 1:1. The sexes were unevenly distributed in the horns.5. Foetus weight at 38 or 100 days post-coitum was not affected by plane of nutrition or sequence in the uterine horn.6. Within-litter variations were highest in the volume of allantoic fluid followed in order by variations in weight of placental membranes and then the amniotic fluid and foetus.7. Foetal mortality was not related to sequence in the uterine horn or the number of implantations.8. There seemed to be two peaks of early prenatal mortality, one at implantation and another at the onset of organo-genesis.


2020 ◽  
Vol 98 (Supplement_3) ◽  
pp. 213-214
Author(s):  
Courtney Moore Clemons ◽  
William Flowers

Abstract The objectives of this study were to determine effects of birth characteristics, nursing behaviors and an oral gavage of milk replacer on pre-weaning growth and survival of piglets. Sixty-one sows were monitored during farrowing and length, timing, order and other birth characteristics were recorded for 789 piglets. Nursing behaviors and body weights were obtained on days 1, 8, 15, and 21 of lactation. Pairs of piglets (n=205) nursing the same teats were selected and one was given 1 mL milk replacer at 24 hours postpartum while the other was the control. Birth weight (p&lt; 0.0001) and teat location nursed (p&lt; 0.0001) were significant sources of variation for both growth and survival. Both decreased (p&lt; 0.05) as nursing location became more posterior. Piglets nursing the first pair of teats had the highest gain (5.43 + 0.13 kg) and survival (86.2%) while those nursing the seventh pair (3.82 + 0.18 kg and 67.1%) had the lowest. The largest piglets at birth (1.88 + 0.01 kg, n=204) had better (p&lt; 0.05) growth (5.38 + 0.10 vs. 4.09 + 1.0 kg) and survival (91.1 vs 70.5%) compared with the smallest pigs (1.08 + 0.1 kg, n=207). Milk replacer did not influence piglet growth (p=0.84) but improved survival (84.9 vs 79.3%; p=0.04). Birth order (p &gt;0.21), farrowing length (p &gt;0.42) and birth interval (p &gt;0.38) did not affect growth or survival. These results indicate that teat location and birth weight have significant effects on pre-weaning growth and survival while the duration, timing and order of piglet births do not and that an oral gavage of milk has potential for improving pre-weaning survival.


2015 ◽  
Vol 45 (9) ◽  
pp. 1660-1666 ◽  
Author(s):  
Roberta Sommavilla ◽  
Osmar Antonio Dalla Costa ◽  
Luciana Aparecida Honorato ◽  
Clarissa Silva Cardoso ◽  
Maria José Hötzel

<p>The objective of this study was to investigate if piglets that suck anterior teats differ from the others in the litter in birth weight, if they have higher growth rate during lactation, and if this affects behaviour and post-weaning weight gain, when piglets change to a solid diet. For this, the teat order of 24 litters was determined during suckling. Piglets were weaned on the 28<sup>th</sup>day of age, and 24 groups were formed, composed of one piglet that sucked on the first two pairs of teats (AT) and three piglets that sucked on the other teats (OT). Even though weight at birth did not vary according to teat order, weight gain at weaning differed between the groups (AT: 6.64, S.E. 0.20kg, OT: 5.73, S.E. 0.13kg; P<0.001). After weaning, AT piglets spent more time lying (P<0.01) and less time eating (P<0.01) and vocalizing (P<0.01), than the other piglets. Other behaviours (agonistic interaction, escape attempt and drinking) did not differ between the groups. Piglets that sucked anterior teats gained more weight until weaning, suggesting they took in more milk; this fact might have lead them to have less contact with solid food before weaning, influencing their post-weaning alimentary behaviour.</p>


1964 ◽  
Vol 44 (2) ◽  
pp. 174-178 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. E. Lawson ◽  
H. F. Peters

