Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-q99xh Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-27T19:46:20.306Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Studies on the shearing of housed pregnant ewes

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 September 2010

A. J. F. Russel ,
R. H. Armstrong  and
I. R. White
A. J. F. Russel
Affiliation:
Hill Farming Research Organisation, Bush Estate, Penicuik, Midlothian EH26 0PY
R. H. Armstrong
Affiliation:
Hill Farming Research Organisation, Bush Estate, Penicuik, Midlothian EH26 0PY
I. R. White
Affiliation:
Hill Farming Research Organisation, Bush Estate, Penicuik, Midlothian EH26 0PY
Get access

Abstract

Two experiments were conducted in successive years with, respectively, 112 and 194 mature Scottish Blackface ewes to study the effects of shearing during pregnancy on lamb birth weight and subsequent growth. In each year half the ewes were shorn approx. 10 weeks before lambing. Shorn and unshorn ewes were offered and consumed equal quantities of food.

In both years the shorn ewes lost approx. 2 kg of live weight shortly after shearing (making allowance for the weight of wool removed); thereafter live-weight differences remained relatively constant. Plasma 3-hydroxybutyrate concentrations indicated that the initial live-weight loss was probably attributable to short-term increases in heat production and energy expenditure.

Respiration rates and rectal temperatures of unshorn ewes were always higher than in shorn ewes, but were not elevated to an extent indicative of heat stress.

Shearing had no effect on the birth weights of single or twin lambs, nor was there any effect on lamb growth rate to 14 weeks of age.

It is postulated that the effects of shearing on lamb birth weight reported by others working with sheep fed ad libitum are most likely to be due to the increased voluntary food intakes of shorn ewes.

Type
Research Article
Information
Animal Production , Volume 40 , Issue 1 , February 1985 , pp. 47 - 53
Copyright
Copyright © British Society of Animal Science 1985

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

REFERENCES

Alexander, G. and Williams, D. 1971. Heat stress and the development of the conceptus in domestic sheep. J. agric. Sci., Camb. 76: 53–72.Google Scholar
Austin, A. R. and Young, N. F. 1977. The effect ofshearing pregnant ewes on lamb birth weights. Vet. Rec. 100: 527–529.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Davey, A. W. F. and Holmes, C. W. 1977. The effectsof shearing on the heat production and activity of sheep receiving dried grass or ground hay. Anim. Prod. 24: 355–361.Google Scholar
Kneaile, W. A. and Bastiman, B. 1977. Inwintering ofewes. V. The effect of shearing at housing. Expl Husb. 32: 70–74.Google Scholar
Lawes Agricultural Trust. 1977. Genstat V, Mark 4.01. Rothamsted Experimental Station, Harpenden, Hertfordshire.Google Scholar
Love, K. J., Egan, J. K. and McIntyre, J. S. 1978. The effect of partial shearing on the voluntary food intake and production of Merino wethers. Proc. Aust. Soc. Anim. Prod. 12: 269 (Abstr.).Google Scholar
Maund, Barbara A. 1980. Shearing ewes at housing. Anim. Prod. 30: 481 (Abstr.).Google Scholar
Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food. 1982. Winter shearing of housed ewes. ADAS A. Rep., 1981, pp. 27–28.Google Scholar
Russel, A. J. F., Maxwell, T. J., Sibbald, A. R. and McDonald, D. 1977. Relationships between energy intake, nutritional state and lamb birth weight in Greyface ewes. J. agric. Sci., Camb. 89: 667–673.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rutter, W., Laird, T. R. and Broadbent, P. J. 1971. The effects of clipping pregnant ewes at housing and of feeding different basal roughages. Anim. Prod. 13: 329–336.Google Scholar
Rutter, W., Laird, T. R. and Broadbent, P. J. 1972. A note on the effects of clipping pregnant ewes at housing. Anim. Prod. 14: 127–130.Google Scholar
Wodzicka-Tomaszewska, M. 1963. The effect of shearing on the appetite of sheep. N.Z. Jl agric. Res. 6: 440–447.Google Scholar
Zivin, J. A. and Snarr, J. F. 1973. An automated colorimetric method for the measurement of 3-hydroxybutyrate concentration. Analyt. Biochem. 52: 456–461.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed