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Reducing the level of nutrition of twin-bearing ewes during mid to late pregnancy produces leaner prime lambs at slaughter

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  15 October 2019

M. I. Knight Open the ORCID record for M. I. Knight [Opens in a new window] ,
K. L. Butler ,
L. L. Slocombe ,
N. P. Linden ,
M. C. Raeside ,
V. F. Burnett ,
A. J. Ball ,
M. B. McDonagh  and
R. Behrendt
M. I. Knight*
Affiliation:
Agriculture Victoria Research, Department of Economic Development, Jobs, Transport and Resources, 915 Mt Napier Road, Hamilton, VIC 3300, Australia
K. L. Butler
Affiliation:
Agriculture Victoria Research, Department of Economic Development, Jobs, Transport and Resources, 915 Mt Napier Road, Hamilton, VIC 3300, Australia
L. L. Slocombe
Affiliation:
Agriculture Victoria Research, Department of Economic Development, Jobs, Transport and Resources, 915 Mt Napier Road, Hamilton, VIC 3300, Australia
N. P. Linden
Affiliation:
Agriculture Victoria Research, Department of Economic Development, Jobs, Transport and Resources, 915 Mt Napier Road, Hamilton, VIC 3300, Australia
M. C. Raeside
Affiliation:
Agriculture Victoria Research, Department of Economic Development, Jobs, Transport and Resources, 915 Mt Napier Road, Hamilton, VIC 3300, Australia
V. F. Burnett
Affiliation:
Agriculture Victoria Research, Department of Economic Development, Jobs, Transport and Resources, 915 Mt Napier Road, Hamilton, VIC 3300, Australia
A. J. Ball
Affiliation:
Rural Analytics, 19 Eleanor Close, Armidale, NSW 2350, Australia
M. B. McDonagh
Affiliation:
The Australian Wagyu Association, 146 Marsh St, Armidale, NSW 2350, Australia
R. Behrendt
Affiliation:
Agriculture Victoria Research, Department of Economic Development, Jobs, Transport and Resources, 915 Mt Napier Road, Hamilton, VIC 3300, Australia
*
†E-mail: matthew.knight@ecodev.vic.gov.au
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Abstract

The Australian prime lamb industry is seeking to improve lean meat yield (LMY) as a means to increasing efficiency and profitability across the whole value chain. The LMY of prime lambs is affected by genetics and on-farm nutrition from birth to slaughter and is the total muscle weight relative to the total carcass weight. Under the production conditions of south eastern Australia, many ewe flocks experience a moderate reduction in nutrition in mid to late pregnancy due to a decrease in pasture availability and quality. Correcting nutritional deficits throughout gestation requires the feeding of supplements. This enables the pregnant ewe to meet condition score (CS) targets at lambing. However, limited resources on farm often mean it is difficult to effectively manage nutritional supplementation of the pregnant ewe flock. The impact of reduced ewe nutrition in mid to late pregnancy on the body composition of finishing lambs and subsequent carcass composition remains unknown. This study investigated the effect of moderately reducing ewe nutrition in mid to late gestation on the body composition of finishing lambs and carcass composition at slaughter on a commercial scale. Multiple born lambs to CS2.5 target ewes were lighter at birth and weaning, had lower feedlot entry and exit weights with lower pre-slaughter and carcass weights compared with CS3.0 and CS3.5 target ewes. These lambs also had significantly lower eye muscle and fat depth when measured by ultrasound prior to slaughter and carcass subcutaneous fat depth measured 110 mm from the spine along the 12th rib (GR 12th) and at the C-site (C-fat). Although carcasses were ~5% lighter, results showed that male progeny born to ewes with reduced nutrition from day 50 gestation to a target CS2.5 at lambing had a higher percentage of lean tissue mass as measured by dual energy X-ray absorptiometry and a lower percentage of fat during finishing and at slaughter, with the multiple born progeny from CS3.0 and CS3.5 target ewes being similar. These data suggest lambs produced from multiple bearing ewes that have had a moderate reduction in nutrition during pregnancy are less mature. This effect was also independent of lamb finishing system. The 5% reduction in carcass weight observed in this study would have commercially relevant consequences for prime lamb producers, despite a small gain in LMY.

Keywords

sheepgestational nutritionbody compositioncondition scoresaleable meat yield
Type
Research Article
Information
animal , Volume 14 , Issue 4 , April 2020 , pp. 864 - 872
Copyright
© This is a work of the Commonwealth Government of Australia and the State Government of Victoria and is not subject to copyright protection in Commonwealth Government of Australia and the State Government of Victoria 2019 

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