Birth and weaning data were collected from 1957 to 1960 on 219 calves of the Highland and Hereford breeds and their reciprocal crosses. Significant (P < 0.01) effects of breed of calf, age of dam, sex of calf, and date of birth on birth weight, and significant (P < 0.01) effects of breed of calf, year of birth, age of dam, sex of calf, and age of calf on weaning weight, demonstrated the importance of considering both genetic and environmental factors when undertaking comparative tests of breeds and crosses.Breed means and standard errors for birth weight were Hereford, 70.7 ± 0.9; Highland, 63.6 ± 1.0; Highland (sire) × Hereford (dam), 73.6 ± 0.9; and Hereford (sire) × Highland (dam), 70.1 ± 1.1 lb. Weaning weight means and standard errors were: Hereford, 360 ± 5.6; Highland, 339 ± 6.7; Highland × Hereford, 378 ± 6.0; and Hereford × Highland, 385 ± 7.0 lb.The average of the reciprocal crosses exceeded the average of the parental breeds by 7.0% in birth weight and 9.2% in weaning weight.Variability (sum of squares) in birth weight accounted for by breed of calf was about twice that accounted for by age of dam or sex of calf, and about 6 times that contributed by year of birth or date of birth within years. The influence of age of dam on the variability in weaning weight was about twice that accounted for by breed of calf, year of birth, or age of calf, and about 7 times that due to sex of calf.


1963 ◽  
Vol 5 (3) ◽  
pp. 289-299 ◽  
Author(s):  
H. P. Donald ◽  
J. L. Read ◽  
W. S. Russell

SUMMARY1. For ten years purebred Blackface and Swaledale ewes have been kept on a small hill grazing together with first crosses and backcrosses to the Swaledale. The total flock of about 120 ewes was mated and lambed on sown pastures where ewes with twins remained from lambing until weaning. Four new rams (two of each breed) were used each year.2. It is concluded that the Swaledales produced fewer lambs than the other ewes, but these were of greater birth weight (5 %) and cannon bone length (2 %); moreoever, they were better mothers than Blackface (4 %) when rearing singles on hill grazing but not if rearing twins on sown grass.3. Blackface sheep showed greater weights at weaning (5%), at mating (5%), and of fleece (15%) than did pure Swaledales.4. First cross sheep were equal to or slightly superior to the parental mean in birth weight, weaning weight and cannon-bone length. They exceeded the better parent in ewe weight, first fleece weight, and weight of weaned lambs.5. Backcross sheep although not always statistically distinguishable from Swaledale in cannon-bone length and fleece weight or from first cross sheep in reproductive characters tend to confirm the interpretations placed on the relations between the purebred and first cross sheep.6. Heterosis estimated as a superiority of first cross sheep over the mean of the two parental breeds varied from 0% for cannon-bone length to 9·5% for prolificacy of 4-year-old ewes.


1995 ◽  
Vol 61 (3) ◽  
pp. 561-564 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. B. Gaughan ◽  
R. D. A. Cameron ◽  
G. McL. Dryden ◽  
M. J. Josey

AbstractReproductive records from 1072 Large White sows (3589 litters) were used to examine the effect ofbackfat depth (Bd) and live weight (Lw) at selection on first litter and lifetime reproductive performance. The variables investigated included mating age, total piglets born, total born alive, piglet birth weight, number weaned, piglet weaning weight, weaning to remating period and number of litters produced. Using backfat depth, sows were categorized into three groups: L, 9 to 13 mm; M, 14 to 16 mm; and F, ≥17 mm. Bd had no significant effect (P > 0·05) on the measured traits for the sows grouped by fat at first parity. When lifetime reproductive data were analysed, the L group had fewer litters (P < 0·05), and weaned fewer pigs (P < 0·01) than either the M or F group. The birth weight for piglets from L sows were significantly higher (P < 0·05) than for piglets from the other groups. The data suggest that the reproductive performance of L sows is not as good as that of M or F sows.


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