Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-8ctnn Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-28T03:40:40.909Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Effect of litter size on herbage intake at pasture by ewes and their progeny

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 September 2010

S. A. Vulich ,
E. G. O'Riordan  and
J. P. Hanrahan
S. A. Vulich
Affiliation:
Agriculture and Food Development Authority, Belclare, Tuam, Co. Galway, Republic of Ireland
E. G. O'Riordan
Affiliation:
Agriculture and Food Development Authority, Belclare, Tuam, Co. Galway, Republic of Ireland
J. P. Hanrahan
Affiliation:
Agriculture and Food Development Authority, Belclare, Tuam, Co. Galway, Republic of Ireland
Get access

Abstract

Thirty-four mature ewes (17 rearing twins and 17 rearing singles) were used to examine the effect of litter size on herbage intake at pasture by ewes over the course of lactation; intake by their lambs during weeks 13 to 15 of lactation was also evaluated. Daily organic matter intake (OMI) was estimated using the n-alkane technique. Ewes and lambs rotationally grazed 19 × 0·15-ha paddocks during the experimental period which extended from week 2 of lactation to weaning at week 15 of lactation. Sward conditions were maintained steady throughout with daily OM allowance per ewe varying between 4·6 and 5·7 kg and dry matter digestibility between 763 and 858 g/kg DM.

Throughout lactation OMI and OMI per kg body weight were higher for twin-rearing ewes (P < 0·05) than for ewes rearing singles: 2·50 and 2·26 kg/day, and 38 and 32 g/kg per day, respectively. Intake reached a maximum on weeks 6 to 7 of lactation. From weeks 13 to 15 of lactation, OMI and OMI per kg body weight for single- and twin-reared lambs were 1·09 and 1·14 kg/day, and 31 and 36 g/kg per day, respectively.

The combined food intake per dam-offspring unit for weeks 13 to 14 of lactation for a ewe plus her single lamb was 2·8 kg OM per day compared with 4·3 kg OM per day for a ewe plus her two lambs. The repeatability of average weekly intake by ewes was 0·39 over the course of lactation and 0·40 for lambs over the 13 to 15 week period. Repeatability estimates for ewes increased slightly when data from weeks 3 to 7 and weeks 13 to 14 was analysed separately (0·42 and 0·53, respectively).

Keywords

ewesherbagelitter size
Type
Research Article
Information
Animal Production , Volume 53 , Issue 2 , October 1991 , pp. 191 - 197
Copyright
Copyright © British Society of Animal Science 1991

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Bourke, M. E. 1967. The food conversion efficiency in lambs of two crosses of sheep. Australian Journal of Experimental Agriculture and Animal Husbandry 7: 199–202.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Coulter, B. and Berry, J. 1985. Microcomputer devices: integrating sward height meter. An Foras Talùntais, Soil and Grassland Production Research Report, pp. 14–15.Google Scholar
Foot, J. Z. and Russel, A. J. F. 1979. The relationship in ewes between voluntary food intake during pregnancy and forage intake during lactation and after weaning. Animal Production 28: 25–39.Google Scholar
Gibb, M. J. and Treacher, T. T. 1980. The effect of ewe body condition at lambing on the performance of ewes and their lambs at pasture. Journal of Agricultural Science, Cambridge 95: 631–640.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gibb, M. J. and Treacher, T. T. 1982. The effect of body condition and nutrition during late pregnancy on the performance of grazing ewes during lactation. Animal Production 34: 123–129.Google Scholar
Gibb, M. J., Treacher, T. T. and Shanmugalingam, V. G. 1981. Herbage intake and performance of grazing ewes and of their lambs when weaned at 6, 8, 10 or 14 weeks of age. Animal Production 33: 223–232.Google Scholar
Grennan, E. J. 1990. Effects of pasture type, pasture height and frequency of anthelmintic dosing on lamb growth from birth to weaning. Irish Journal of Agricultural Research 29: 84 (Abstr.).Google Scholar
Hadjipieris, G. and Holmes, W. 1966. Studies on feed intake and feed utilization by sheep. 1. The voluntary feed intake of dry, pregnant and lactating ewes. Journal of Agricultural Science, Cambridge 66: 217–223.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Langlands, J. P. 1972. Growth and herbage consumption of grazing Merino and Border Leicester lambs reared by their mother or fostered by ewes of the other breed. Animal Production 14: 317–322.Google Scholar
Large, R. V. 1970. The biological efficiency of meat production in sheep. Animal Production 12: 393–401.Google Scholar
Lee, C. J., Atkins, K. D. and Mortimer, S. I. 1990. Genetic and phenotypic components of feed intake by grazing ewes. Proceedings of the 4th world congress of genetics applied to livestock production, Edinburgh, Vol. 15, pp 53–56.Google Scholar
Lloyd, M. D., Swift, G., Hunter, E. A., Swanston, G. and Doney, J. M. 1987. Lamb growth performance and rate of finishing in relation to sward height and herbage mass on set-stocked swards. Animal Production 44: 470–471 (Abstr.).Google Scholar
Maxwell, T. J., Doney, J. M., Milne, J. A., Peart, J. N., Russel, A. J. F., Sibbald, A. R. and MacDonald, D. 1979. The effect of rearing type and pre-partum nutrition on the intake and performance of lactating Greyface ewes at pasture. Journal of Agricultural Science, Cambridge 92: 165–174.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mayes, R. W., Lamb, C. S. and Colgrove, P. M. 1986. The use of dosed and herbage n-alkanes as markers for the determination of herbage intake. Journal of Agricultural Science, Cambridge 107: 161–170.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Orr, R. J., Parsons, A. J., Penning, P. D. and Treacher, T. T. 1990. Sward composition, animal performance and the potential production of grass/white clover swards continuously stocked with sheep. Grass and Forage Science 45: 325–336.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Peart, J. N. 1968. Lactation studies with Blackface ewes and their lambs. Journal of Agricultural Science, Cambridge 70: 87–94.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Peart, J. N., Doney, J. M. and Smith, W. F. 1979. Lactation pattern in Scottish Blackface and East Friesland × Scottish Blackface cross-bred ewes. Journal of Agricultural Science, Cambridge 92: 133–138.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Penning, P. D. and Gibb, M. J. 1979. The effect of milk intake on the intake of cut and grazed herbage by lambs. Animal Production 29: 53–67.Google Scholar
Tilley, J. M. A. and Terry, R. A. 1963. A two-stage technique for the in vitro digestion of forage crops. Journal of the British Grassland Society 18: 104–111.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Vulich, S. A. 1990. Preparation of capsules for the dosing of n-alkanes used to estimate feed intake in sheep. Animal production research report 1988-1989, pp. 196–197. Teagasc, Dublin.Google Scholar
Vulich, S. A., Hanrahan, J. P. and O'Riordan, E. G. 1990. Variation of intake at pasture: Differences among breeds of sheep of different mature size. Proceedings of the 4th world congress of genetics applied to livestock production, Edinburgh, Vol. 15, pp. 57–60.Google Scholar
Vulich, S. A., O'Riordan, E. G. and Hanrahan, J. P. 1991. Use of n-alkanes for the estimation of herbage intake in sheep: accurancy and precision of the estimates. Journal of Agricultural Science, Cambridge 116: 319–323.CrossRefGoogle Scholar